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Journalism of Courage
Relations between the Congress and Mulayam Singh Yadav touched a new low today, as the ruling Samajwadi Party managed to get the controversial Urdu University Bill cleared at the state Assembly, despite strong protests from allies Congress and CPI(M).
The fate of the Bill is still uncertain as it has to be sent back to Governor T.V. Rajeshwar for approval, who has already expressed reservations about a provision in the Bill that makes a state minister a pro-chancellor for life in the university.
Sources say, the Samajwadi Party is well aware that the Governor would never approve of the Bill, but it nonetheless went ahead with the agenda to give an impression to the minority community that it was due to Congress opposition that the university could not take shape.
Mulayam made it clear that he was in no mood to entertain the Congress’ demand for an amendment in the Bill. ‘‘The University will be built and Azam Khan will remain its lifetime pro- chancellor. We will move another Bill in the Assembly for a private university if the present exercise goes in vain,’’ he said.
The Chief Minister He gave a veiled warning to the Congress that it might lose its Muslim voters if it continued to oppose the Bill: ‘‘On the Ayodhya issue, your party did the blunder by going for the shilanyas at the disputed site in 1989, and since then, electoral prospects of the party in the state are there for everyone to see. The Urdu university is going to be the next Ayodhya for the party. So, be cautious.”
