On Monday, Prakash Javadekar dismissed the possibility of dropping the words 'Muslim' and 'Hindu' from the names of Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University.
Earlier, it was reported by the Indian Express that the committee set up by the UGC has recommended removing the words 'Hindu' and 'Muslim' from the names of BHU and AMU to reflect their secular character. Javadekar did not refute the report but also said that till now any such decision has not been taken by the government.
"AMU and BHU are very old institutions, and we do not intend to change their names. We formed a committee to look into the administrative, academic and research audits of universities. The committee studied various aspects and I have not seen what they have said, but there is neither such decision nor is there any such intention to change the names (of these universities)," he said.
AMU responded to the panels' suggestion and Mohammad Asim Siddiqui of AMU public relations office said: "The term of reference of this committee is very important. The names Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University do not portray that these universities are not secular. This is a contradiction in itself since AMU has always been a secular university".