Tuesday was a dream-come-true for Mohammad Azam Khan, a senior minister with the UP Government, as the Maulana Jauhar Ali University at his home district Rampur was inaugurated after a 10-year-long wait.
Named after renowned educationist Mohammad Ali Jauhar, the university was inaugurated by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in a pompous function, which had his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as the chief guest. Most of the ministers and senior officials of the SP Government attended the opening ceremony, which was Khan’s show of strength. With VIPs flocking in to Rampur, the air traffic control had a hard time giving clearance to chartered and private flights.
Mulayam and Akhilesh were all praise for Khan’s “untiring efforts” to fulfil his dream. At a time when most of the state universities are facing financial crisis and teachers struggling to get their salaries, the state government had allotted `10 crore for Jauhar Ali University alone. The SP’s Khan appeasement has been attributed to projecting the Muslim face of the party. The presence of the entire state Cabinet too revealed Khan’s clout in the government. In the last six months alone, Akhilesh had to revert his decisions half-a-dozen times to please Khan, who every now and then threatened to quit. Three years ago, Khan was sacked from the SP after a feud with party’s then powerful leader Amar Singh. Later, Amar was dismissed from the party and Mulayam brought Khan back to the party fold. Though he campaigned extensively for the 2012 Assembly elections, he preferred Mulayam to Akhilesh as the Chief Minister, which still reflects in his attitude towards Akhilesh’s decisions.
As part of pleasing Khan, the state government is all set to release huge funds for the university, which had been a bone of contention between the UP Government and Raj Bhavan. Khan had been vying for the post of Vice-Chancellor of the university, but was refused by the Governor. Later, he introduced it as a private university with minority status, which the Raj Bhavan declined to approve.
The disapproval from Raj Bhavan -- since the days of T V Rajeshwar and now B L Joshi -- irked Khan, who accused the Congress of being “anti- Muslim”. He had used harsh words against Rajeshwar, but was saved from being sacked after an apology. Even former CM Mayawati hadn’t allowed the passage of the Bill for the varsity.