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As Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav campaigns extensively in Bihar for the Assembly polls, his party on Tuesday reiterated its demand for the completion and full functioning of the satellite branch of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Kishanganj district of Bihar. The party described the educational backwardness of the Seemanchal region, of which Kishanganj is a part, as the primary cause of its economic underdevelopment and that of Bihar. It added that the SP is keen to address Seemanchal’s developmental needs, calling for a broader solidarity of socialist and democratic forces to create world-class educational infrastructure. “We did advocate for the AMU Kishanganj campus, aligning with our broader social justice and PDA rights agenda. Bureaucratic hurdles such as land acquisition and thus infrastructure planning contributed to the delay. The SP is keen to address Seemanchal’s development, especially after the Sachar Committee Report, raising this issue for which the SP stands for its secular and socialist ideologies and being the third largest party in Parliament is playing the role of a national-level secular alternative. Championing AMU Kishanganj will serve as a symbolic and substantive commitment to educational equity,” SP spokesperson Naseer Salim said. Mr. Salim, who is the great-grandson of Lady Anees Imam, one of the founders of modern Bihar who played a distinctive role in the anti-colonial movement before Independence, added that the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) plank, which also includes aadhi aabadi (women) and upper castes, remains central to the SP’s vision. The AMU Kishanganj campus remains incomplete even after more than a decade, operating from temporary buildings with only one functional course. The branch, established in 2011 as part of a nationwide initiative for higher education among Muslim populations following recommendations by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, currently functions from a temporary structure at Halim Chowk in Kishanganj. The Seemanchal region is considered one of the most backward parts of India in terms of education and nearly all other indices of human development. Another senior SP leader and national spokesperson, Ram Pratap Singh, said, “The PDA ideology of the Samajwadi Party is for creating infrastructure and delivery of world-class education at all levels. This would mean that we not only have to strengthen our existing institutions of higher learning but replicate successful models across the country.” Mr. Yadav is currently campaigning across Bihar, addressing multiple rallies daily in support of INDIA bloc candidates. Speaking about the activism of Lady Anees Imam, Mr. Salim said, “Lady Anees Imam’s activism was deeply intertwined with social reform and the educational upliftment of women in Bihar. Her struggle was not just political; it was cultural and educational, aimed at transforming the mindset of a society that had long excluded women from public and intellectual life. “Lady Imam was among the first Muslim women in Bihar to publicly reject purdah, challenging entrenched patriarchal norms across both Hindu and Muslim communities. She founded institutions like Aghor Kamini Shilpalaya and Aghor Nari Pratishan, which provided industrial and vocational education to women, especially in Patna and surrounding regions. Her struggle was not just about resisting colonial rule; it was about reshaping society from within, empowering women to become agents of change.” Asked whether Lady Imam contributed to the anti-colonial movement in the United Provinces, present-day Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Salim said her primary base was Bihar, though her influence extended beyond regional boundaries. “She led a delegation to England on behalf of the All-India Congress to oppose the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919, a national-level intervention that impacted policies across British India, including the Hindi belt. Her contributions were more national in scope, rather than geographically centred in the Hindi belt. Her work bridged elite and grassroots activism, showing that upper-caste Muslim women could be powerful agents of change in a deeply stratified society,” the SP spokesperson said. When asked whether the magnitude of social injustice against women has declined in recent decades or merely reinvented itself, SP national spokesperson Ram Pratap Singh said, “Yes and no is my answer. Yes, education, healthcare and social welfare have marginally become better. More is being talked about to generate political optics but in real terms the delivery on the ground is a distant dream. The West-inspired model of development of the last two decades has not created any significant opportunities for women, as is evident from an abysmally low, around 15%, female participation in the labour force in most Indian States. Rural infrastructure, which impacts women the most, has also not much improved.”
