The SIT is reportedly spearheaded by ADG ATS Mohit Agarwal and is made up SP Cyber Crime Dr Triveni Singh and Director of Minority Welfare, J. Reebha.

As per a report by the Hindustan Times a UP government official told the newspaper that these madrasas are receiving funds from ‘Gulf countries.’

Another official told HT, that the SIT has not been able to obtain proof of transparent records of funds from these madrasas as they have failed to provide documents showing details about their income or expenditure. This has reportedly lead them to suspect that there could a conspiracy, as per the report.

In response to the issue of these “illegal” madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, as per a report on March 7 by The Hindu, has asserted that action will be taken against people involved in ‘anti-national’ activities under the pretext of education. The deputy CM also stated, “I haven’t seen the report. If there are activities against the country under the guise of education, then investigation will be done and action will be taken against the culprits. Those who do good work will be protected and appreciated by the government.”

According to the Free Press Journal, a representative from the UP State Madrasa Board has stated that a good number of these madrasas have “strategically situated themselves along the Nepal border.” The report by the SIT has reportedly backed this claim by arguing that there are 300 madrasas in each of these districts bordering Nepal, including Maharajganj, Shravasti, Bahraich, and Gonda.

According to a recent report by the Hindustan Times, J. Reebha, who is part of the SIT, has stated, “We have only sent some recommendations to the state government and still have to submit the final report. We cannot share details, but there have been many madrasas which claim to have been constructed through donations, yet they struggle to disclose the names of contributors.”

In December 2023, the Times of India reported that the SIT had identified 80 madrasas in the state that had received donation of over 100 crore. The SIT was, as per the report, at the time in the process of identifying if there were any financial irregularities in these.

The Economic Times has reported that UP had around 8000 unrecognised madrasas in the state in 2022. This was revealed after a survey was conducted in the state. The UP Madara Education Board chairperson Iftikhar Ahmed Javed had stated that it had been 8 years since any new recognition process had started, which is why several of these institutes were labelled illegal. Javed had also written to chief minister Yogi Adityanath to institute the process to recognise these madrasas. According to the Indian Express, the highest number of such madrasas was recorded in Moradabad. In November 2023, Iftikhar Javed told Maktoob Media that the education of over 7 lakh students is put into danger , “5,000 madrasas in Uttar Pradesh (UP) have applied for the registration to get them recognized since 2016, and that remains pending, because it doesn’t get any response from the authorities. This also put the education of more than 7 lakh students at stake.” Dr Javed also told Maktoob Media that, “The government after more than a year of survey is now coming up with this new technique to target madrasas because they couldn’t find anything potential against them and now they will plant one.”

The decision to close these 13,000 allegedly illegal madrasas comes after the government expressed concerns about the use of foreign funds to promote terrorist activities.

As per a Hate Buster by Citizens for Justice and Peace, madrasas are institutes of education that receive students of all backgrounds, even Hindu students, and thereby are not restricted to educating students of one community. The Hate Buster dispels stereotypes that reveals that according to the Sachar Committee report which was released in 2006, madrasas see students who are mostly from low-income families who often attend the madrasas because they receive education, boarding and often meals too for free. It further asserts that to target such institutes as ‘anti-national’ which exist as spaces that offer underprivileged students education, boarding, and meals en masse would be to violate the rights of the young children studying and availing resources, however meagre, at these institutions.

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Lucknow: Three months after the Yogi Adityanath government ordered a survey of “unrecognised madrasas’ in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Centre has instructed the state government to stop providing scholarships to seminary students enrolled in classes one to eight citing provisions of free education under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

According to a government notification, students of classes one to eight are provided education, Mid-Day meals and other facilities free of cost, and, therefore, there is no point in continuing the scholarships. Students of classes 9 and 10 are still eligible for government benefits.

Earlier, students from classes one to five got an annual scholarship of Rs 1,000 while students from classes five to eight used to get it on the basis of the courses they opted for. As per government data, around 5 lakh students of 16,558 madrasas in the state received scholarships last year. 

“The way the government is going ahead, they could shut down madrasas in Uttar Pradesh someday,” Muslim Raza Khan, a teacher at a Ghazipur madrasa told Newsclick. “Basically, the government did not like it as only minority students were getting scholarships while there was no such facility for non-minority students. The majority of madrasa belong to financially weaker sections of the community. After the decision, most of the students dependent on the Rs 1,000 scholarship will be deprived of education.”

When questioned about the UP government’s logic of not providing scholarships as these students get free education, Mid-Day meals and other facilities, Khan said, “The government won’t admit publicly that only government and aided madrasas get such facilities while private seminaries manage everything themselves. Students of private madrasas have not been getting anything from the government.”  

Diwan Sahab Zaman Khan, general secretary, Teachers Association Madaris Arabia, UP, told Newsclick that PM Narendra Modi said in 2018 that “Muslims should hold the Quran in one hand and a computer in the other, indicating that his government was concerned about the empowerment of Muslims. But what has been happening for the last eight years is not hidden.”

The decision to stop scholarships, according to Khan, will “result in an increase in the dropout rate”. “When the situation of minorities is worse than that of Dalits in terms of education, scholarships were needed to encourage students. It is an unfortunate move by the government.”  

Khan added that several parents send their kids to madrasas for primary education and such “scholarships boost their morale to continue their studies. But the government has dashed their dreams with the decision”.

