Indian state bans 700 Madrasahs

The Hindu nationalist party led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's passed a law closing government-run Islamic schools in Assam, saying the schools provide Quran education which cannot be facilitated on government’s funds.

The education minister of state of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma told the local assembly that if the state allows Madrasahs to teach Quran then it should also facilitate schools of other religions teaching Bible or any other religious book or allow none.

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"We need more doctors, police officers, bureaucrats, and teachers, from the minority Muslim community rather than Imams for mosques," said Sarma, an important figure of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to the minister the government plans to convert Islamic schools to regular schools as education provided in the madrassas could not prepare anyone for "the temporal world and its earthly concerns," he said.

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However, the decision was heavily criticized by the opposition parties stating that it reflects the government’s anti-Muslim sentiments in a Hindu-majority country. Opposition parties said the decision was an attack on Muslims. "The idea is to wipe out Muslims," said Wajed Ali Choudhury, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress party.

According to Sarma, more than 700 of the state-funded Madrasahs in northeastern Assam will be abolished by April 2021.