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Monday, Jun 20, 2005

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National

Move to discontinue `madrasas' opposed

Special Correspondent

"A BJP plot to deny religious education to Muslim children" `Out of the 1,720 seminaries registered with the Madrasa Board, only one fourth are operational'

JAIPUR: The All India Milli Council has challenged a proposed move by the Rajasthan Government to discontinue the "madrasas'' operating from the premises of masjids in the State. Terming the move, initiated by the Rajasthan Madrasa Board "anti-Muslim'' and a "conspiracy'' by the Bharatiya Janata Party Government to deny religious education to Muslim children, the Milli Council has warned of an agitation against any such step.

Board's chairman blamed

The State vice-president of the Milli Council, Imamuddhin Tekedar, and the secretary, Abdul Latif Arco, in a statement here on Sunday blamed the chairman of the Rajasthan Madrasa Board, Mushtaq Ahmed Ansari, for playing into the hands of the "enemies of the Islam.''

Cover-up

"Mr. Ansari's support to the move to discontinue madrasas attached to masjids is an attempted cover-up on the rampant corruption in the Madrasa Board,'' they alleged. The Milli Council leaders, who accused Mr. Ansari of "misleading'' the State Government on the status of madrasas in the border areas of Rajasthan, said any attempt to separate the religious and general education imparted in madrasas attached to masjids would provoke Muslims and lead to unrest in the community.

Probe sought

Demanding a high-level enquiry into the functioning of the Madrasa Board, Mr. Imamuddhin and Mr. Latif said out of the 1,720 madrasas registered with the board, only one fourth were operational.

"There are many madrasas which are only on paper but salaries are drawn in the name of para teachers working there,'' they said.

The anomalies included non-distribution of free textbooks provided by the State and the Centre, they said.

The Milli Council leaders, who demanded the removal of Mr. Ansari as Madrasa Board chairman, also asked the Government to keep off the madrasas.

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