Speaking to ET, a senior officer involved in the probe said on the condition of anonymity that in the preliminary report SIT has recommended immediate closure of 8,448 unrecognised madrasas.
The officer said that out of nearly 25,000 madrasas in the state, around 12,000 have come up between 2000 and 2015, with about 70% of them coming up in districts close to the Nepal border like Shravasti, Bahraich, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, and others, which is not in proportion to the minority population found in these places. ET had reported in January 2022 about the Sashastra Seema Bal flagging the spurt of mosques and madrasas within 15 km of the Nepal border in UP.
“During our probe, the unrecognised madrasas told us that their source of funding was donations and Zakat (almsgiving in Islam) but could not produce any receipt or record of the same. There is also a pattern in madrasas coming up along the Nepal border and all this signals that some foreign agency, likely a Pakistan-based agency, may be guiding them to build a base there and assemble sympathisers with the larger aim of (organising) terror activities,” the officer said. He added since the madrasas were not recognised, they were run without any supervision, and the degrees that they provide would not hold any value.
Around 8,449 madrasas were found to be unrecognised in a survey conducted in the state in 2022, which had also triggered much political backlash. Chairman of the UP Madarsa Education Board, Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, had in November last year written to CM Yogi Adityanath requesting the initiation of a process to provide recognition to these madrasas. Javed had said that it has been eight years since no fresh recognition process has been initiated and, in its absence, unrecognised madrasas were often perceived to be “illegal”, casting a shadow on the education of 7.5 lakh people, mostly Pasmanda Muslim youths enrolled with them. This comes at a time when the PM has spoken about focussing on the welfare of Pasmanda Muslims, Javed, who is a BJP member, said.
Speaking to ET on Thursday, Javed said he was not aware of any report submitted to the government. He reiterated that it is the government which has withheld the recognition of the seminaries.Even as deputy CM Brajesh Pathak promised “strict action” against defaulters, Congress hit back, with Shahnawaz Alam, chief of Congress’ minority wing, stating: “In 1999, the government of Ram Prakash Gupta and in 2000, the BJP government of Rajnath Singh had also issued one such report to tarnish the reputation of madrasas. Even then, it was said that madrasas found along the Nepal border were receiving funds from abroad but could not produce any proof to support claims. It appears that to please Yogi, SIT officials have rehashed the same report which has no foundation. Madrasas are built with donated money and people often pay as little as ₹5 — it is impossible to keep a record of each donation. Before questioning the funding of madrasas, BJP should answer who gave them ₹13,000 crore through electoral bonds in financial year 2022-23.”
