India orders demolition of Muslim-founded university in Rampur

ISLAMABAD: Indian authorities in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) on July 15 ordered the demolition of 38 out of 40 buildings at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, a Muslim-founded institution. 

The demolition order was issued by the Rampur Development Authority (RDA), which alleged that the buildings were constructed without approved plans and in violation of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act of 1973, but critics note that the decision was politically motivated.

The government in UP is led by the far-right ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the hardline Hindu nationalist Yogi Adityanath serving as Chief Minister who's Hindu-national statements have targeted Muslims over a decade.

The university was named after Mohammad Ali Jauhar, a Muslim leader during the Indian independence movement. Prominent Muslim politician Azam Khan, a critic of the BJP in UP, founded the university.

Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan described the move as an act of political vendetta against a university that was tied to his party's founders and served a religious minority.

In a post on his Facebook account, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called the planned demolition "perverse," arguing that if construction violations were established, the appropriate response would be fines or a state takeover rather than the destruction of a functioning university in a state that already faces a shortage of higher education institutions. 

The university was given until August 5 to demolish the buildings itself, or the authorities would carry out the demolition and recover the cost from the institution

The controversy has landed in the middle of an already turbulent period for India's education sector. The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a youth-led protest movement, had spent recent weeks mobilizing students nationwide over alleged irregularities and paper leaks.

The sustained pressure culminated in the resignation of federal Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Since the order was issued, students, alumni and residents have held an ongoing sit-in outside the university's main gate, and a delegation of opposition lawmakers, including Uttar Pradesh Leader of the Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey and Samajwadi Party MPs, have visited the campus in solidarity.