Sunday, May 22 2005 08:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) said it would legally challenge the Government's decision to provide 50 per cent reservation for Muslims in 36 courses in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), which it termed as "illegal and unconstitutional".

"We have consulted our lawyers. We have decided to move the courts against the decision", VHP Secretary General Praveen Togadia told sources in New Delhi.

Alleging a "conspiracy" behind the move, he claimed that a Joint Secretary in the Union HRD Ministry had sent a letter to the AMU on February 25 granting "minority status" to it "which the institution did not have under the 1981 AMU Act".

Togadia alleged that the Executive Council of the University met on the same day and thanked both HRD Minister Arjun Singh and Congress leader Waseem Ahmed for the same.

Subsequently, Singh and Ahmed visited Aligarh on March 2, 2005 and were honoured by the University, he alleged and accused the HRD Minister of "misleading" Parliament on the issue by saying that the city did not have any minority institution.

Earlier, Togadia told reporters that VHP's youth wing Bajrang Dal would mobilise youth in universities across the country on the issue.