Public Meeting on
Debating Minority Status for Jamia

Speakers:
Prof. T.K Oommen (Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Member, Sachar Committee), Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed (Noted Political Scientist) and Prof, Shamim Hanafi (Professor Emeritus, Jamia Millia Islamia and eminent critic and writer)

2 February 2010, Jamia Millia Islamia)

Prof. Oommen cautioned against raising the demand for minority institution as it would degrade the brand value of Jamia’s degrees. Jamia, as of today, is a central university, and has emerged as an institution of excellence, and its students find a great number of opportunities when they enter the job market. Turning Jamia into the exclusive domain of one community will not facilitate the process—so even if Jamia as a minority institution can ensure a very high percentage of Muslim students, they would it find it much more difficult to secure employment. The way forward for Jamia, and indeed for the Muslims, is to reject both assimilation and isolation.

Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed also argued against minority status for Jamia. He said that it would be too simplistic to assume Muslims to be a homogenous community and to negate the presence of Dalit and backwards among Muslims. Reservation for Muslims as a whole, whether through minority status for Jamia or through other kind of affirmative actions, would result in the elites cornering all the benefits, at the detriment of the more marginal groups among them. He warned that minority status for Jamia would result in vested interests monopolizing the management and administration of the university, leading to a complete degradation of its academic life.

Prof. Shamim Hanafi (Professor Emeritus, Department of Urdu, JMI) recalled the glorious history of Jamia and reiterated that under no circumstances should the demand for minority status be ceded. The meeting was marked by a lively discussion. It is to be noted that this was the first initiative to discuss the issues arising from the demand for minority status.