Shibli National Post- Graduate College (SNPC), Azamgarh in UP and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI),  Delhi are two well-known educational institutions run by Muslims with a common nationalist heritage. Both these institutions have their genesis in the Freedom Movement against the British rule. The present day SNPC, in fact started as a madarsa founded by great nationalist Maulana Shibli in 1883. He was well aware of the designs of the British rulers to divide Hindus and Muslims after the Great Uprising of 1857. He was quick to realize that the education system run by the rulers was a powerful tool to divide Indians and make them rootless. Few months before his death in 1914 he also founded DARUL MUSANNEFEEN (the House of the Authors) where intellectuals and authors would live together to work on series of books on different aspects of knowledge keeping in view the interests of the Indian people. After Shibli's death it was named as Shibli Academy, housing one of the greatest reference libraries in Asia. In 1930s when communal forces both among Hindus and Muslims were working overtime to divide the society to the satisfaction of the British rulers the followers of Maulana Shibli renamed the madarsa as Shibli National Inter College which later developed into the present SNPC. Those were the times when the British rulers hated the word ‘National.’

  This whole complex became the hub of activities of great personalities of the freedom struggle like Gandhiji, Moti Lal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malviya, Sarojni Naidu and Jawahar Lal Nehru. They came here to hold important   meetings of Congress. This institution is known for its principled opposition to the idea of two-nation theory and never wavered from it. The present day SNPC is proudly continuing with the same heritage. Today out of a total strength of 9500 students almost 7000 are Hindu students. On its Library walls hang big rare photographs of Mira Bai, Premchand, Rabinder Nath Tagore, Gandhiji, Dr. Ambedkar and Maulana Shibli from last so many decades underlying the unique essence of this great institution. It is also one of the rare educational institutions run by Muslims which does not have a mosque on its campus.

  Following the same tradition Jamia was co-founded by Gandhiji and Maulana Mohammed Ali Johar in 1920, after Gandhiji’s call to boycott the educational institutions run by the British rulers. It too, became a center of the National Movement and remained an eye sore for both the Muslim League and the British masters. JMI which was founded in Aligarh shifted to Delhi in 1925. The Jamia academic community stood as a solid rock against the two- nation theory.  Gandhiji was always proud of this institution.

  Interestingly when Muslim League claimed to be the sole representative of the Muslims of pre-partition India, these were the Muslims who firmly rejected its postulations and claims.  The intellectuals from amongst these ‘Nationalist’ Muslims were aware of the fact that if Muslims were to be saved from falling prey to communal politics of Muslims being a separate nation, they had to have educational institutions which will provide Muslim education seekers an environment of objectivity and reason. These would not only act as a bulwark against the imperialistic designs of divide and rule of the British masters but also give birth to a resurgent India.

  These two notable Muslim centers of education with a common glorious anti-colonial and nationalistic heritage have recently been subjected to a common communal onslaught from police and forces of Hindutva. SNPC was the first institution to face the brunt. The communal Hindu forces chose the last Republic Day for the onslaught on this secular institution. SNPC, as in the past, celebrated the Republic Day on January 26, with Tricolor hoisting ceremony and NCC parade in which more than 500 students, teachers, employees and district officials participated. However, one ABVP leader filed an FIR on the afternoon of the following day, January 27, complaining that the College did not celebrate the Republic Day on the previous day as the Muslim management was not willing to have Vande Mataram sung. The FIR also mentioned that on January 26 itself, in the presence of the College Principal one Muslim teacher of the Chemistry Department, not only abused ‘Bharat Mata’ but also threw down the National Flag on floor and walked over it-jhande ko pairon se ronda. The same day, two more FIRs were filed by persons connected with the RSS, implicating many more unnamed persons in the same kind of offences. Most astonishingly the administration without verifying the facts and devoid of any common sense arrested Principal of the College and kept him in jail with hardened criminal for two days with all kinds of communal insinuations showered on him. 14 students were also arrested and kept in jail for more than 45 days. An investigation team consisting of Dr. Asheesh Mital, Satender Singh, advocate (from Allahabad), Dr. N. Bhattacharya and this writer (from Delhi University) which went to Azamgarh has corroborated that all the boys who happened to be Muslims were not allowed to sleep for four continuous days. They were beaten black and blue in the jail everyday, repeatedly forced to shout Jai Hanuman, sodomised by the hard core criminals on the instigation of some people (who used to roam inside the jail as officials but seemed to have direct links with the Hindu communal organizations) and bailed out only by the Allahbad High Court. The bone chilling horrible details of religious persecution (like shaving off their beards) which these boys have related to the team will put even the most barbaric theocratic states of the past to shame. Here, despite there being no named FIR against these innocent young boys and men, the local judiciary forgot to assure them basic human rights. In the case of the named teacher, under the garb of attachment orders even the doors of his house were taken away which in no way constituted the category of moveable property.

  Jamia was targeted on April 9. The PUCL and other media reports have clearly highlighted the fact that this time it was Delhi Police which took upon itself the responsibility of teaching a memorable lesson to the ‘ISI agents,’ ‘Pakistanis,’ ‘anti-national,’ Muslim hostlers of this  University. The rampaging Delhi Police while using phrases like, ‘Pakistan bana rakkha hae yahan’ specifically targeted students with beards and kurta pyjama thus greviously wounding many non-Muslim students also. The students who were busy preparing for exams were thrown from first, second and third floors of the hostel buildings and the victims when landed on the ground received terrible bashing at the hands of the waiting khaki. The police dogs were let loose after those students who hid themselves in the pits in order to save themselves from the police savagery with shouts, ‘mulla ki tang pakar ke laa.’ The sniffer dogs were taken to the mosque situated in the hostel complex. It was ransacked and Imam was spared only when multiple fractures on his body were visible. The beards were plucked in order to make the victims, ‘Indian’.

  One can easily see in this frenzy recreation of the scenes from Bankim’s controversial novel Anandmath, a favourite of the RSS. “The moment they saw a Muslim, Hindus ran after to kill him..The Santans set fire to the homes of  Muslims and plundered their properties..Many of them shaved off their beards and put up a Tilak of chandan. They too started chanting Ram, Ram. They declared themselves to be Hindus.”(Chapter 4 Section 1)  Such scenes were witnessed in these two places.

  You have to meet the victims to gauge the feeling of hurt, humiliation, helplessness and isolation. The feeling of disillusionment with the Indian secular state is too glaring to be missed. It is difficult to believe that these are un-related and isolated incidents. MS Golwalkar, the ideologue of the RSS, while referring to ‘Internal Threats’ named Muslims, Christians and Communists in the descending order. His dictum that, “the hostile elements within the country pose a far greater menace to national security than aggressors from outside,” seems to be the latest wisdom of the police that has been communalized meticulously.

  In fact, by targeting all such institutions that symbolize peoples’ unity and common nationalist heritage, the Hindutva wants to achieve another nefarious goal. It knows very well that such attacks are only going to strengthen the communal and fundamentalist organizations among Muslims which are bound to tell the Muslims that see togetherness and secularism make no sense. The RSS unfortunately believes that without communal Muslims it will not be possible to legitimize the communal extremism of Hindutva. Secular Muslims are proving to be the greatest stumbling block on the road to the fulfillment of its dream of Hindu Rashtra. Hence they are working overtime to destroy the secular India.