Omar Rashid 
New Delhi: Seeking votes in a by-poll election in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath on November 9 tried to pitch the Supreme Court’s decision on the minority status of the Aligarh Muslim University to pit marginalised communities against Muslims. Twenty-four hours after the apex court overruled its judgment in a 1967 case that had become the basis of denying minority status to AMU, Adityanath brought up the question of caste-based reservations to people from the Dalit and tribal communities, and Other Backward Classes, in the central university.
Addressing a rally in Khair (an assembly segment in Aligarh district), Adityanath reiterated a long-standing demand of the Bharatiya Janata Party that AMU provide reservations in admission to members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities. The central university has always been in the crosshairs of the Hindu right.
In 2018, Adityanath as well as the UP Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission had asked the university to explain why it did not provide reservation in admission to these communities. Adityanath had raised the issue of reservations to counter the opposition attack against his government on the issue of discrimination and atrocities faced by Dalits. Earlier this year, the BJP’s Member of Parliament from Aligarh Satish Gautam, speaking in parliament, demanded members of the SC, ST and OBC communities be provided reservations in AMU, arguing that the university was Union government-funded like the Banaras Hindu University. The BJP has consistently opposed AMU’s minority status.
Now, desperate to save his face in the upcoming bypolls, Adityanath referred to AMU’s legal battle to send the point home that marginalised Hindu communities were being discriminated against at the cost of Muslims.
“How is it possible that an institution that is thriving on India’s resources and is operating through the tax money of India’s people is not providing any reservation to people of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward castes?” Adityanath asked in Khair.
He also brought up the incidence of the university introducing 50% reservation for Muslim students in postgraduate medical courses in 2005. A single judge of the Allahabad high court in 2006, however, struck down AMU’s reservation policy, declaring it unconstitutional.
“But those people, on their own accord, tried to provide 50% reservation for Muslims there. This matter is going on in the Supreme Court,” Adityanath said at the public meeting.
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Without explaining to the gathering the intricacies of AMU’s minority character, he asked why the university was not providing reservations to those belonging to Dalit and tribal communities – under the constitution – and to those from the OBCs on the basis of the Mandal Commission.
“When India’s money is invested, then people from the SC, ST and OBC should also get the benefit of reservations. They should get it in jobs and students should get it in admissions as well,” said Adityanath.
The saffron leader, who has made all attempts to communally polarise the electoral climate, alleged that people from the aforementioned communities were not getting reservations in AMU because opposition parties were more interested in saving their “vote bank,” a coded reference used for Muslims by the BJP. Naming the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, Adityanath – addressing people belonging to Dalit, OBC and tribal communities – said that these parties wanted to “save [their] vote bank” and were playing “with your sentiments and with national unity and integrity.”
The Supreme Court on Friday, by a 4-3 majority, overruled its 1967 judgment in the Azeez Basha case that had become the basis for denying minority status of the varsity. The top court ruled that the university’s status as a minority would be determined afresh by a different bench on the basis of its present ruling. “The view taken in Azeez Basha (supra) that an educational institution is not established by a minority if it derives its legal character through a statute, is overruled,” the SC said.
AMU welcomed the SC judgment on its minority character. Mohammad Asim Siddiqui, member in-charge of the varsity’s public relations office, said, “We welcome with humility the judgment of the Honourable Supreme Court of India. We will continue to serve the cause of affordable and quality education and contribute to nation building.”
Hyderabad MP Asaddudin Owaisi said the apex court had upheld the right of minorities to educate themselves. “It does not matter if the University was established before the constitution, or if it was set up by a law of the government. It is a minority institution if it was established by minorities. All the arguments of the BJP were rejected,” said Owaisi.