There are 16,513 recognised madrasas in UP out of which 560 get financial assistance from the state government. 

When the government claimed that the survey of “unrecognised and private madrasas” was conducted to gather information about the number of teachers, curriculum and basic facilities available there, among other factors, many minority organisations termed it an attempt to target the community.

Ateef Ansari, a social activist working for the empowerment of minority communities, told Newsclick, “The sequence of government actions on madrasas is nothing but a direct attack to deprive minority students of education. Students need scholarships for encouragement as there is a lack of knowledge in the community.” 

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Lucknow: Amid the ongoing surveys of unrecognised madrasas across Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has ordered a survey of properties managed by Sunni and Shia Central Waqf Boards in what the government says is an attempt aimed at preventing illegal encroachment of the properties in the state. It has also cancelled a 1989 government order under which uncultivable land at several places was “illegally registered” as Waqf property. 

Chief Minister Adityanath has asked all district magistrates and commissioners to scrutinise and demarcate Waqf properties in the revenue records. The directive came in response to a letter written by the state minority affairs ministry that said that several properties have been illegally occupied by Waqf boards. Sources say that the survey aims to stop “illegal possession and sale” of Waqf properties.

A letter sent to commissioners and district magistrates by Shakeel Ahmed Siddiqui, deputy secretary, UP government, reportedly states that several Waqf authorities had neglected the regulations regarding property registration as per the Waqf Act-1995 and the UP Muslim Waqf Act of 1960. In 1989, an order was also issued to properly register such properties in the revenue records.

In the letter, Siddiqui reportedly alleged there were pieces of barren land that were registered as Waqf property by “manipulating” provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Muslim Waqf Act, 1960.

In the order issued by the government, it has been said there is no provision in the Act for the registration of properties without following due process.

Siddiqui’s letter states that according to the Act, only those properties come under the category of Waqf that are donated for religious and welfare work according to Muslim law and customs.

As per the directive, the state government has said that cemetery, mosque and idgah land should be demarcated because, on the basis of the 1989 ordinance, many such lands registered as banjar (barren), usar (uncultivable), and bhita (mound) were declared as Waqf properties. Also, gram sabha and municipal councils had land that could be used for the general public but was occupied by Waqf boards, it said. However, any change in management and nature of these areas is prohibited under the 1989 order.

Meanwhile, Danish Azad Ansari, Minister of State for Minority Welfare and Waqf, termed the exercise a “normal departmental process”, saying it has nothing to do with other Waqf properties.

Waqf properties are donated to be used for religious or pious purposes, such as building mosque, cemetery, orphanage or hospital.

At the centre of the UP government’s latest move is a 1989 government order, under which uncultivable land at several places was “illegally registered” as Waqf property, PTI reported quoting an official. This has been revoked by the government with immediate effect with divisional commissioners and district magistrates being asked to examine all proceedings taken under the order to “correct revenue records” accordingly. 

“Waqf properties are very important and they are god’s property with nobody having the right to illegally occupy it. The state government, with a noble intention, has started a survey and we have given orders to first identify the Waqf properties and then take further action,” Dharam Pal Singh, minister for minority welfare, Muslim Waqf and Haj, told mediapersons.

Under Islamic law and customs, properties that are donated for religious and welfare work come under the category of Waqf, which means a charitable, religious endowment. Once donated, it is treated as “god’s property”.

There are 162,229 Waqf properties, including 1,50,000 registered with the Sunni Central Waqf Board and 12,229 with the Shia Central Waqf Board in Uttar Pradesh.

Muslims React to Order

Reacting to the recent directives, Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, Imam Eidgah and a senior member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) told NewsClick: “For the last many years, the Waqf Board has been demanding that all government offices or any Waqf property encroached by any organisation or allotted by the government should either be handed over to the Waqf Board or rent be paid as per market rate.”

A Waqf board member, wishing anonymity, told NewsClick: “First madrasa and now Waqf Board land within a month shows the intention of the government. If an honest inquiry was to be done, then massive corruption would be unearthed in Uttar Pradesh in the past 15 years, as everybody knows how government offices and its leaders grabbed Waqf land in the state.”

Doubting the government’s intention, he further said: “The old Shia Waqf Board chairman faced a CBI inquiry. The Sunni Waqf Board chairman who first took over during the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) rule, continued during the SP (Samajwadi Party) regime, remains on his post even today. If this survey is an eyewash, then I don’t have much to offer. But if the government is serious, then it’s a welcome step.” 

The move comes amid a controversy surrounding an ongoing survey of private madrasas across Uttar Pradesh. However, Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary, organised an ‘Ijlas’ (conference) on September 18 were the heads of over 250 major madrasas from across the state attended the event and said it had no objection to the survey of private madrasas.

However, the seminary noted that the entire system of madrasas —Islamic religious schools— should not be disregarded just because some institutions are found to have violated rules.

The government claimed it conducted surveys of “unrecognised and private madrasas” to gather information about the number of teachers, curriculum, and basic facilities available there, among other factors.

Saleem Shah, a Muslim intellectual, told NewsClick: “I personally read all the directives issued by the government to conduct surveys of madrasas and Waqf lands and can say that this issue will be raised ahead of Lok Sabha elections, portraying Muslims as land grabbers and villains. If an honest survey is conducted, the government itself will have to vacate many offices.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

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