Hyderabad: Around 10,000 people from the city have signed an online petition over the past weekend demanding the prestigious Osmania University’s logo to be restored to its original form. The demand came after many people, especially old timers, realised that consecutive state governments changed the logo over a period of time.
The petition, started by Zuhair Madani on change.org, has so far garnered over 9,800 signatories until the time of publishing. The original logo of the Osmania University had both Arabic and Urdu inscriptions. The upper part of the logo had the turra (crown) of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh (and last) Nizam and founder of Osmania University.
The crown was surrounded by wandering beams of lights and the words ‘Noorun Ala Noor’ were printed in Arabic.
Over a period of time, Urdu and Arabic inscriptions were replaced by Telugu and Hindi texts in the logo.
Sibghatullah, an architecture student who runs the Instagram handle Deccan Archive, which documents Hyderabad’s history, said: “The logo was changed long ago, but we’re only paying attention to it now. Last year I made a decoded version of the logo which went viral and triggered an internet campaign for the same. Not just the logo but the medium of instruction has changed from Urdu to English.”
But the Telangana government prepared a new logo and removed Urdu and Arabic from it, replacing them with Telugu and Hindi. It also removed the crown of Nizam from the logo.
Netizens appeal for the restoration of OU emblem
Restore the original #OUlogo trended on Sunday as many people took to Twitter and demand to restore the original logo of Hyderabad’s Osmania University which had Noor un Ala Noor written in Urdu was changed after the formation of Telangana sate.
Even the non-minority alumni of the university raised objections over the change and said it showed the communal mindset.
History of Osmania University
Osmania University was one of the earliest universities in India, established in 1918, after Osman Ali Khan issued a farman (order) to set it up in 1917. It was the first varsity which had provided higher education in Urdu medium. The seventh Khan founded the university, but after the annexation of the erstwhile Hyderabad state (1724-1948) to India, the medium of instruction was changed to English eventually.