Mulling denial of govt jobs to graduates of a Muslim university: Assam CM

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday that his government is discussing the possibility of graduates from a Muslim-owned university not being eligible to apply for posts in the Assam government, The Indian Express reported.

However, the university in question, the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM), owned by a Bengali-Muslim Mahbubul Hoque, is among the top 200 universities under NIRF. It’s a foundation owned by Hoque that owns the university, and he himself is its chancellor.

Sarma’s statements follow a barrage of accusations he aimed at Hoque for flash floods in Guwahati, claiming that the deforestation and hill cutting for construction of USTM’s campus resulted in the mentioned crisis. Sarma also claimed that the architecture of the university’s main gate, which is a three-domed structure, is a sign of “jihad”, TIE reported.

On Wednesday, the CM, who never hesitated to spew hardline right-extremist comments in the past, said that his government in the state had another discussion about students who have passed from USTM not being able to participate in Assam’s advertised posts.

“Now we have another discussion about students who have passed from USTM not being able to participate in Assam’s advertised posts. It’s a certificate from another state,” TIE quoted Sarma. Our students from Guwahati and Dibrugarh University are suffering because of this. That’s why I have asked the legal department to examine this – that if students from USTM want a job in Assam, they will have to take another exam. This is not just USTM but also from West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and all outside universities. But my anger against USTM is a little more. Because they are throwing water at us.”

Meanwhile, a press reporter from a regional news house asked Sarma about the illegal cutting of hills in the Mandakata constituency, which Sarma represents; he claimed that Mandakata could not be equated to USTM and asked why the media is trying so hard to save USTM.