UGC recommended ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ should be dropped from the names of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU)

A government inspection of central universities has recommended that the words ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ be dropped from the names of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), respectively, to be a sign of their secular character.

The suggestion is contained in an audit of AMU by one of five committees set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on April 25 at the behest of the HRD Ministry to investigate complaints of irregularities against 10 central universities. The AMU audit did not cover BHU but referred to the institution’s name in its report.

AMU and Pondicherry University were scrutinized by a committee comprising IIT-Madras professor Shripad Karmalkar, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University V-C Kailash Sodani, Guwahati University professor Mazhar Asif and IIM-Bangalore professor Sankarshan Basu.

The panel’s mandate was limited to infrastructure and its academic, research and financial operations in these universities.

In its review of AMU, the committee suggested that the institution should either be called just ‘Aligarh University’ or be named after its founder, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. It cited the same reason to recommend that BHU’s name is made changes, also.

The committee has also depicted AMU as “feudal” in nature and called for measures to strengthen poor Muslims on campus. The report, however, abstained from commenting on the institutions’ minority status as the matter is sub-judice.

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