PM steps in, to meet Sibal over AMU controversies

The Prime Minister has asked the HRD ministry for a report on a series of controversies rocking Aligarh Muslim University amid fears of a political backlash over the varsity.

The Prime Minister has asked the HRD ministry for a report on a series of controversies rocking Aligarh Muslim University amid fears of a political backlash over the varsity.

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The PM is also likely to meet HRD minister Kapil Sibal soon to discuss the controversies, after a group of Muslim MPs petitioned him seeking his intervention, sources said.

“The PM very rarely intervenes in matters associated to universities. But the controversies in AMU have upset several people who have approached the PM...” The MPs led by UP independent MP Mohammed Adeeb have alleged in their petition to the PM that AMU’s decision to start five new centres across India violates the basic tenets of the university.

They have also accused the current Vice-Chancellor PK Abdul Azis of attempting to manipulate an probe into corruption charges against him. “AMU is paying to keep the enquiry going. The enquiry team is repeatedly getting extensions. Why is this being allowed? The government must intervene,” Adeeb said.

A group of 20 Muslim MPs is also planning to approach the President early this week, source said. The proposed AMU centres — the first of which is to be inaugurated this month in Murshidabad — violate the vision linking academic life at AMU to proximity with the university’s central mosque, the MPs allege.