The school for scandal?

At its inception, Jamia faced great hardship. Having broken away from the elite Aligarh tradition, it was starved of funds and had to depend on personal sacrifices by its founders. Hakim Ajmal Khan set aside a part of his earnings as a physician to provide for the monthly expenditure of Jamia and after his death in 1927 Zakir Hussain and Dr. M.A. Ansari chose to serve Jamia for the next 20 years on a nominal salary. But sacrifices were not only made by vice chancellors, ordinary teachers lived in hardship with the students and ensured that the daily work of Jamia was not interrupted. Teachers worked without salaries, lived and ate with students, and collected donations for meeting the daily expenses of running the educational institutions. Hence the development of Jamia was a collective and democratic effort which shaped its culture in the early years after independence.

By the 1937, when the Jamia campus had already shifted to Okhla, the university was an active participant in spreading Gandhiji8217;s idea of nai talim and vocational and school education became one of the cornerstones of Jamia education . Thus, at the threshold of independence, Jamia was emerging as a unique experiment that aspired for support from the independent Indian government. But the challenges confronting a new nation, also affected Jamia which, in the wake of limited support from the state, faced enormous financial difficulties. Jamia survived these challenges, under the able leadership of Mohommad Mujeeb, its forward-looking vice-chancellor. In this period the institution expanded its fields of study and promoted a genuinely scientific approach to the study of society, emphasising social equality, public welfare and a secular modern outlook. Both Zakir Hussain and Mohd. Mujeeb were nominated to the Planning Commission to use their Jamia experience for national development; the institution continued to struggle for a university status and regular support for its functioning. Thus Jamia became a model institution for the demonstration of the values of self-reliance that Nehru promoted in his vision of a modern India.

By 1962 however, Jamia was declared a deemed university and its staff at last began to draw regular salaries. In 1988 its status was upgraded to a Central University and is today a multi layered educational system which covers all aspects of schooling, college and post-graduate education for all sections of society. While it struggles to achieve the aims of its founders, the Jamia community has struggled against conservative tendencies which have tried to challenge this tradition 8212; especially evident in 1989 when a large section of the faculty rallied to defend the then pro-vice chancellor, Mushirul Hasan when he was attacked by conservative elements for objecting to the ban of Salman Rushdie8217;s Satanic Verses. Similarly, repeated demands for converting Jamia into a minority institution have always been contested within the the university.

Any attack on this legacy would have far-reaching implications on the liberal and nationalist character of Jamia. At this time of trial, it is vital that we recognise the unique contribution that Jamia and its people have made to the idea of modern India.

The writer is reader at the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies atJamia Millia Islamia