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Modern Aligarh Movement starts from Kishanganj
Sir Syed Ahman Khan – renowned as
the educationist, journalist and founder of the legendry Aligarh
Muslim University in Aligarh, had launched a historic ‘Aligarh
Movement’ to establish the magnum opus university currently having
around 30,000 enrolled students across dozens of faculties.
Presently the Aligarh Muslim University is offering education from
school »
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Situated in the
north-eastern part of Bihar, the district of Kishanganj hit the
headlines of national media this past week mainly for rail (Guwahati
– New Delhi route) and road (NH 31) blockage. No need to explain
the issue, because the media tried to portray in their own ways
without caring much about facts. Actually the people of Kishanganj,
Katihar, Araria, Purnia, Saharsa, Khagaria, and other parts of
Bihar including neighbouring Uttar Dinajpur (West Bengal) had
joined the grand dharna called by Kishanganj MP Maulana Asrarul
Haque under the banner of Kishanganj Education Movement for AMU
Special Centre in Kishanganj. Other political leaders to join the
dharna were NCP leader Tarique Anwar, RJD MLA Akhtarul Iman,
Congress MLA Dr. Jawed Azad, Congress MLA Touseef Alam, Congress
MP Deepa Das Munshi, TMC MLA Abdul Karim Choudhury, Forward Bloc
MLA Ali Imran Ramz and Gholam Rabbani.
The issue was clear the
unnecessarily delay made by the Nitish led Bihar Government to
provide the required 250 acres contiguous piece of land to AMU (Aligarh
Muslim University) VC for establishing a Special Centre of the
university. AMU VC had sent the proposal to Bihar Government for
opening Special Centre two years back after getting the approval
from Union Ministry of HRD and President of India. Bihar
Government had offered 243 acres of land in three pieces at Chakla
Village adjacent to Kishanganj district headquarters in March
2010, which was not accepted by AMU VC after his visit to the
proposed site on May 22, 2010. Since then, apart from making
baseless allegations against the AMU VC and the proposal of Study
Centre, the Bihar Government has not taken any step to resolve the
issue and offer the land as per norms of Aligarh Muslim
University.
The world know very well
Bihar is one of the least literate states of India and the
percentage is worst in Seemanchal area of the state. People of the
educationally and economically deprived area of Seemanchal had
seen the new ray of development in AMU Special Centre Kishanganj.
The people of the area had become frustrated with the uncertain
delay made by the Bihar government and decided to do a protest
under the leadership of local leaders. On October 12, 2011, more
than 2 lakh common people including political leaders, activists
and journalists gathered at Kishanganj to participate in the grand
dharna and block the rail and road in frustration.
The dharna went for whole
day, and after 10 PM the issue got notice from national media due
to blockage of Guwahati- New Delhi route. The news was flashed in
almost all the leading news channels of India highlighting the
stoppage of trains like Rajdhani at various stations on the route.
Reason was the demand for the ‘AMU Special Centre land’ from the
Bihar Government. However, the national media presented in their
own ways.
Let me begin with NDTV,
one of country’s most authentic news channel in publishes the
report with heading “Students block railway tracks, 18 trains held
up in Bihar” (URL of report: http://origin-dev.ndtv.com/article/india/students-block-railway-tracks-18-trains-held-up-in-bihar-140727).
The heading somehow provides a tiny idea about the incident, but
the report inside is really misleading. The report says that the
“students affiliated to the All Islamic Students Union blocked
railway tracks in Bihar’s Kishanganj district”. The statement
within quote is false and totally misleading no such student
outfit has called the dharna or participated in any form for the
cause.
Next, Zee News – a leading
news channel of the country flashed the news at around 11 pm on
October 12, 2011. The anchor of the news channel has contacted its
reporter Brajesh Mishra to know the ground realities. The reporter
of Zee News answered the queries of news anchor irresponsibly and
said that the dharna is called by the political parties for the
‘Muslim Vote Bank’ issue. In fact, he tried to misguide the people
across the world by saying that local people are not happy with
the dharna and doing agitation against Congress and RJD. He had
not added a single line about the real issue and demand of
agitators, and the anchor summed up it by saying it ‘Muslim Vote
Bank’ issue. In truth the locals were always supporting the
movement and all kept their shops closed for the entire day. The
report of Zee News is available on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYAUPwcpUOI
The dharna was called off
midnight after the assurance of Puria Division Commissioner
Brajesh Mishra to resolve the land transfer issue within a month.
However, the response of leading political party’s leaders on the
dharna for AMU Centre Kishanganj is not encouraging. Nitish Kumar
slammed his main opposition RJD and also the political leaders
from neighbouring West Bengal state for joining the dharna. In
fact, he warned the political parties not to take the mileage of
the issue and said he himself wish to see AMU Centre in Kishanganj.
As many political leaders
from Bihar and Uttar Dinajpur (West Bengal) actively participated
in the dharna, so Nitish Kumar has the right to speak against
them. However, the statement of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi
published in Azad Hind Newspaper (Kolkata, October 15, 2011) about
the dharna is very sad and biased as well. The Trinamool Congress
(TMC) MP said the dharna happened at Kishanganj for AMU Centre is
like a ‘Terrorist Act’. I will write to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh to take strong action against the agitators and also request
to frame tough rule to discourage the acts like rail blockage.
There is nothing wrong in framing tough rules in the interest of
train passengers who suffer the most, but justifying a dharna in
demand for educational institute as a ‘Terrorist Act’ is woeful
and deserves criticism. In fact, the railway minister should
apologize for giving irresponsible statement with the use of
terrifying works that take the attention of common people away
from the real cause.
The country still reminds
the dozens of dharns and bandhs done by Trinamool Congress in West
Bengal before coming to power. The rail and road routes also got
badly affected due to closure (bandhs) called by Mamata Banerjee
many times, the party also played an important role to cause chaos
in Singur and Nandigram. The repeated bandhs called in support of
creating a separate Telangana state had badly affected the normal
life many times. What remarks Trivedi would give about the acts
done by his party workers in past and the Congress MP’s recent
three day rail rook andolan in Telangana. Are they not terrorizing
act?
Now the question, why a
movement actively participated by people from all corners of Bihar
was presented in misleading way by the national media and
politicians? The issue is related to the establishment of AMU
Special Centre in Kishanganj, which will open the windows of
opportunities for all sections of the society. Referring the issue
as a Muslim Vote Bank or a Terrorizing Act is very unfortunate and
it create bad impression about the real cause in the mind of
people residing across the nation. Such News Channels and
Politicians especially Dinesh Trivedi must apologize in the
interest of nation and its people.
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