New Delhi: In October last year, a UGC panel had recommended that words like ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ do not reflect the secular character of educational institutes and must therefore be dropped from the names of universities. The recommendation was made with reference to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU).The government sought AMU’s response to the recommendation, which AMU submitted in the last week of June.AMU has termed the recommendation “preposterous” in its formal response to the UGC. “The name of the university gives us an idea about its history, purpose and character and preserving the same is our bounden Constitutional duty,” AMU Registrar Javaid Akhter wrote to the government, a report in the Indian Express said.“The committee incorrectly draws the conclusion that by renaming AMU as Aligarh University would instil secular values. One must recall that in India the concept of secularism arises more from the discourse of justice and equality than from an anti-religious position mostly practiced in the West,” he reportedly said in response to the 15 suggestions contained in the audit ordered by the government.The Indian Express report further said that the UGC panel’s recommendation was made outside its audit mandate which was restricted to academic, research and financial operations in ten universities.However, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had said, “The government has no plans to change the names of AMU and BHU.”Also read: Debate: Jinnah, Muslim Separatism and Aligarh Muslim University In May this year, Satish Gautam, BJP MP from Aligarh had written to vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor asking him to explain why the university displays a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The letter had snowballed into an ugly conflict that resulted in lathi charge at the university, leaving scores of students injured.The Indian Express report also stated that the UGC panel had made made recommendations to the selection procedure of the university’s VC. The university was audited by a committee comprising IIT-Madras professor Shripad Karmalkar, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University V-C Kailash Sodani, Guwahati University professor Mazhar Asif and IIM-Bangalore professor Sankarshan Basu.