Maharashtra calls madrassas non-schools, BJP blames UPA for confusion
"This is deliberate targeting of Muslims and anti-minority. Madrassa-going children aren't out of school students," MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said.
The Maharashtra government's decision to declare madrassas or Islamic seminaries non-schools and their students out-of-school children on Thursday triggered a massive row with the BJP accusing the previous Congress-led UPA government of creating the confusion and the opposition leaders calling it yet another attempt by the Devendra Fadnavis government to persecute the Muslims.
The move is being defended by the state government as a means to bring madrassa students into mainstream formal education. A massive survey has been planned on July 4 by the state's department of school education to identify out-of-school children. According to a 2013 study, there are nearly 1900 madrassas in Maharashtra imparting education to over 1.5 lakh students.
Congress to blame: BJP
Shifting the blame on the previous government, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the Act declaring madrassas non-schools was formulated during the Congress-NCP rule. "In the Right To Education Act, the Congress had kept madrassas outside the purview of formal schools and that is why the confusion," he said.
"Madrassas are giving students education on religion and not giving them formal education. Our constitution says every child has the right to take formal education, which madrassas do not provide," Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse said.
"If a Hindu or Christian child wants to study in a madrassa, they will not be allowed to study there. Thus, madrassa is not a school but a source of religious education. So we have asked them to teach students other subjects as well. Otherwise these madrassas will be considered as non-schools," Khadse added.
The minister said that of a total 1,890 registered madrasas in the state, 550 have agreed to teach the four subjects to students. "We are even ready to pay madrasas for giving students formal education and are ready to provide them teaching staff as well," Khadse said.
Khadse's deputy, Delip Kamble, told India Today TV that the decision is not against any community. "We don't consider them as school-going children. No child has become a doctor or engineer from madarassas. Those who are opposing the move to declare them non-schools are anti-Muslim," he said.
Muslim leaders outraged over madrassa order
Meanwhile, Muslim leaders were outraged. "This is deliberate targeting of Muslims and anti-minority. Madrassa-going children aren't out of school students," MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said. "Does BJP care about what they said in their election manifesto? They had said they will contribute to madrasa modernization," he added.
Samajwadi Party leader Kamal Farooqui said, "Most madrassas teache computer, other sciences and other relevant subjects, they are not only sticking to religious studies. There is an IAS officer who was passed out from a madrassa." "Even non-Muslim students go to madrassas, for example in West Bengal," he added.
Recently, the ban on beef in the BJP-ruled state had created a similar furore with Muslim and Dalit organisations protesting against the move.