Do not bulldoze Jauhar University

While attending the first Round Table Conference in London in 1930, writer-poet and freedom fighter Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar boldly told the British raj: “If you do not give us freedom in India, you will have to give me a grave here.”

Soon after this episode, Jauhar died and the Britsh were spared the trouble to find a place for his grave as his body was shipped to Palestine and interred near Masjid-e-Aqsa, one of Islam’s holiest shrines.

If Jauhar were to return to India today, he would be deeply hurt at the controversy surrounding a university named after him in Rampur, UP. Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar University awaits its destruction as the authorities have threatened to demolish 38 out of 40 buildings of the university if its management does not demolish it themselves in 15 days.

Nobody approves illegalities in purchasing land or construction of buildings for an educational institution. But there is a difference between a private building and a university. Unlike private properties and religious structures, universities belong to the nation. They are agents of change in human civilization. They nurture talent, incubate intelligence and instil hopes and aspirations.

A university is like a shaded tree. Do we care to know who planted the sapling which has now grown up into a huge, shaded, fruit-bearing tree? We do not. Similarly a university’s founder may be a crook, even accused of heinous crimes. Civilized societies do not punish a functioning university for the alleged crimes of its founder.

It does not matter much who founded Jauhar University (in this case Samajwadi party leader and former minister Azam Khan). But it matters a lot that this institution serves over 3000 students and employs dozens of people.

Azam Khan, incarcerated for months, is paying for his alleged crimes. But does this mean that the university founded by him must pay for the founder’s omission and commission?

One sees some people arguing that, since great universities like Nalanda and Vikramshila were not spared by invaders in the middle age, Jauhar University too must be reduced to rubble.
What a flawed logic!

Nalanda and Vikramshila were great institutions belonging to world civilization. They should never have been sacked and attacked. But they were destroyed in an era when monarchs and despotic rulers called the shots. Then India was neither integrated nor ruled by a written constitution. Democracy and justice were aliens in an era when rule of the jungle–might is right–prevailed.

And whom do we want to take revenge from for the demonic denouements committed in the past? How is the present generation of a group or a community responsible for wrongs done by their co-religionists or fellow faithfuls in the past? What has Jauhar University to do with depredations perpetrated on some of the great seats of learning in the middle age?

The reason for imminent bulldozing of the 38 buildings, that means practically the entire Jauhar University, being cited is that these structures were built without approval of their maps.
Let us be honest. Are all the buildings at various universities in UP and elsewhere in the country built only after securing approval of their maps? If not, then why do you want to act selectively against this university which caters to some of the most deprived in the country?

Proportionality is a universally accepted norm in the modern justice system. If maps were not approved prior to the buildings’ construction, the government can fine the university. If irregularities were done, remove the irregularities, not the entire edifice.

It is not that this university came up overnight. It has been there for years. So, why did the authorities not flag this irregularity earlier? Or if the irregularity was flagged earlier, the issue should have been settled by imposing a penalty. Why are the bulldozers about to roll when the state goes for the assembly poll in a few months?

India is a great civilization built on centuries of shared, syncretic values.

Our universities are repositories of our great, celebrated ancient parampara or tradition of guru-shishya (teacher and taught). Some of the great masters, philosophers, scientists, holy souls have blessed this land with their wisdom, knowledge and foresight. Our universities preserve and promote the teachings of these great men and women.

Our vidyalayas (schools), mahavidyalayas (colleges) and vidyapeeths (universities) are religion-neutral. A university might have been founded by a person or persons belonging to one faith, but it does not shut its doors to people of other faiths. The doors of Jauhar University are open to all.

Once we enter the gates of educational institutions, we become part of a tapestry. A university breeds a panoply of ideas and thoughts. It teaches patriotism but does not shy away from accepting dissent and disagreement. A university seeking uniformity or homogeneity is not a university.

We remain eternally indebted to the schools, colleges and universitis which helped prepare us to face challenges in life. We cherish memories of the days we spent on those campuses.

Let me jog my own memory. I went to a Hindi-medium high school in rural Bihar. In the 1980s, the school ran from a dozen rooms with tiled roofs which leaked when it rained heavily. We did not have a proper library or a common room though the school, located away from the village, possessed a huge maidan which we used to play cricket, football and volleyball. A huge pond with a Shiva temple occupying its western bank drew many pious Hindus from neighbouring villages. The sound of the bells as devotees entered Lord Shiva’s abode still echoes in my ears.

To create a harmonious atmosphere, the headmaster, a devout Hindu, allowed Muslim teachers to pray at a corner of the school verandah. The school would give an extra hour for leisure on Fridays to enable Muslim teachers and students to go and offer namaz at the nearest village, a few kilometres away.

The school held its annual Saraswati Puja and Jalsa Seeratul Nabi (celebrating the Prophet) in perfect harmony. My father, a teacher at the same school, would be made in -charge of the prasad or sweets distribution among the devotees at Saraswati Puja.
The headmaster would welcome guests at the Jalsa and also deliver a short speech underscoring our secular values. We lived in an innocent time.

In a nutshell, our educational institutions are launching pads for our journey ahead. They embody our strength. Do not make them battlegrounds to fix a political opponent. A university is a reservoir of wisdom, innovation and experiments. They help shape character of the nation.

Let Jauhar University survive. Keep the bulldozers away from it.

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