The Yogi Adityanath Government’s decision to launch a survey to identify the unrecognised madrasas and gather details such as organisations running them, curriculum and source of income has sparked a political row. The Opposition alleged that the exercise was meant to harass Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, an organisation of Islamic clerics, said on Tuesday that they would not oppose the survey if it was done under the law. The Jamiat has also formed a steering committee to decide on the survey and asked madrasas in UP to maintain their accounts.
However, Jamiat president Maulana Mahmood Madani said, “The UP Government should try to understand, and not misunderstand us.”
All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the exercise was not a survey but a “mini-NRC”.
He hit out at the UP Government for “harassing Muslims” and said the government could not interfere with their rights under Article 30 of the Constitution.
There are 16,513 recognised madrasas with about 20 lakh students in the state, according to the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Shiksha Board. However, a rough estimate suggests that there are over 40,000 private madrasas in India’s most populous state. In Deoband alone, there are over 100 private madrasas not recognised by the UP Madrasa Shiksha Parishad.
“Almost all mosques have a madrasa,” says Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, rector of Darul Uloom, Farangi Mahal, and chairman of Islamic Centre of India, Lucknow.
The Minority Welfare department in UP, in an order issued on August 30 last, asked all the district magistrates to start a survey of the unrecognised madrasas in their respective districts and gather details including the name of organisation running them, location, year of establishment, if the building is suitable for students, curriculum, source of income, etc.