NEW DELHI – The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) along with other Muslim bodies on Saturday expressed strong reservations over alleged attempts to undermine the status of madrasas in BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and others and termed it ‘blatantly illegal’.
In a joint statement, it said that the directives of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to state governments concerning minority educational institutions (Madrasas) is illegal and beyond the Commission’s jurisdiction.
It said that the Uttar Pradesh government published a list of 8,449 ‘unrecognised schools’ which include renowned and historical institutions including Darul Uloom Deoband, Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, Lucknow, Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur, Jamia Salafia Varanasi, Jamia Ashrafia Mubarakpur, Madrasatul Islah Saraimeer, and Jamia Al-Falah Baleriaganj, besides others.
AIMPLB further claimed that the administrators of these madrasas are being pressured and threatened in case of non-compliance.
“The district administration has removed non-Muslim students from these schools and transferred them to government schools, which is an attack on their personal right to choose, and upon our joint Indian culture and civilisation,” it claimed in a statement signed by noted figures of AIMPLB, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind and Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith.
Claiming similar ‘oppressive’ treatment in Madhya Pradesh, it said that the state government went a step further and compelled madrasa students to perform Saraswati Vandana daily.
It further said that it will stand against the ‘hostile’ policies of state governments and take legal recourse.
“We demand that the administration of these states cease these illegal, unethical and oppressive actions and to not jeopardise the future of children. We stand resolute to take all possible legal and democratic actions to change these minority-hostile policies of the state governments,” it stated further in a press statement. -IANS