Muslims See It as BJP’s Tested Ploy for Polarisation Ahead of Next Year’s Assembly Election
Assam education minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma once again put his foot in his mouth when he announced that the state government would close down all government-run madrasas and Sanskrit tols (schools) by November this year, saying that public money “can’t be allowed to be spent on religious education.”
Strongly objecting to his statement, Muslims in Assam said it is a blatant attempt to polarise people of Assam on the communal lines as the election for new legislative assembly is just six months away and the ruling BJP has no issue to face the electorates which failed to deliver any of its promises made during the last election.
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA, Rafiqul Islam said the BJP state government has failed on all fronts and now it is trying to play divisive politics over the Hindu-Muslim issue ahead of the assembly elections in Assam.
He told Radiance Viewsweekly that BJP is scared of talking about development issues as it has done nothing to mitigate the sufferings of people.
Concurring his views, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, a Senior Advocate of Gauhati High Court, told the weekly that it is simply a political gimmick to please the hardcore Hindutva constituency because the assembly election is not far away.
“Muslims issue, Ajmal (Badaruddin Ajmal) issue and Madrasa issue, now they are playing their old game of communal divide,” said Choudhury, who is also chairman of Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. But the state Muslims failed them by not getting provoked.
In Assam, Madrasas are basically three-type schools – Primary, Higher Secondary and Title Madrasa, which also impart Qur’an and Hadith education. However, the term Madrasa gives the impression that these are Islamic seminaries as known in the rest of the country.
The history of Madrasas in the State is interesting as these have been there since pre-Independence days.
Speaking with Radiance, Mohammad Abdul Basit, President Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Assam North, said, “In Assam, the British government established government Madrasas in 1915, and set up the Assam State Madrasa Board in 1930. After Independence, in 1967 the Madrasa Education Board upgraded its curriculum with secular subjects like Maths, General Science, Social Studies, Assamese, Bengali, and English along with Arabic and Islamic Studies. The pass-out of the Madrasa Board is equivalent to general class 10 pass-out. The only difference is that students of Madrasas have to take 2-3 additional subjects related to Arabic and Islamic teachings.”
According to one estimate, there are around 800 Madrasas under the Madrasa Board in which around one lakh students are enrolled with 10,000 teaching and non-teaching staff. Out of these Madrasas, 57 are for girls, three for boys and 554 co-educational, while 17 are Urdu medium.
Faqrul Islam, Principal of Ashima Senior Madrasa, Karimganj, established in 1942, said as no religious teaching is imparted, the students passing out from madrasas were not interested in becoming Imams in mosques or joining any religious institution.
Furthermore, several prominent persons among the Hindu community had their Primary education from Maktab (Primary School). Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi and renowned economist Dr. Jayanta Madhab had studied in Maktab. The great freedom fighter and social reformer of Assam Maulana Tayab Ullah was a Madrasa product. Besides, several former state ministers, MLAs and MPs had studied in Madrasas in Assam.
In February this year, the state government issued an order to eliminate the Arabic term ‘Maktab’ from the government schools.
In Arabic, Maktab means school and there were 63 government-run schools in Assam that used the Arabic term ‘Maktab’.
It is also to be noted that when Himanta Sarma was the education minister in the previous Congress-led government, he visited Madrasas on many occasions and appreciated their education system.
Initially, Sarma talked about Madrasas along with Sanskrit tols but now he only singles out Madrasas, saying the Qur’an cannot be taught at government expense and Arabic is a foreign language.
Taking strong exception to the wording of the minister, Rashid Choudhury said it is highly communal and unconstitutional as he has taken oath on the Constitution.
He also pointed out that the government recognises that the Qur’an and Hadiths are the basic source of Islamic law. Unless you read the Qur’an, you cannot understand Islamic law, therefore his statement is self-contradictory, he added.
While, Abdul Basit countered his argument by stating that the education minister does not have any issue with English which is an outright foreign language.
“In CBSE syllabus, there are several foreign languages like German, French, Japanese, and Russian; where students get an option to learn a foreign language and also these languages are included in schools run by the Government of India like K.V.S, N.V.S. There are several government universities in India, where several foreign language departments are functioning,” he added.
The minister also argued that the move will be an expression of true secularism, which separates religion from the state. Countering this, Jamaat leader highlighted the munificence of the state government towards a particular religion.
“The BJP government of Assam has given funds, 2.5 lakhs to 10 lakhs, to around 15000 Hindu mandirs and Hindu religious institutions managed by private organisations. The State Government spent several hundreds of crores for upgradation of Kamakhya Temple and also spent around 100 crores annually for managing and organising the famous Mela at Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati.”
The Muslim community has no issue with this government’s largesse, instead they appreciated it, he said, adding that the Muslim community, which constitutes more than 35 per cent of the state population, completely got shocked and felt humiliated by the announcement of the minister.
Mohammad Hasan Ali, a retired official of Assam Madrasa Board, said he strongly opposes the state government’s decision to close down state-run Madrasas in the state. “We want it to be upgraded by introduction of new subjects, computer education, etc.”
Sarma also said tols and madrasas are different and the state government will issue two separate notifications in this regard.
However, Rashid Choudhury insisted that madrasas in Assam are not minority-managed institutions which are established under Articles 25 to 30 of the Constitution that allowed establishing schools on the basis of language and religion.
He pointed out that the Gauhati High Court has already ruled that these are not minority institutions but secular institutions which not only taught the Qur’an but also other secular subjects.
He felt that if the state government takes a decision, the court would rule in our favour by setting aside any decision (notification) in this regard.
Maulana Fazlul Karim, state secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, also warned that if the state government closes down its madrasas, Jamiat may take recourse to legal provisions to halt the move.
Abdul Basit also underlined that any such decision will violate Article 30 (1) and (2) of the Constitution which clearly mentions that “the State shall not, in granting aid to educational institution, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.”