Pvt madrassas will never be shut down, these keep Muslims alive: Assam deputy speaker

Guwahati: Assam Assembly Deputy Speaker and senior BJP leader Aminul Haque Laskar has said that private madrassas will never be shut down as “these have kept the Muslims alive”.
The Assam government has decided to close all state- run madrassas and Sanskrit tols and a notification to this effect is likely to be issued this month.

“Has any madrassa been closed down? These madrassas will never be shut down as these have kept the Muslims alive,” he said, while laying the foundation stone for a madrassa in Cachar district on Sunday.

“Maulanas and qazis have come out from these madrassas. Imams of mosques have studied in these madrassas. They have never been shut down,” he said.

Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced that all the state-run madrassas will be shut down as the government cannot support any religious education in a secular society, leading to sharp political reactions from the opposition.

“If madrassas are closed down, then do protest. When Congress protests closing of madrassas by the BJP government, then tell them that only government madrassas will be closed down,” the deputy speaker said.

When contacted to know about his statement, which has been widely circulated on social media, Laskar said the closing of government madrassas will not at all impact the Muslim community’s religious preaching.

“No one has ever come out from a government madrassa and joined a masjid. The opposition Congress and AIUDF are only doing politics over the issue,” he told PTI on Monday.

There are 610 state-run madrassas across Assam on which the government spends Rs 260 crore annually, Sarma had earlier said.