Javadekar Says No Plans to Drop ‘M’ From AMU and ‘H’ From BHU

The panel suggests that AMU should either be called ‘Aligarh University’ or be named after its founder.

A panel has suggested that ‘Muslim’ be removed from AMU. (Photo: The Quint)

Union Human resource and development minister, Prakash Javadekar on Monday dismissed allegations that the Government is suggesting to remove the word ‘Muslim’ from Aligarh Muslim University and the word ‘Hindu’ from Banaras Hindu University.

“The government has no plans to change the names of AMU and BHU,” Javadekar said in a statement to ANI.

These comments come following the setup of a committee by the University Grants Commission (UGC) that recommended that the word ‘Muslim’ be removed from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and the word ‘Hindu’ be dropped from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), The Indian Express reported on Monday.

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The committee was set up by the UGC after the HRD Ministry demanded an investigation into complaints of irregularities against 10 central universities. In this particular case, the panel did an audit on AMU but also named BHU as part of its report.

In the audit report, the members of the committee recommended that AMU should either be called ‘Aligarh University’ or be named after Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the university’s founder. This follows the rationale that being a centrally-funded university, AMU is a secular institution, The Indian Express report said.

The panel in its report also asked for measures to elevate the condition of poor Muslims on campus and called the university “feudal.”

Apart from AMU, an audit has also been done on institutions including Pondicherry University, Allahabad University, Central University of Jammu, University of Tripura and Madhya Pradesh’s Hari Singh Gour University, The Indian Express report added.

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