A court in India\u2019s most populous state has effectively banned Islamic schools by striking down a law governing madrasas, weeks before a nationwide election that could further polarize the world\u2019s largest democracy along religious lines. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe hold that the Madarsa (sic) Act, 2004, is violative of the principle of Secularism, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India,\u201d the high court said in its order. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince providing education is one of the primary duties of the State, it is bound to remain secular while exercising its powers in the said field. It cannot provide for education of a particular religion, its instructions, prescriptions and philosophies or create separate education systems for separate religions.\u201d <\/p>\n
Madrasas provide a system of education in which students are taught about the Quran and Islamic history alongside general subjects like math and science. <\/p>\n
Some Hindus also send their children to an equivalent system known as Gurukuls, residential education institutions where students learn about ancient Vedic scriptures alongside general subjects under a \u201cguru\u201d or teacher. <\/p>\n
The ruling can be appealed in the country\u2019s Supreme Court. <\/p>\n
Uttar Pradesh is home to some 200 million people, about 20% of whom are Muslim, according to the country\u2019s most recent census data from 2011. <\/p>\n
It is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has over the past decade made headlines for passing some of the country\u2019s most controversial laws that critics say discriminate against Muslims and marginalize them in the secular republic. <\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s court order affects 2.7 million students and 10,000 teachers in 25,000 madrasas, Reuters reported, citing Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, the head of the board of madrasa education in the state. <\/p>\n
It comes weeks before a nationwide election \u2013 the world\u2019s largest \u2013 during which an estimated 960 million people are eligible to vote. <\/p>\n
Modi\u2019s BJP is expected to secure another five years in power, ruling an India that has become increasingly polarized along religious lines. <\/p>\n
While the Allahabad High Court order cited India\u2019s constitutional separation of religion and state in its reasoning for ruling against madrasas, it is Modi who has been frequently accused by critics of dismantling India\u2019s secular traditions. <\/p>\n
At the start of the year, for example, Modi presided over a landmark inauguration ceremony of a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a centuries-old mosque that was destroyed by right-wing groups in 1992. <\/p>\n
The temple\u2019s opening, which was broadcast live by the government and hailed as a new era, was the conclusion of a decades-long campaign by Modi and his BJP party to pull India away from the secular roots upon which the country was founded following independence. <\/p>\n
Many Muslims and critics of the BJP have raised concerns that India\u2019s secular fabric is also being eroded as anti-Muslim hate speech make frequent headlines and Muslim-owned properties face demolitions. <\/p>\n
The BJP denies it discriminates against Muslims and says it treats all citizens equally. <\/p>\n
In December 2020, the northeastern state of Assam passed a law to convert all Islamic schools to regular education institutions. <\/p>\n
The state\u2019s then Education Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is now Assam\u2019s chief minister, said it would ensure \u201ca right to equal education for all children and eases the path to higher education.\u201d <\/p>\n
Opposition politicians criticized the move, claiming it was reflective of hardening anti-Muslim attitudes in the Hindu-majority country. <\/p>\n
Senior state opposition leader Debabrata Saikia at the time said the law was passed by the BJP to \u201cconsolidate more Hindu votes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
A court in India\u2019s most populous state has effectively banned Islamic schools by striking down a law governing madrasas, weeks before a nationwide election that could further polarize the world\u2019s largest democracy along religious lines. \u201cWe hold that the Madarsa (sic) Act, 2004, is violative of the principle of Secularism, which is a part of <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}