In the India of our dreams

The judgment of the Allahabad High Court deprives Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) of its status as a minority institution. The Muslim intell...

The judgment of the Allahabad High Court deprives Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) of its status as a minority institution. The Muslim intelligentsia is distraught. The concept of the minorities’ control of their own institutions is rooted in the Indian constitution for some very good reasons.

The AMU is planning an appeal to the Supreme Court. It is heartening that the Government of India is planning to appeal as well. We hope the court will interpret the law in view of the provisions for the minorities to run their institutions under Article 30(1) of the Constitution.

In a homogeneous ideal society, any preferential treatment would be anathema. The India of our dreams would guarantee equality and justice for all. We hope to be there some day, but today we are far from it. The legacy of riots and discriminations culminating in the Gujarat riots in 2002 is stark. India is home to practically all religions, races and ethnicities of the world. It is, potentially, the most perfectly pluralistic democracy.

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The founders of modern India recognised this reality. Faced with creating a Constitution for the most diverse populace, with a chasm between the haves and have-nots and ethnic tensions, they paid special attention to the structural and historical disadvantages many Indians faced.

The Constitution was structured to facilitate the melding of the peoples to eventually arrive at true equality while enjoying their personal beliefs and traditions. They gave special status to those on the lower rung of the ladder of opportunity, a societal helping hand. This was the rationale for creating the schedules in the Constitution for deprived castes and tribes, known as the Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

Since the creation of the Republic, Muslims have suffered inordinately in personal safety and opportunities for education leading to decent jobs. This downward spiral is well recorded by the statistical analyses. The nationwide percentage of Muslim students in medical, engineering and management courses is less than 3 per cent, while Muslim are 13 per cent of the population.

It is well understood that the keys to equality are safety and educational opportunities. The last 58 years of structural discrimination have brought the Muslims down to a very low economic level.It makes political, moral and legal sense under the Constitution to give a helping hand to those in dire need. AMU was created for addressing and has helped ameliorate this problem, often under difficult circumstances. Instead of including the Muslims in the special scheduled classes, a better remedy would be to strengthen and raise their educational level leading to better job opportunities. The judgment of the Allahabad High Court, stripping AMU of the status of a minority institution, is detrimental to this aim.