PUDUCHERRY: Pondicherry University has written to the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development informing a committee has been formed to probe into a complaint regarding “Islamisation” of the institution.
The Committee, formed under the chairmanship of Professors Venkataragothaman, Mohan B Pillai and Krishnamurthy, has also submitted a report after probing the complaint.
The registrar in-charge, J Sampath, had informed the Union MHRD that the report had been submitted to the ministry. According to sources, the report said there was no attempt for Islamisation during the reign of a former vice-chancellor’s tenure. It also said that there was not adequate reservation for Muslims in the University.
It also denied there was no space for mosque allotted inside the University campus during the reign of the former vice-chancellor.
According to sources, a website had published that the ministry, in September last year, had asked the university to probe a complaint regarding “Islamisation” of the university.
According to the complaint filed by a Delhi-based organisation called Patriots Forum, the university had been Islamised under one of its former vice-chancellor, JAK Tareen, who retired in February, 2013. The complaint, as published by the website, further accused Tareen of attempting to build a mosque inside the university campus and introducing halal meat. The Patriots Forum’s complaint (as reported by Newslaundry), addressed to the HRD minister, Smriti Z Irani, stated:
“The process [Islamisation] started with Dr. JAK Tareen taking over as the Vice Chancellor on March 16 in 2007 and continued in an unbroken run over 6 years till February 1, 2013. Whether in the selection of faculty or admission of students, the stamp of gradual Islamisation was clear all through. A good number of Muslim students were from Kashmir, raising a clear suspicion that some among them could be genuine terrorists. Do not, Madam, all these make one believe that it was a planned strategy to develop a strong hold for the minority community?”
The forum suggested a purification ceremony by “organizations like the Vivekananda Kendra of Kanyakumari or the Arya Samaj” to negate the “pollution”.