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| The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) |
With all due respects to the courts and the Indian system of justice in which I have great faith,one observation is that I don't remember any major decision in favour of Muslim community emerging from courts in UP.
Most of the important judgments go against Muslim community. And this is not a personal observation, people are aware of it. I am not making any sweeping statement. May be, it is because of the failure of Muslims who can't plead their cases properly, do not get good lawyers.
OR WHATEVER REASON. It was in the Allahabad court that the case of Babri Masjid dragged for years after the idol was kept soon after independence and that led to riots in the decade of eighties and later in 1992. Even then, there was no effort to speed up the judicial progress.
CROOK POLITICIANS GET AWAY EASILY
We all remember Kalyan Singh had been sentenced to just a single day of imprisonment [Ek Din Ki Saza] for the colossal crime of not protecting the Babri Masjid. Peole who keep track of events in the last couple of decades are aware of how communal elements got reprieve often.
That they got away easily but an institution like AMU remained under scanner. Muslims and their language kept on receiving unfavourable judgments. It is this same state UP where Urdu was systematically killed and Urdu schools were not allowed to be opened after 1949.
All efforts were made to keep Muslims out of jobs and for 20 years after partition not a single Muslim was recruited in UP police--a state with at least a crore Muslims then. Historically, the great injustices have been meted out to Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.
RIOTS: COURT CASES DRAGGED
Major massacres of Muslims including Hashimpura-Maliana, Moradabad, Meerut and Firozabad occurred without any punishment to perpetrators or compensation to victims. Hashimpura case drags to this day even though 25 years have elapsed.
There was no focus on stopping riots and getting justice to victims until the era of coalition politics arrived and the major riots stopped after the BJP government was voted out. With BSP and SP alternatively forming government, the situation changed.
There is need for governments to be clear. The issue of minority character of AMU [and Jamia] should be settled once for all. Why should there be controversies year after year just because of minor slips in definitions in the acts.
No solution is in sight because the more you beg, you cry, you are seen as victim and suffering from a persecution complex. We don't want charity and reservation, but we must create more of our universities of such excellence that other communities should crave for admission in them. Do we see light at the end of the tunnel?
Before ending I must reiterate the great respect we all have for the courts. If there could be justice for victims of massacre in Gujarat then it will be solely due to the courts, particularly, the Supreme court that has kept the hopes of the victims alive.
MORE ON SAME SUBJECT at Milli Gazette: Read at THIS LINK
