Every time the words ‘BJP' and ‘Muslim' are used in a sentence, there has to be some controversy. The Maharashtra Government's decision to treat madarssas not teaching mathematic, science and English, alongside religious texts, as ‘non-schools', has met with resistance from certain Muslim community leaders. The UPA's initiatives to modernise madarssas too had faced stiff opposition. Teaching modern subjects was a requirement for funding the madarssas under the previous Congress-NCP Government in Maharashtra. Nothing has changed under the NDA, except for the semantics. For decades now, many in the Muslim community have demanded that madarssas provide holistic education. Some of these schools have done well.
For some reason, the BJP ends up putting simple administrative actions in words that arouse misgivings. In this case, there is a trust deficit between the Government and the Muslim community. The Government must proceed with caution.