Promised dream on Persian university not materialised

patna: much-talked about maulana mazaharul haque arabic and persian university (mmhapu) continues to be non-existent despite successive bihar governments' tall promises and announcements in the last 17 years to set up the new university for proper growth of arabic and persian languages and literature not only for the benefit of muslim community, but also for others.expectations of the concerned, specially of a large number of urdu-speaking people, about the establishment of the university is gradually dying. the hypocrisy of the rabri devi government, which harps on taking up welfare measures for the minority community, has also been exposed due to delay in the setting up of the university, according to academic circles. although the plan was mooted first on march 11, 1983 by the then state government, it appeared to take some definite shape when the then governor and chancellor of universities a r kidwai inaugurated the "opening" of the university on april 10, 1998. the state government also appointed mukhtaruddin ahmad, a retired teacher of aligarh muslim university (amu), as first vice-chancellor and chandrashekhar, professor of persian language in delhi university, as pro-vice-chancellor of the university. surprisingly, the decision of the government remained on paper only. incidentally, a camp office of the university was also opened here on the hardinge road. an in-house magazine samwad of the bihar legislative council, edited by its chairman jabir hussain, has carried a detailed article on the fate of the university in its recent issue. the article laments that concept behind the opening of mmhapu in the name of great freedom fighter maulana mazahrul haque would become a thing of the past and could be one of the most distressing stories in the state's recent history. the then higher education and present parliamentary affairs minister, ram chandra purbey, who had initiated steps to give a definite shape to the university in 1998, following the directive of the council chairman, said non-establishment of the univesity reflected an utter failure of the state government. he said although the state government had completed all formalities to establish the university, it has continued to remain a non-starter as the proposal remained on paper only and is without any legal sanction. a formal proposal regarding opening of the university had been made in january 1990 by the then governor jagannath paharia while addressing a joint session of both the houses of the state legislature. tracing the failure of the present and past governments, hussain said that the matter had once reached an advanced stage. courses of study had also been prepared incorporating aspects of in-depth research and higher study in arabic and persian languages and literature besides imparting higher education in ancient culture, secularism, freedom movement, interaction of different cultures, journalism, library science and manuscript science, among others. significantly, the name plaque of the university, put up at the camp office at the time of inauguration, has mysteriously disappeared. the proposed office of the university is closed with a big lock put on its door. promise of the state government to allot 20 acres of land to the university is yet to be implemented, the article in samwad said.