Abdul Bari Masoud | Clarion India
AFTER mosques and other religious sites, Muslim-run higher educational institutions have become the target of the Hindutva brigade. The systematic attack on minority-led universities is raising alarm among educators, civil society, and political observers, as a troubling pattern of repression unfolds.
In a dramatic midnight operation on February 22, the Special Task Force of the Assam Police, ostensibly designated for counterterrorism efforts, stormed the Guwahati home of Mahbubul Hoque, the founder Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM), and arrested him on allegations of malpractice in the Class XII examinations.
On the same day, Rajasthan Police took Mohammad Atiq Ghauri, chairperson of Maulana Azad University in Jodhpur, into custody. The Azad University runs under the Marwar Muslim Educational & Welfare Society which was established in 1929. Besides the university, the society runs several schools and professional institutions.
This crackdown follows earlier actions against Glocal University (Saharanpur) and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University (Rampur), both located in the BJP-ruled state of Uttar Pradesh. Since 2019, Azam Khan, the founder of Jauhar University, has been languishing in Sitapur Jail, facing nearly 90 cases, some as absurd as goat and buffalo theft.
Glocal University Under the Cloud
The Lucknow Zonal Office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in June last year temporarily confiscated 121 acres of Glocal University’s Saharanpur campus and buildings. The property was seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, from the Abdul Waheed Educational and Charitable Trust on suspicion of using the proceeds of illicit mining for development and land acquisition. The property has a ₹4,440 crore valuation.
The ED claims that the university earned over ₹500 crore from illegal mining. In addition to his brother and four sons being imprisoned in other cases, Mohammed Iqbal, the former MLC in charge of the trust, is currently missing and believed to be in Dubai.
This story was originally published in clarionindia.net. Read the full story here.
