Stage Set For Gandhi College Take Over By Govt. Special Correspondent

The entire displaced staff of the Gandhi Memorial College had then frantically implored with the Managing Committee of the Hindu Education Society Kashmir that they should be allowed to continue on the staff roll of the college. The camp college should in no case be wound up; they were ready if the college pays them even a paltry sum of rupees one thousand; their entire prestige and credibility was linked to their continuing as the teaching staff of the college; the label that they were the teachers in the prestigious college would at least make them find private tuitions so that they could earn some livings. They argued that all the Hindu Education Society cannot function just as any other private institution driven primarily by commercial considerations; the Hindu Education Society has to protect the interests of its Hindu staff displaced and ravaged by the communal cauldron in the Valley. Developments subsequently revealed that these teachers were least driven by any commitment to protect and uphold the Hindu minority status of the society.

Invoking the very spirit for which Hindu Education Society was registered way back in 1944 served the purpose the displaced Hindu staff in early nineties. The Hindu Education Society, despite the fact that the entire government aid which it received got consumed in running its college in Srinagar, payed its displaced Hindu staff almost the whole salary and ensured that the Gandhi Memorial Camp College functioned. For this it had to divert funds from revenues generated in other ventures of the education society. The staff which in 1990 had visualised a state of abject penury in the wake of their imminent dismissal from the rolls of the employees of the college, saw their income going up many notches. They received their emoulments from the college, had enough time to attend to private tuitions due to almost a non-functional camp college and many of them clandestinely ensured that they even received government relief. The same teaching staff after securing their interests are now working overtime to destroy the minority character of Hindu Education Society and paving way for its eventual takeover by the state government.

Enquiries by Kashmir Sentinel have revealed that a section of displaced Hindu teachers of the Gandhi Memorial Camp College Jammu lead by Mr Thusoo and Kamlesh Parimoo have been meeting NC functionaries in the government including Ali Mohd Sagar and Dr Abdullah. As per reports they have been pleading with them to take over the institution on the line of Islamic College. For this they have also enlisted the support of Muslim teachers recruited in the Gandhi Memorial College Srinagar after 1990. This coterie for quite sometime has been flirting with the idea that if the government takes over the institution it would permanently secure the interests of the present staff and at the sometime spare them the hardwork of ensuring the viability and success of the camp college Jammu under the aegis of Hindu Education Society.

Knowing very well that take over of Gandhi Memorial College has always been on the agenda of communal politics in the Valley, these teachers have been putting. the bait in front of the NC leaders quite regularly. As per unconfirmed reports NC functionaries in the government had expressed their inability to take over the institution because of the immunity which it enjoyed for being a minority institution and as such suggested them to change the constitution of the Hindu Education Society.

The subsequent sequence of events points that a meticulous plan has been devised to pave way for the eventual takeover of the institution. This coterie in contravention of the constitution of the Hindu Education Society started enrolling pliable members to the General Council. This Council held an extra ordinary meeting of General Council on 10/6/2001 and amended the Constitution of the Hindu Education Society. In the subsequent elections of the Managing Committee a group of persons having pro-NC learnings was elected.

The fact that the constitution amendment effected in fact had changed the very governing clause which underlined the Hindu minority character of the Hindu Education Society was hushed up. Sh. A.K. Diwani the new President of the Society lead this cover up campaign. When the secretary of the previous Managing Committee brought this fact to his notice along with the dangers to the Hindu Education Society by the amendment, Sh. Diwani indulged in a mischievous subterfuge. “Saying that the attempt has been made to alter the Hindu minority status of the HESK is totally a misrepresentation of the facts....the clause has not been omitted. It has been amended objectively after detailed deliberations to which you also contributed,” Sh. Diwani wrote to the former Secretary of HESK who also happened to be the chairman of the Constitution Amendment Committee.

The investigation made by KS revealed that not only has the governing clause HESK been changed in essence but the amendment to the constitution was made bypassing the Constitution Amendment Committee created by General Council itself. The Chairman of the Constitution Amendment Committee had forestalled any move to bring any change in the governing clause of the institution.

