Since the government has done away with the minority status of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a debate has set in for and against the minority character and reservations.
Recently, at a conference at Delhi’s Constitution Club, one heard several so-called Muslim leaders very generously providing lip-service concerning the minority character of AMU.
The fact remains, and history has proven this, that the minority character and reservations on communal lines are not in the interest of national unity and integrity. It starts a chain reaction of demands amongst religious groups.
An ostrich mentality regarding reservations or minority status of some universities will not help Muslims. But it will open up a Pandora’s box. They either have to perform or perish on their own.
Those vying for the minority status of AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) should remember what India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, a Congressman and not a lesser lover of minorities, had stated while speaking on democratisation during an important session of the Constituent Assembly on 26 May 1949.
If you seek to give safeguards to a minority, you isolate it[...]Maybe, you protect it to a slight extent but at what cost? At the cost of isolating and keeping it away from the main current.