{"id":6741,"date":"2025-03-25T05:53:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T12:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/?p=6741"},"modified":"2025-03-25T05:53:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T12:53:30","slug":"dhami-government-continues-anti-muslim-rhetoric-by-sealing-madrassason-completion-of-three-years-in-office-jamiat-to-challenge-it-in-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenortherngazette.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/25\/dhami-government-continues-anti-muslim-rhetoric-by-sealing-madrassason-completion-of-three-years-in-office-jamiat-to-challenge-it-in-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Dhami government continues anti-Muslim rhetoric by sealing \u2018Madrassas\u2019on completion of three years in office, Jamiat to challenge it in Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dhami government continues anti-Muslim rhetoric by sealing \u2018Madrassas\u2019on completion of three years in office, Jamiat to challenge it in Supreme Court<\/p>\n

S.M.A.KAZMI<\/p>\n

Dehradun, March 25<\/p>\n

On the completion of three years in office as Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami taking action against 136 \u2018Madrassas\u2019(Muslim religious seminaries) in the state by sealing these and ordering a probe into its\u2019 funding, he has unleashed the time tested BJP\/RSS \u00a0\u2018Gujarat model\u2019 remedy of deflecting the more pressing public issues through vilification of the minority Muslim community.<\/p>\n

Chief Minister termed actions against \u2018Love Jehad\u2019, \u2018Land Jehad\u2019, \u2018Thook Jehad\u2019, \u2018Mazar Jehad\u2019 and now action against \u2018Madrassas\u2019 as his biggest achievement of his three year tenure. Now he has called for a probe into the entire funding of these \u2018Madrassas\u2019.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, \u2018Dhakkad Dhami\u2019 as he is called by the plaint media, celebrating his three years in office was just magnanimous enough in announcing that his campaign was not against \u2018any community\u2019. A total of more than 136 \u2018Madrassas\u2019 in Uttarakhand were sealed since March 1, 2025 in the entire state as part of the Dhami government campaign against the community during the holy fasting month of \u00a0\u2018Ramzan\u2019 which also started from March 2, 2025. But no prior notices were given to the closed \u2018Madrassas\u2019 and no written orders given for it\u2019s action by the administration.<\/p>\n

While, the entire Muslim community in the state is agitated ,the Jamiat-Ulema-e Hind, a body of clerics has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against forcible closure of \u2018Madrassas\u2019 in Uttarakhand. Fazlurrehman, a spokesperson of the Jamait said that the action by the Uttarakhand government is not legal since Supreme Court On October 4, 2024 hearing W.P.(C)000660\/2024, a bench of the then Chief Justice D.Y Chandrachund, Justice J.P. Pardiwala \u00a0and Justice Manoj Mishra stayed the notices issued to Madrassas by various state government particularly Uttar Pradesh till further orders.<\/p>\n

The Uttar Pradesh and other state governments had acted on the recommendations of National Commission for Child Rights \u00a0which called for closure of all \u2018Madrassas\u2019 as these institutions were not giving proper education \u00a0and it was against the rights of Children as per Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and all \u2018Madrassas\u2019 students be admitted to the nearest government school. The same was challenged by Jamiat and the Supreme Court had stayed the proceedings in October,2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Officials sealing a Madrassa in Uttarakhand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the Uttarakhand state government teams led by local administrative and police officials have swooped down on the \u2018Madrassas\u2019 particularly in Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts, sealing these institutions on one pretext or the other. The common pretext is that these \u2018Madrassas\u2019 are not registered with the Uttarakhand Madrassa Board. Some were sealed on the pretext that they have not got their building plans approved by the competent authorities. Many of the Madrassas in rural areas do not require any building plans approved but those were also sealed.<\/p>\n

\u201c It is complete dictatorial and anti-Muslim attitude in which authorities are bent upon closing down \u2018Madrassas\u2019 on any ground, whether legal or illegal,\u201d said Maulana Iftikhar, President of the Madrassa Association of Uttarakhand, \u00a0and a resident of Bhuddi village near Dehradun.<\/p>\n

The officials during their raids have verbally asked the \u2018Madrassas\u2019 authorities that their institutions are not registered with the Uttarakhand Madrassa Board, a government body.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have reviewed the Uttarakhand Education Board Act, \u00a02016 and nowhere it does say that non-recognised \u2018Maktab\/ Madrassas\u2019 are not allowed to impart religious education to our children. In other words, registration of \u2018Maktabs\/Madrassas\u2019 is not mandatory as per law,\u201d said Maulana Fazlurrehman, spokesperson of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.<\/p>\n