RAZING QUESTIONS
The madrassa is the new battleground in the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Assam, with the respective governments raking up issues such as the funding and staff of the Muslim religious schools. In Assam, the state government has also brought out the ‘bulldozer’, demolishing three madrassas that were alleged to be “jihadi centres” fomenting anti-India activity.
In UP, it’s the Yogi Adityanath-led government’s decision to conduct a survey of unrecognised madrassas that has triggered much trepidation within the community. The survey has a 12-point questionnaire that the state claims is meant only to collect data on the number of students, staff, source of funds and the possible affiliation of unrecognised madrassas with NGOs. That hasn’t stopped the opposition, though, from making doomsday predictions.
The apprehensions are not without merit, considering that the Yogi regime has been the prime mover in the “bulldozer culture” that has inspired fellow BJP governments in other states. UP’s minister of state for minority welfare
Danish Ansari tries to dispel the fears. ‘’The bulldozers will not run on the madrassas…the survey’s aim is to collect data of unregistered ones and make sure they become properly governed education systems,” he says. “Our government is doing this to better the madrassas; students there must also learn about technology and the new education system.’’ The UP state board recognises 16,513 madrassas, but there are many irregular ones, the minister adds.
Ansari says the state felt the need for the survey when in May a maulana at a madrassa in Lucknow’s Gosainganj area put two of his wards in chains to prevent them from running away. On June 2, state Child Protection Commission member Suchita Chaturvedi wrote a letter to the chief secretary. “I inspected six madrassas,” she says. “Some of the teachers didn’t have any subject knowledge and are depriving the children of their rights to focus on their religious education. There are more than 25,000 such illegal madrassas in the state. They should be shut down.” The government announced the surveys on August 31.
The principal opposition Samajwadi Party has called out the “harassment of Muslims”. S.T. Hasan, the SP MP from Moradabad, says, “The BJP is an expert at polarising Hindu-Muslim politics. What is the reason for the survey—have they found guns at the madrassas?” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was a bit more circumspect, tweeting that no survey of a place of worship is justified if it hurts religious sentiments. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, who has of late given up on the Brahmin community and is trying to get back into the good graces of her former Muslim cohorts,
accused the BJP of terrorising Muslims by “interfering in the functioning of private madrassas” operating on “qaum ke chande (community donations)”.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi was more articulate in his remonstrations, citing Article 30 of the Constitution, which says that the minorities have a fundamental right to set up educational institutions of their choice. “Madrassas have come up as per Article 30, so why has the UP government ordered a survey? This is just a mini NRC (the controversial National Register of Citizens). They just want to harass Muslims,” he says.
Muslim scholars in the state are divided over the surveys. Maulana Arshad Madani, principal of the renowned Darul Uloom in Deoband, sees nothing wrong in it. “There are no illegal activities at the madrassas. If any madrassa has been constructed illegally, we have no problem if the government demolishes it,” he said on September 18.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), though, questions the UP government’s motives. “Minority institutions are being targeted even though they are protected under the law. If the issue is restricting religious education and promoting a secular model, then why isn’t the government taking action against RSS-run gurukuls?” asks Qasim Rasool Ilyas, executive member, AIMPLB.
TROUBLE IN THE HILLS Meanwhile, in Assam, a nearly fivedecade-long history of agitations over illegal Bangladeshi immigrants has now metamorphosed into a HinduMuslim conflict. And madrassas are the latest points of contention. In the past two months, local authorities have demolished three of them, in the Morigaon, Barpeta and Bongaigaon districts, respectively. On paper, they were illegal constructions, but insiders claim they were being probed for links to terror outfits like Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Bangladesh-based Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says Assam is becoming a “hotbed” of Islamist radicals, with “jihadists” masquerading as imams or teachers in madrassas. Since February, the Assam Police have arrested 36 people, including two imams and three madrassa teachers allegedly involved in carrying out financial transactions for the ABT. The National Investigation Agency has made another four arrests. The air has become so vitiated that on September 6, locals took matters into their own hands and razed a madrassa in Goalpara district for alleged jihadi links.
However, questions are also being raised on the intent of the BJP-led state government. Calling the bulldozer action a political stunt to garner Hindu votes, Lok Sabha MP and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal says the Sarma government was trying to instil fear among the Muslims, who constitute 35 per cent of the state’s population. “There may be some anti-social elements in the community and the government should act against them. But using a bulldozer on a madrassa is unacceptable,” says Ajmal, who also heads a private board that runs 1,000odd madrassas in the state. He is now planning to move the Supreme Court if the drive continues.
The state government is in no mood to relent. CM Sarma has asserted that madrassas will continue to face the “strictest action” if used for “anti-India activities”. The Assam Police believe the drive has helped nip the Islamic terror threat in the bud. “Our actions will push back radicalisation and indoctrination by several years,” says G.P. Singh, special DGP, Assam Police.
Not many are convinced that such drastic action will have good results. SP spokesperson Zeba Yasmeen says, “The BJP had enough time, eight years at the Centre and six years in UP, but we didn’t see a single madrassa-focused reform. In fact, even the promised salaries of registered teachers (from 2017) have not come. Is it wrong then to have apprehensions about their intent?” With the bulldozers at the gates, it seems there’s only one loser in this battle. ■
ASSAM HAS ALREADY RAZED THREE MADRASSAS, ALLEGING TERROR LINKS