In Aligarh and its famed university, Urdu opens doors to a brighter future
While students in the metropolitan cities seek to learn French, Spanish, and Japanese, young boys and girls in Aligarh aspire to tell their ‘seen’ apart from ‘sheen’ and qaaf from kaaf. In Aligarh, the city of locks, Urdu is an aspirational language that opens doors to a ordable, quality education at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), whose minority status was challenged in the Supreme Court earlier this year. The hearings concluded on February 1, following which the court reserved its verdict.
Established in 1920, the university has around 40,000 students, of which 30% are non-Muslims. According to sources, the number goes up to 40% in professional courses, particularly medicine and law. Urdu is a compulsory subject for all students till senior secondary. They have to pick between the combination of Advanced Hindi-Elementary Urdu and Advanced Urdu-Elementary
Hindi.
At AMU’s Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh Senior Secondary School, Deepanshu Singh (name changed on request), a Class VI student, writes a sentence in Urdu to show his prociency in the language. Deepanshu comes from a modest semi-urban household where nobody knows how to write Urdu in the Nastaliq script. He says he could not secure admission to the Englishmedium section, so he opted for the Urdu-medium section because his father wanted him to become an internal student of AMU.
The internal quota guarantees 50% seats to students from AMU-aliated institutions, irrespective of religion, in all university programmes, including much sought-after professional courses like medicine, engineering, law, journalism, and management. Deepanshu is not alone. There are many like him in the 10 schools run by the university.
Even as the BJP-ruled Centre has pleaded for the revocation of AMU’s minority status in the apex court, Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath has often talked about the absence of SC/ST quota in the Central university. The party’s regional leaders have alleged discrimination against non-Muslim students and imposition of Urdu at AMU.
However, it is business as usual for Tripti Nagaich. A double MA in Urdu and Hindi, she runs a coaching centre in the heart of the city where she teaches Urdu to about 150 aspirants seeking admission to AMU. “Students don’t come to me for the love of Urdu poetry. They want admission in the university to get the tag of an internal student.”
“There are eight to 15 non-Muslim students in each section of the Urdu medium,” says Mohd. Fayyazuddin, vice-principal of Raja Mahendra Pratap School, which was recently named after the freedom ghter who donated land for the institute. “The students in Urdu medium are allowed to write exams of other subjects in English. The certicate doesn’t mention the medium of instruction.”
The legal challenge to AMU’s minority status has created ripples among not only Muslim students but also among the upper caste non-Muslim families who fear that if the minority status is revoked, the SC/ST quota would be imlahabad plemented in the university, which would reduce the chances of getting their children admitted.
Open secret
“Internal quota is a secret that most non-Muslim families in Aligarh are reluctant to share even with their close relatives. When someone asks if AMU is a Muslim university that serves the interest of just one community, they simply nod,” says Saurabh Dwivedi, a postgraduate in microbiology from AMU, who runs a pharma company in the city.
Remembering his time on the campus, he says non-Muslim students could easily carry their re
symbols. “I attended classes with the sacred thread on the wrist and tika on the forehead during the festive season.”
Dwivedi says when it comes to education, one cannot a ord to look beyond the university. It re¨ects on the bustling Ram Ghat Road, where at least two dozen non-Muslim alumni of AMU’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad Dental College practise.
One of them, a dentist named Nishit Sharma, is emerging as the youth face of the BJP in the region. A third-generation AMU alumnus, Dr. Sharma sees “the imposition of Urdu” as a form of discrimination against non-Muslim students. “You have to pass the Urdu test to gain entry. In the entrance test, there are 15 questions on IndoIslamic culture. These are meant to scuttle the prospects of non-Muslim students.”
“Hamare apne bachche hain [They are our children],” says the ociating Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mohammad Gulrez, referring to non-Muslims on the campus.
“The University Act of 1920, amended in 1981, states that the university is open to all persons, but the purpose of the university is to promote oriental and Islamic studies and to promote the educational and cultural advancement of the Muslims,” says Dr. Rahat Abrar, former public relations ocer of AMU.
Changed realities
The university introduced the reservation for Muslims in 2005 only for the post-graduation seats in the medical college because the institute has a very limited number of seats. The move was, however, set aside by the Alligious High Court.
The answer to whether reservation will be introduced across the board if AMU’s minority status is restored is rooted in the changed realities.
One, Muslim students might not say it openly, but they feel the increasing number of non-Muslim students in professional courses is hampering their chances. “It is no longer a sprinkling of non-Muslims as envisaged by the founders; it has become a gush of admission seekers,” says a former student union leader, refusing to be named.
Two, at a time when the ‘otherisation’ of Muslims in society is increasing, families are looking up to AMU to safeguard the interests of their wards.
Three, the middle-class Hindu families in the region have no quality alternative to turn to. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of a State university named after Raja Mahendra Pratap in 2021, but it will take time to secure structure and stature.