I was much perplex to read the news of the ongoing Nagaland Legislative Assembly session carried by the local dailies on 23rd November, 2016 concerning the State Assembly which is said to have introduced the St. Joseph University Bill in considering request of the State Governor P.B. Acharya to change the nomenclature of the St. Joseph Catholic University to St. Joseph University on the ground that educational institution should not be named by any particular religion. What more perplexing and mortifying is the action of the State Cabinet having observed that there was no bar for such nomenclature and that there were universities in the country such as Banaras Hindu University and the Aligarh Muslim University, yet exhibited only semi conscious and passed the Bill in the Assembly instead of giving a befitting reply to the Governor and protect the only Christian University in the State but went all along with the desire of the State Governor.
We all know the back ground of State Governor P. B. Acharya’s religion that he is a Hindu to the core and wherever he goes he would profess and preach Hinduism and would be too happy to remove the Christian tag wherever possible even if he could not saffronize the State. In comparison, he is a much more zealous Hindu missionary in person than our Christian missionary’s zeal and there is nothing wrong in his attempt to universalize the Hindu philosophy but trying to remove the tag of Christian name from the Christian Education Institution is too immature and gone too far for the taste of a Governor. Meddling in the nomenclature of a Christian Institution could be violation of Right to Freedom of Religion under Article 25 of the Constitution of India if seriously viewed by a legal pundit.
Had our State’s Christian leaders been as zealous as the State Governor himself, they would have said no to the Governor and would not have sought for a No Objection from the sponsors, DMI Foundation, as stated in the paper but going under the squeaky no objection from the sponsor, the Cabinet and the State Legislature passed the bill comfortably and could not protect the Christian value. To rationalize and justify the name of religion in educational institute, let us look into some of the Famous Indian Universities/Institutions which are named after Religion in great contrast with the contention of the Governor. The first to start an institution in the name of religion was the Hindu themselves and way back in 1899, the Hindu College was established which became the famous University. Today there is Hindu College University, Delhi University; Hindu College University Sonepat, Haryana which has Hindu Girls College, Hindu Boys College, Hindu College of Education, Hindu College of Engineering, Hindu College of Pharmacy, Hindu Institute of Management. Besides, there is Hindu College at Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh; Hindu College Amritsar, Punjab; Hindu College Chennai, Tamil Nadu; Hindu Girls College, Moradabad, UP; Hindu College Guntur, Andhra Pradesh; Hindu College of Engineering Machilipatnam, Tamil Nadu; South Travancore Hindu College, Kenyakumari, TN; Hindu College Rohtak, Haryana, etc. The grandeur of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) can be well imagined. Started in the year 1916, it has now grown to such extent to organize into 6 institute, 14 faculties and more than 132 departments with a total student enrollment of 30,000 from 34 nations and has 75 dormitories (Hostel).
We also have side by side, the Aligarh Muslim University established in 1920 which is getting stronger and stronger year by year. We have also Jain University, Bangalore which is ranked as top No.5 Private University in India and is the top University in Bangalore. The St. Joseph Catholic University is a Private University and the chosen nomenclature of the university is solely the right and prerogative of the promoter as is seen in the case of Hindu College and Universities, Muslim and Jain Universities thus the Governor should not have interfered in the choice of nomenclature. Does the Governor find it inappropriate in use of nomenclature of a particular religion here in Nagaland only when it is Ok in the rest of the country? Is the Governor going to ask all the Hindu University, Muslim University, the Christian University and the Jain University in India not to be named by any religion as they are all educational institute? Applying the same yardstick the Governor should be prudent to immediately ask all the other state Government to change the nomenclature of all the universities named by religion as was done in the case of the St. Joseph Catholic University. If he does not do that then we the Nagas and the Christians in particulars have been just taken for a ride here.
I was anxiously waiting for the last three days that many voices shall be raised against such an action especially from the Church Associations but to my amazement it has been allowed to pass off just as a mere insignificant issue without realizing that this small insignificant issue is attack on Christianity in suppressing the core value of Right to Freedom of Religion. The Governor has already unleashed the first shot at Christianity and has triumphed. The nomenclature of St. Joseph Catholic University was the right and appropriate choice the promoter has chosen being in the heart of Catholic believers in the State and had maintained the identity of the promoter as the benchmark as seen in the case of other religion too. We see vertical division in most of the religion in the matter of doctrinal difference such as Mahayana and Hinayana in Buddhism; Svetambara and Digambara in Jainism, Sunni and Shia in Muslim, Catholic and Protestant in Christianity. The Protestant is the first vertical division of the Christianity from Catholic and all other denominations are offshoot of Protestant thereafter.
Let all Christian be united and beware of such objection on Christian name and uphold the core value of our faith
T. Meren Paul, Kohima
