Students and teachers at AMU applaud the SC decision. It is like ripping a person’s soul from their body to invoke minority status.
AMU applaud the SC decision: The 1967 decision that denied AMU minority status has been reversed by the SC. The current priorities include filling teaching positions, reviving the student union, and furthering programs for women’s empowerment.
Aligarh (TAT Desk): At around 11.30 am on Friday, a bustling crowd of students, alumni, and faculty members—both teaching and non-teaching—gathered at Bab-e-Syed, the main gate of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
They yelled loudly and set off firecrackers in celebration of the Supreme Court’s historic decision to reverse its 1967 verdict that the university was not a minority school, creating an exuberant environment.
The audience burst in joyful cries of “AMU Zindabad” under heavy security, which was put in place in case the supreme court had rendered a different decision. The gathering’s atmosphere was summed up by Mohammad Abdullah, a research specialist in security studies at the university: “It is a tremendous relief! Removing AMU’s minority status would be like to severing a person’s soul from their body.
The 1967 S. Azeez Basha v. Union of India case, which held that Aligarh Muslim University could not be regarded as a minority institution under Article 30(1) of the Indian Constitution since it is a Central university, was overturned by the Supreme Court on Friday. According to the ruling, which was handed down by a 4:3 majority, a normal three-judge bench should resolve the matter of AMU’s minority status again.
According to the students, there is a widespread misunderstanding that AMU has a “Muslim quota.”
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Undergraduate student Hamza Khan told The Awadh Times , “There isn’t a quota like that in reality.” Many people make the error of identifying AMU with a single community, yet its past reveals rather different facts.
The institution was not solely backed by Muslims when Sir Syed Ahmad Khan created it. The first graduate was a Hindu named Iswari Prasad Upadhyaya, the first principal was an orthodox Christian, and a large portion of the property was provided by Raja Mahendra Pratap.
🚨 Aligarh Muslim University celebrates a historic win! The Supreme Court has reversed the 1967 ruling, restoring AMU's minority status. Amid cheers and fireworks at Bab-e-Syed, students and faculty hailed the decision as a return to the university's founding mission.
— The Awadh Times Global News (@theawadhtimes) November 12, 2024
#AMU
The majority of AMU students believe that their minority status is closely related to the school’s “legacy.”
“By legacy, we mean the dedication to giving the Muslim minority in India access to contemporary education. The goal is to give marginalized Muslims the opportunity to pursue higher education and change their life via education, Obaid Ahmad Siddique, Secretary of the AMU Teachers’ Association (AMUTA), told The Awadh Times.
Of the 23,675 students enrolled at the university, 18,700 (77.39 percent) are Muslim, the lawyer said before the Supreme Court. However, university authorities claim that about 50% of students enrolled in important courses, such as MBBS, are not Muslim.
While there was a lot of excitement on campus over the university’s “minority status” being restored, staff and students emphasized that the management has to concentrate on other pressing issues that the school is facing now that one important issue has been resolved.
These include the ongoing lack of a student union, the ongoing vacancies in teaching and non-teaching staff jobs, and the decreased participation of professors and students in the university’s statutory organizations.
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