Kolkata: An advertisement, posted in a news daily, calling for applications from “Indian citizens having knowledge in Islamic culture” for job vacancies at Aliah University in West Bengal has come under attack by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya posted the ad on his social media handle. “Aliah University invites applications from the Indian citizens having knowledge in Islamic culture in the prescribed pro-forma for regular appointments to the post of Technical Assistant (Grade I) (01 post) in the Department of Electrical Engineering and to the post of Technical Assistant (Grade 1) (01 post) in the Department of Geography (sic),” the job ad said.
Malviya claimed that this was an attempt to “eat into” reservations for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in “minority institutions”.
The university statutes — introduced in 2016 under the Aliah University Act, passed by the West Bengal legislative assembly earlier in 2007 — do not have any reservation provisions.
“What happened to reservation for SC/ST and OBCs in these State funded ‘minority’ institutions? The TMC and I.N.D.I Alliance are eating into reservations meant for the backward classes and giving them off to Muslims (sic),” Malviya posted on X.
“The Congress was the first to remove reservation for SC/ST and OBCs from Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia. Later, requirement to provide constitutionally mandated reservation for the backward classes was done away for all ‘minority’ institutions, even if State funded (sic),” Malviya added.
Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of Vishva Hindu Parishad Vijay Shankar Tiwari posted on X, “Aliah University in Bengal has posted an advertisement for the job of electrical engineer, stating that knowledge of Islam is necessary for the job of electrical engineer. Notably, the Bengal government funds the university. Whose money does the Bengal government have?”
The Aliah University authorities have noted the comments as a first-time objection.
Speaking with ThePrint, Aliah University Registrar Dr. Sk Ashfaque Ali said the job ad follows the 2016 university statutes.
“We have been posting such ads for long. The provisions are under the Aliah University statutes. Nothing is wrong. It is not a mandatory requirement, but we prefer someone who understands the Islamic religion since we deal with first-generation minority students from backward classes and knowing the Islamic culture helps with teaching,” he added.
The statutes define the qualifications for a technical assistant (grade I) in electrical engineering as a BE or Btech (electrical engineering) degree holder with two years of experience as a laboratory technician or technical assistant or a first-class diploma electrical engineering degree plus three years’ work experience.
A technical assistant (grade I) in geography requires a minimum qualification of an honours graduate in geography, with one year of experience as a technical assistant in a postgraduate or undergraduate laboratory (geography) as a preferable academic background, according to the university website.
Schedule II of the statute stated “candidates willing to apply for the post of assistant professors, associate professors, professors should have the sound knowledge of Islamic culture and civilisation” as a note after listing minimum qualifications as prescribed by the UGC (University Grants Commission)/and West Bengal government time to time.
This information is available on the Aliah University website.
According to the registrar, the technical staff comes under the academic staff hired by the varsity.
The Vice Chancellor of Aliah University — IPS (retd) M. Wahab — told ThePrint that he was unaware of the ad, adding that as the V-C, he will ensure only merit is the criteria for any intake in vacant posts.
“The registrar will be able to give a suitable answer, but I can say that only merit is important and the foremost criterion. I have not seen such an ad. All ads pass through the education department before going to the printing press,” he added.
While Mamata Banerjee is in charge of minority affairs and madrasah education, Minister of State of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Tajmul Hossain told ThePrint that he is unaware of the ad and would need time to gather more information. “There is no question of favouring minority candidates in any way,” he said.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh declined to comment on the issue, adding, “The party doesn’t pay heed to distorted facts by Amit Malviya, who is known for anti-social work and shielding rapists in his party.”
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‘Our professors are from other religious backgrounds too’
Aliah University, originally Aliah Madrasah, was founded in 1780 by then British governor-general Warren Hastings at the request of some Muslim gentlemen of then Calcutta and later became the first government educational institution in British India, aiming to educate children of Muslim families in Arabic and Persian languages and Muslim laws to be eligible for jobs in various government departments.
The erstwhile Communist Party of India (Marxist) government, in 2001, formed the madrasah education committee under the chairmanship of eminent educationist and then governor Dr. A.R. Kidwai. In 2002, the committee recommended the development and future excellence of Aliah Madrasah. In 2007, Aliah Madrasah got ‘university’ status, but its campus lay scattered across Kolkata and its suburban Salt Lake areas.
In 2011, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee allotted 20 acres of land for a new university campus in New Town. She inaugurated the campus in 2014 while another building was under construction in the Park Circus area in Kolkata, enabling the university to function from two new buildings since 2015.
The stated objective of Aliah University is to promote higher education among the minorities in West Bengal. “Our professors are not just from the minority community but from other religious backgrounds too. There is no question of any discrimination,” said the registrar.
This is not the first time political parties have dragged the university into a controversy. In April 2022, police arrested Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) leader Ghiazuddin Mondal, an expelled student of the university, for threatening to kill then V-C Mohammed Ali with 20-odd supporters to make him alter the PhD merit list. After a video of the incident went viral on social media, the then governor Jagdeep Dhankar, the ex-officio chancellor of the state-run university at the time, had sought a report from former chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi.
Under Governor Dr. C.V. Ananda Bose, M. Wahab, a retired IPS from the Kerala cadre from Bose’s home state, was appointed Aliah University V-C in July last year.
The appointment of an administrator in an academic role sparked outrage across political lines. The issue of who appoints the V-C is now sub judice before the apex court, with the Raj Bhavan and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government fighting the legal battle.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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