Assam CM Himanta Sarma- New India doesn’t need madrassas. It needs universities, schools, and colleges
Will shut all madrasas in Assam, says Himanta Sarma; calls Cong ‘new Mughals’
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday claimed that he has closed 600 madrassas and intends to close all madrassas because he wants schools, colleges and universities instead.
Addressing a rally, meant for ‘Shiva Charithe’, at Belgavi’s Shivaji Maharaj Garden in poll-bound Karnataka, Sarma alleged that people from Bangladesh come to the north eastern state and create a threat to its civilization and culture.
“People from Bangladesh come to Assam & create a threat to our civilization and culture. I have closed 600 madrassas and I intend to close all madrassas because we do not want madrassas. We want schools, colleges and universities,” news agency ANI quoted Sarma as saying.
“New India doesn’t need madrassas. It needs universities, schools, and colleges,” he said.
In the past, Mr Sarma has often indicated his desire to either reduce madrassas or scrutinise the education being given at these institutions. There are currently 3,000 registered and unregistered madrassas in Assam.
In 2020, he introduced a law that would facilitate converting all state-run madrassas into “regular schools”. Mr Sarma had said the state police were working with Bengali Muslims, who have a positive attitude towards education, to create “a good environment” in the madrassas. Science and mathematics will also be taught as subjects in the madrassas, and the right to education respected and a database of teachers maintained, he had said.
