West Bengal closes down 352 Madrassas, puts 100 on notice

Weeks after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari warned of action against unregistered Khadija Madrassas, the West Bengal Government on Sunday ordered the closing down of 352 of those Muslim educational institutions and put a hundred of them on notice after surveys showed a lack of requisite approvals and infrastructure facilities.

Sunday’s development came in consequence of a prolonged district-wise survey conducted by the State Minority and Madrassa Education Department officials; relevant minister Kshudiram Tudu said.
Surveys were conducted across 2396 Khariji Madrassas of the State. According to officials, “about one hundred Madrassas have been asked to show cause why these institutions will not be closed down… if their explanation is not satisfactory then they too will face closure.”

Out of the closed Madrassas, 35 were situated in North Dinajpur district, a little more than 40 were located in Malda, 32 in South 24 Parganas, and 25 each in Nadia and Murshidabad 
districts, sources said.
All these districts border neighbouring Bangladesh.

Presently, there were 2132 Madrassas operating with valid approval, while there were about 2396 unapproved Madrassas.
When contacted, the West Bengal Panchayat Minister justified the Government action, saying the Government had been receiving regular complaints against the erring Madrassas, adding, “some of these were even suspicious by their conduct as several terror moles who had been arrested in recent times were working as teachers in these institutions.”

He was backed by another senior minister, Agnimitra Paul, who said: “There is a need to streamline the education system in Bengal and any such institution that does not fall in line has to be shut down, particularly if they host Bangladesh-based terrorists.”

Incidentally, the Chief Minister had earlier said that erring Madrassas were under scrutinyof the Government, iterating “only those Madrassas that are run with Government function andwith clean record will function and those without approval will have to face consequences.”Trinamool Congress leader and MLA Kunal Ghosh, however, objected to “indiscriminate closure”

the minority education institutions, wondering “why should the Government paint all the Madrassas with the same brush.”
Another MLA and Indian Secular Front leader Naushad Siddiqui accused the Government of targeting the minority institutions, saying, “this is one proof of how the Government looks at the
minority institutions and what it is going to do to them in future.”