No intention to change Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University names, clarifies Prakash Javadekar

After UGC's suggestion to remove the words 'Muslim' and Hindu' from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday said the Centre has no such intention of making any changes.

"The government has not made any decision to change the name of AMU and BHU,” Javadekar was quoted as saying by ANI.

Earlier, the University Grants Commission (UGC) panel had suggested to remove the words as both the universities are centrally-funded and secular institutions.

The suggestion has been made in the audit of AMU by the committee set up by the UGC at the behest of the HRD Ministry to probe complaints of irregularities against 10 central universities, according to an Indian Express report.

The institution should either be called just ‘Aligarh University’ or be named after its founder, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the committee suggested in its audit.

The committee has also described AMU as 'feudal' in nature and called for measures to uplift poor Muslims on campus.

Though the AMU audit did not cover BHU, it has also recommended amending BHU’s name.

The panel’s mandate was limited to infrastructure and its academic, research and financial operations in these universities.

The panel has also made other recommendations such as - a five-year gap for all ex-students before they can be recruited as teachers in AMU and increasing the university’s tuition fee to help raise more resources internally.