MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s move to set up a separate Madrasa Board on the lines of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) boards was rejected by Muslims groups here yesterday.
The rejection was a major setback to the Congress party-led Democratic Front government with the Muslims alleging that the state government’s move smacks of interference in religious matters of the minority community.
Deshmukh had recently expressed the need to bring the Muslim community into the mainstream and hence proposed that madrasas should get separate board status and Muslims should also be absorbed in government services.
However, Muslim groups are opposed to the formation of such a board. “The decision to form a board is nothing but direct interference in the religious matters of Muslims,” said Bunai Noaim Hasani, president of All India Wahdat-e-Millat Council (an umbrella body of like-minded Muslim groups).
“A Madrasa Board already exists in Bihar, but not a single student from there is either a perfect cleric or an educated person. If a similar board is formed here, the students going to madrasas will neither be able to gain the benefits of modern education nor will they be able to become ulemas,” Hasani remarked.
When asked about the government’s decision not to interfere in the functioning of the board, Hasani said, “The government has formed various committees and institutions like the Haj Committee and the Urdu Academy, which are headed by Muslims. But they work to benefit the government. If such a board is formed, it will also work for the government and not for Muslims.”
However, Hasani added that if the government had decided to set up its own madrasa like other education institutions and rules of Madrasa Board were applied to it, then it is their decision. “Interference in existing madrasas administration and education system will not be tolerated,” Hasani said. Meanwhile, Muslims in Mumbai were jubilant over the selection of Wasim-ur Rahman Qasmi, an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband, to the elite Indian Administrative Services (IAS). Qasmi became the first madrasa graduate in the country to have cleared the IAS exams.
In their speeches Islamic scholars and elders of the Muslim community pointed out that not all was wrong with madrasa education and that madrasa students were not divorced from the Indian mainstream, contrary to popular perceptions.
Lawyer Majeed Memon said Qasmi’s success could not have come at a better time when the Muslim community was torn between conflicting ideas of radical fundamentalism and principles of piety. “Terrorism is a disease our community should rid itself of. Success stories like Qasmi’s can be an example for a community which is finding it difficult to dovetail clashing personal and collective aspirations,” Memon added.
