Tariq Mansoor is an Indian professor who is serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in India since 17 May 2017.
Wiki/Biography
Tariq Mansoor was born on Thursday, 20 September 1956 (age 66 years; as of 2022) in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Virgo. He did his schooling at Our Lady of Fatima Senior Secondary School, Aligarh. He pursued M.S. (Surgery) at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 7″
Hair Colour: Salt and Pepper
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Tariq’s father’s name is Hafijul Rahman.
Wife & Children
Tariq is married to Dr Hameeda Tariq, who is a paediatrician.
Tariq Mansoor with his wife
His son’s name is Mohd. Nasir.
Signature
Tariq Mansoor’s signature
Career
Early Career
Tariq became a clinical registrar at the JN Medical College and started teaching MBBS students there from 1980 to 1983. From 1983 to 1985, he was the CMO of the Medical College. He started working as a surgical specialist at King Fahr Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia in 1985 and worked there for one year. From 1986 to 1993, he worked as an Assistant Professor at JN Medical College. He worked as an Associate Professor for 9 years. From 1997 to 1999, he was the Honorary Secretary of the AMU Teaching Staff Association. He became a professor at the Department of Surgery, JN Medical College and worked for 11 consecutive years from 2002 to 2013. From 2006 to 2009, he was the chairman of the Department of Surgery at JN Medical College. In 2007, he became the secretary of the University Games Committee and worked till 2014. From 2013 to 2017, he became the Principal of Medical and CMS. In 2013, he became the Chief Medical Superintendent at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital. Since 2013, he works at AMU Court.
Professor
On 17 May 2017, she became the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. He worked as a Member of the Medical Council of India and the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management (Lucknow), Governing Body of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation (Ministry of Minority Affairs, Govt. of India) and the National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India. He worked in many committees including the Ministry of Education/UGC and discussed national education issues such as “Online Teaching, “Online Examination,” “Promotion of Online Education” and “National Credit Framework”. He is also a member of the Academic Advisory Committee, NAAC, Bengaluru and a Member of the National Focus Group: Educational Technology for Schools. He was elected President of the Association of Surgeons of India (UP), Secretary of the Aligarh Muslim University Teachers’ Association and thrice Member of the Executive Council of Aligarh Muslim University where he represented the teaching faculty. When he was the vice-chancellor of AMU, he established the College of Nursing, Para Medical College, Department of Cardiology and Centres for Bio-Medical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Green & Renewable Energy and NHM Projects such as Paediatric Early Intervention Centre of Excellence, Paediatric Cardiac Evaluation and Cardiac Surgery Centre (PCECS), MCH Wing, Dara Shikoh Centre for Interfaith Understanding & Dialogue. He also sought approval for the Institute of Pharmacy from the President of India. After he became the VC, AMU was accredited A+ Grade by NAAC for 5 years and was among Five Central Universities granted Category II Autonomy by University Grant Commission. In the university, many new courses were started including D.M. (Cardiology), MCH (Neurosurgery), M.B.A. (Hospital Administration and Islamic Finance), Masters in Architecture, M.Tech in Solar Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Material Sciences, Green Energy and Sustainable Development, Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Management, M.Voc (Hons), B.Tech in Food Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Automobile Engineering (Electrical Vehicles), M.Sc. in Digital Science, Cyber Security and Digital Forensics, four new MD courses in Faculty of Unani Medicine, B.Sc. Nursing, and B.Sc. in Para Medical Courses. Tariq represented India in India-Indonesia Inter-Faith Dialogue in Yogyakarta. He was also a part of the delegation of the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India in 2018 in Indonesia, the R20 International Religion Forum Summit (part of G-20 events in conjunction with the Indonesian Presidency of G-20) in Bali in 2022, a symposium on Higher Education in South Asia held in Istanbul which was organised by Hollings Center for International Dialogue, Washington, USA in 2019.
Controversies
Protests against Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s portrait in the university
In 2018, students at AMU started protests against the portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah hanging on the university campus. Tariq called it a non-issue and even met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to talk about it. He said that the portrait of the Pakistan founder was in the AMU students’ union office since 1938. To stop the students from protesting, a 16-member coordination committee of senior faculty members was made. On the other hand, the students demanded action against right-wing protesters who shouted slogans at the university. They also demanded a judicial probe into the “police inaction.”
