Yogi Adityanath, the current saffron-clad Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, is in the news again for yet another activity that seems to draw strong criticism from his diehard critics. Yogi-led Uttar Pradesh government has decided to stop aid to 46 madrasas, which failed to qualify for the standards set by the state government. After a nearly three-month long physical procedure and verification of 560 madrasas, the UP government decided to stop facilities to 46 madrasas.
Yogi Adityanath government found that these Madrasas violated the standards like “infrastructure and teachings”.
The verification process started during July. The district inspector of schools as well as the district minority welfare officers inspected each madrasa, verified the strength of the teachers, their qualification, infrastructure of the madrasas, etc. The madrasas, which do not qualify for the standards, were barred from receiving government aid. The madrasas whose grant has been stopped by the government are in Kanpur, Kushinagar, Kannauj, Mau, Azamgarh, Maharajganj, Siddhartha Nagar, Mahoba, Shravasti, Banaras, Faizabad, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Barabanki, Sant Kobirnagar and Jhansi districts.
As such, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has lashed out at BJP saying the party does not respect other religions and thus accused Yogi Adityanath government of being communal and partial. The Congress leader said- “The basic difference between our and BJP’s ideology is that the Congress party respects every religion but BJP and its leadership do not support this”.
On the other hand, the Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary justified this act from the government by putting emphasis on the “violation of standards” as set up by the government. He said- “Despite what people might say, the fact is that the minority welfare department was so far running as a correctional welfare department, where there were no records of any madrasa in the state”. He accused the previous non-BJP governments of playing appeasement politics by giving grants without trying to verify the madrasas and without keeping a record of them. He claimed that the verification of madrasas revealed facts like which madrasas do not have their own teachers and share teachers, or which madrasas do not have their own building or land. The government’s decision to verify the standards of the madrasas will help in welfare of the madrasas.
Most of the Muslim kids go to madrasas, even if they do not visit any school. It is the madrasa, where a Muslim kid receives his primary teachings. That means, the madrasas play a great role in building up the character, persona and mindset of a Muslim kid. In that case, the government must ensure that the madrasas follow the basic standards so that the Muslim kids would receive proper guidance. The government must also ensure that a Muslim kid does not receive “bad teachings” or “bad idea” from the madrasas.
There are 19,000 recognized madrasas in the state and total 560 madrasas in the state get government subsidy. The madrasas get a grant of an average of 3 to 4 lakh rupees per month, which includes the salaries of 15 to 17 teachers. To check the irregularities regarding the data of the madrasas, the Uttar Pradesh government has recently launched an online portal and suggested the madrasas to register online. Only 3,000 madrasas have registered themselves on the portal till now.
Recently, the UP government ordered the UP madrasas to hoist tricolor and sing National Anthem to celebrate Independence Day last month. A significant number of madrasas did not comply and refused to sing National Anthem after some clerics told them not to sing. UP government had made it clear that actions will be taken against such madrasas. The government may stop the aid to these madrasas too.
To end the discussion with, let me put forward a question. There are some significant numbers of madrasas, which receive government aids and funds, and yet refuse to sing National Anthem because some clerics tell them to do so. Do such madrasas, which cannot even teach even teach the basic lessons of patriotism to their students, deserve government fund? I leave it to the readers to answer.