The Hindu Education Society was registered as a minority institution way back in 1944. The main governing clause which underlined the minority character of the institution was as, “the objects of the society are:- a) Propagating liberal education in consonance with the ideals of HIndu religion and culture among the inhabitants of Kashmir..” This clause was framed and introduced into the Memorandum of Association of Hindu Education Society by the such galaxy of eminent Kashmiri Pandits with impecable secular credentials like Pt. Shiv Narain Fotedaar, Pt. Bal Kak Dhar, Pt. Jia Lal Kalam, Pt. Amar Nath Kak, Pt. Janardhan Teng, Pt. Shambu Nath Dhar, Pt. Sana Koul Madan, Pt. Tara Chand Trisal, Pt. Ram Chand Pandita, Pt. Avtar Krishan Kitchloo and Pt. Prem Nath Sahib Kanaw.

The new General Council of the Society created through an illegal procedure changed this crucial clause on 10/6/2001. The changed clause now reads as. “The aims and objects of the society are--2.1 Propagation of liberal education within and outside the country.”

A prominent KP bureaucrat of the state government after knowing about the whole affair expressed dismay and disappointment. “They have paved the way for the destruction of an educational institution which was pride of the community and had survived the vicissitudes of the times”. Many other prominent Kashmiri Pandits have felt outraged by such a decision. Advocate Sunil Hali wrote to the present President of the Hindu Education Society Sh. AK Diwani thus, “the deletion of the aims and objectives from the earlier Memorandum of Association adopted in the year 1944, is contrary to the law and the constitution. It is for the protection of religion as also of the language spoken by such minorities, which clothe the institution with the power to seek protection under Articles 29 and 30 of the constitution. If in the aims and objectives this is deleted the Institution ceases to be a minority institution.”

The response of Sh. AK Diwani to the letter only betrayed the dangerous motivations behind the whole issue. She Diwani responds as, “....the objective under reference in the Memorandum of Association of the Society was decided to be changed after long deliberations in the constitution amendment committee as also in General Council of the Society. In both the forums it was felt that in the changed scenario, the society should not make education subservient to a particular thought and at the same time restrict it to a particular territory...In this context it was decided that minority character of the society can be retained by restricting the entry of non-Hindus to its GC and the Executive Body which constitute source of authority and exercise of powers”. As per reports neither was any legal counsel sought nor was the saner voice allowed to prevail on the matter. The contentions of Sh. A.K. Diwani on the subject betray a suicidal ignorance.

Sh. Sunil Hali responded to the contentions of Sh. Diwani again hoping to persuade those at the helm in Hindu Education Society. “I have gone through your letter wherein you have informed me about the reasons which have necessitated the change of aims and objects in the Memorandum of Association on 21/6/2001. It seems to me that the legal contentions raised by me have not been appreciated. The deliberations which have preceded the change of aims and objects have been made without any legal assistance. As already mentioned in my earlier letter the deletion of the Hindu minority character of the society is not in consonance with the provisions of Articles 28 and 30 of the Constitution of India and the reasons which have been expressed in your letter cannot be a circumstance to delete the object.”

Diwani chose to remain silent subsequently. Having been chosen to lead the coup in the Hindu Education society Mr Diwani cannot perhaps overstep his limits. So far he has avoided holding any General Council meeting to discuss the issue. His regularly attending meeting of the minority cell of NC, becoming member of Kashmiri Pandit General Council and also being made important member of the government sponsored trust for the management of Kashmiri Pandit Shrines and temples in Valley, it appears his involvement in Hindu Education Society has more in it than appeals to the eye. Prof Thusoo has already been made Principal of Gandhi College in Srinagar.

Meanwhile a group of prominent Kashmiri Pandits have debated the issue thoroughly. They have taken the legal advice and appear to be convinced that the amendment has to be annuled by all means. As per reports some General Council members have approached Mr Diwani to call the General Council meet to discuss the issue. Many General Council members have started appreciating the dangers of the change. The issue is gradually becoming a focus of community discussions in Jammu. The issue may snowball into a controversy of wider dimensions.