Alleged of corruption
In 2022, the national spokesperson of Hindu Mahasabha, Ashok Pandey accused Tariq of corruption in a land scam, appointment scam and irregularities in the medical college. Ashok revealed that no action was taken against the people who illegally occupied the land on which AMU was built. He further said that the land was later taken by Tariq and was named after his nephew. He also accused him of arranging jobs for his son and daughter-in-law at a medical college.
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- 2013: Eminent Senior Surgical Teacher Award from the Association of Surgeons of India (UP)
- 2017: Life Time Achievement Award for his distinguished public services
Facts/Trivia
- His hobbies include playing tennis and reading about education, history, international affairs and politics.
- He has written 102 publications and was a supervisor for thesis of 58 postgraduate medical students.
- In 2018, Tariq invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind as Chief Guests at the University Convocation.
Tariq Mansoor with Ram Nath Kovind
- In 2018, the governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik seek Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar’s intervention in the safe study of the Kashmiri students at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Malik told Tariq to ensure a safe, secure and well-disposed academic environment for Kashmiri students at the university.
- In 2019, in a statement, Tariq talked about the anti-social elements (including expelled ex-students) who entered the university by breaking the Bab-e-Syed gate and started stone-pelting the police. In the statement, he said that the university was left with no other choice than to call the police. He further added that the students did this after fake news about the death of two students of Jamia Millia Islamia in police firing was spread.
- In 2019, the Central government told Tariq to sanction a grant of over Rs. 100 crore for the construction of hostels at the university’s off-campus centres in Kerala and West Bengal. Tariq agreed to give funds for the construction. The AMU off-campus centres in Malappuram (Kerala), Murshidabad (West Bengal) and Kishanganj (Bihar) were not provided basic facilities because of the funds.
- Tariq started smart classes for online teaching at the university during the Covid-19 pandemic. The JNMC Hospital did testing, treatment and vaccine trials for Covid-19 with his help.
- In 2020, when he was the vice-chancellor of AMU, students in the university protested against the CAA-NRC movement. He stopped the students from doing dharna on campus. Amid the protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the students online. After BJP CM Narayan Dutt Tiwari visited AMU long ago, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the campus in 2020.
- In 2020, students in the university protested against him during the Republic Day function after he commented on the CAA-NRC protests taken out at the university. In the speech, he said that only peaceful protests would be allowed on the campus. The students came forward and started raising slogans to remove Tariq as the vice-chancellor. After the protests, strict action was taken against the students who protested.
Protests at AMU during Republic Day
- He wrote a letter to the UP chief secretary and police chief and told him that students who were protesting against the CAA movement were threatening him and his family. In the letter, he mentioned that he was called an ”RSS/BJP member” and CAA ”supporter.”
- In 2020, he became the first volunteer for the third phase of clinical trials for Covaxin by pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Tariq Mansoor during third phase of clinical trials for Covaxin
- In 2021, Tariq expressed his condolences on the death of former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh after which there were posters put in the campus against him. In the posters, students said that Tariq had committed an ‘unforgiving crime’ because Kalyan Singh was the CM when the Babri masjid was demolished in 1992.
Poster put by AMU students against Tariq Mansoor
- In 2022, he supported the Agneepath Yojana brought for army recruitment and asked the youngsters to participate in it and not oppose it.
- In 2023, he was chosen as the Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) from the BJP by UP governor Anandibai Patel. He resigned from the post of vice-chancellor after being selected for BJP. In an open letter to university students and staff, Tariq said,
As I demit office, this is the last time I address you as the Vice-Chancellor. I had the opportunity of serving the institution for six years during good and challenging times.”
- The students at AMU claim that Tariq never supported the students of his college and was always opposing him. According to the students, during the CAA protests, he gave permission to the police and paramilitary to enter the university campus and did not stop the police from attacking the students. The Aligarh Muslim University removed books by two Islamic scholars Abul A’la al-Maududi of Pakistan and Sayyid Qutb of Egypt from its syllabus of the Department of Islamic Studies. They claimed that Right-wing ideologues requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove the book from the syllabus. In 2023, Tariq gave his opinion on the BBC series — The Modi Question after which he was criticised by the students and secular groups. In the statement given by Tariq, he said that the Muslim minority community in India under Right-Wing rule was not facing any problems.