Chairperson of UP Shia Central waqf Board, Waseem Rizvi wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi and UP CM Adityanath Yogi requesting and demanding to put an end to madrasas and bring all such Islamic religious institutions under general education system affiliated by CBSE or ICSE. He also suggested that madrasas should come under Human Resource Development Ministry, thus, a move from Minorities Welfare Ministry.
Rizvi has claimed that such madrasas running under the influence of “Muslim Mullahs” are giving misplaced and misconceived religious education to Muslim children, depriving them of opportunity to come forward and be part of nation building.
Rizvi said that, “In the last 70 years of independence, there are only a handful people who have studied at madrasas and have cleared civil services examinations. These too have however gained modern education after studying in madrasas. But the number of terrorists coming out of madrasas is much higher.”
While Rizvi has claimed that madrasas have had a history of Muslim separatism and radicalisation and are sometimes labelled as the institutions spreading communal disharmony, he said that the institutions teach regressive curriculum which does not bring Muslim students at par with others.
“Madrasas promote obsolete and outdated medieval attitude among Indian Muslims at the cost of secular education, which has pushed students into orthodoxy, religious conservatism and radicalises Muslim youth,” he said.
As part of his suggestions to the central government through the letter, Rizvi has said that the madrasas should be brought under the ambit of government control under ministry of human resource development instead of minority affairs. He has also suggested conversion of madrasas into secular schools.
The statement came as a response when as many as 51 girls were rescued on December 30 in a raid on a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh.
He also said that some unregistered madarsas were being funded by terrorist organisations in Pakistan and Bangladesh. “I have proof that at least 58 madrasas have been found to have links with jihadi groups,” he said.
Muslim scholars and clerics of both the Shia and Sunni sects demanded the arrest of UP Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi for his remarks.
Prominent Shia cleric of Lucknow Maulana Kalbe Jawad has even threatened to launch a protest movement if Rizvi is not put behind bars. “Why is the UP government giving such a long leash to this man (Rizvi), who has been indicted in inquiries for corruption, bungling and fraud in waqf properties,” said Maulana Jawad, who has a long history of crossing swords with Rizvi on waqf properties.
The reaction was expected. A further retaliation from Muslim leaders will be the headline for the next few days. The million-dollar question is that would this spark be turned into a fire or not? Would he get more support from sane and authorities or not?
If the government implement all the suggestions, then there is a chance that more standardization of education will prevail. This would improve the quality of education in the nation. The move is well appreciated and has set an example for all religions to follow. All the religious educational institutes should be monitored carefully and their curriculum should be updated. Let’s see when our government start bringing out the ‘actual reforms’ and stop its regressive polarization of the nation by altering the historical and scientific facts.
