Shibli Academy reject Rs 5 L grant by UP govt, calls it insult

Over a century-old Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy has refused to accept a grant of Rs 5 lakh from Uttar Pradesh government, terming it as an "insult" to the Islamic insitution, located in SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's constituency Azamgarh.
"We had given a proposal of Rs 22 crore for the academy on being asked by the government, but only Rs 5 lakh were given. The amount is inadequate as nothing can be done in it and it's insulting too for us.
"The Academy administration is astonished and upset with the buget provisions," its Director Ishtiyaq Zilli told PTI over phone from Azamgarh.

"We will not accept the amount. We are surviving for past 101 years without government help and will do so in future too," he added.
Stating that Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru and other luminaries were associated with Academy in the past, Zilli underlined that the academy played a distinguished role in freedom movement.
The Academy completed 100 years in November 2014 and marked it with three-day long events, inaugurated by Vice -President of India Hamid Ansari and attended by scholars from several countries.