Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for minority affairs Danish Azad Ansari on Saturday slammed the opposition for allegedly misleading and spreading rumours on the ongoing survey of the madrasas in the state.
Ansari said that the survey was being done for gathering information and it is not related to any kind of investigation of the madrasas.
“We are conducting a survey for the betterment of madrassas. Our aim is to modernize madrasas and we are trying to do the same. Modern education is also being given along with religious knowledge in madrassas under the Yogi government. All previous governments have used Muslims only as a vote bank,” Azad Ansari told News18 while attending a meritorious students felicitation function organized at Eram Convent College in Begumganj, Barabanki.
“Only the Modi and Yogi Government have run many schemes for the welfare of the minorities. People of opposition parties are creating confusion regarding the survey of madrasas. Our intention is not to give any bad name to madrasas. We will not run bulldozers on any madrassa,” he added.
He further said that the UP government is connecting the children in madrasas to the mainstream.
“The question on funding is being done to know the source of income of the madrasas. It is done so that the government knows whether there is money to pay salaries to teachers or not,” he said.
The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government had recently ordered a survey of the unrecognized (private) madrasas in the state. Many opposition parties slammed the move and some have even termed it as ‘mini NRC’ by the government.
The announcement of the survey was made by MoS Minority Affairs Danish Azad Ansari on Wednesday kicking off a political storm in the state.
The Bahujan Samaj Party Chief and former Chief Minister of the state Mayawati has attacked BJP government over the order of conducting a survey of private madrasas which were not aided by the Madrasa Board. The BSP Chief said that it would have been better if the BJP government focused on improving the condition of the government schools.
After the orders of the Uttar Pradesh government to survey private madrasas operating in the state, officials reached the world-renowned seminary Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema located in Lucknow on Thursday.
Rabe Hasan Nadwi, the chancellor of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, is also the current President of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board. The AIMPLB has already objected to the survey of private Madrassas by the Uttar Pradesh government and had earlier termed it as unconstitutional.
Speaking on the survey, Abdul Aziz Nadwi, Vice Principal of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, had said, “There is nothing to hide from authorities, everyone knows that we run on donations. All that was asked by the authorities have been provided to them.”
Earlier, the general secretary of the AIMPLB, Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, in his press note had said that the decision of some state governments to conduct a survey of religious madrasas was ‘a nefarious conspiracy to create distance between fellow compatriots’.
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