Students of Osmania University have finally come up with a demand not related to the Telangana agitation but with removal of religious structures from the campus. The demand has become even more pressing in the context of groups of students damaging an idol in a temple located on the campus last week.
Several student wings have requested the varsity for an amicable removal of religious structures constructed on campus after an RTI query revealed that there are 15 temples and 10 mosques and dargahs on the campus which are illegal.
While only one structure, Sainuddin Mosque, was allotted 22 guntas of land during the Nizam period, the other religious structures are basically ‘encroachment’ of the varsity’s property, the RTI reply said. It said that places of worship were not given to any party “either on lease or free”.
Student groups, including the All India Students’ Front, Progressive Democratic Students’ Union, Telangana Vidyarthi Vibhag, Students’ Federation of India, Bahujan Students’ Front, Telangana Students’ Association, Dalit Students’ Union and Tribal Students’ Union, in a petition given to OU authorities, have demanded the removal of these religious structures.
The same demand was made in September 2012, though the university authorities had not acted on it.
“Osmania University is a secular and democratic space meant for education. The space cannot be used as a place of worship,” said a student leader.
Government rules prevent the establishment of places of worship in public institutions, observers said. The RTI query asking for details of religious structures on campus was filed by Stalin and B Salaiah, two OU research scholars. The students said that in the recent clashes, places of religious worship were targeted. “Presence of such structures on campus creates communal disharmony,” said Pidamarthi Ravi, a student leader of OU. Even the university authorities are thinking of taking a proactive stand on this issue.
Though aware of the sensitive situation regarding eviction of sites encroached for constructing religious structures, the university authorities have decided to place the matter “before higher authorities for taking appropriate action”, the RTI response from the university authorities said. “We cannot order an eviction. But talks will be held with custodians of these religious structures to chalk out an amicable solution,” said a top university official.
———courtesy: TOI
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