In India’s Assam State hundreds of Muslim cleric-run schools, popularly called Madrasas, now face an existential crisis.
Assam’s Minister for Education Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced from November onward, the government in the north-eastern state will stop financing the Madrasas.
“Teaching Quran cannot happen at the cost of government money. If we have to do so, then we should also teach both the Bible (of Christians) and Bhagavad Gita (of Hin-dus). We want to bring uniformity and stop this practice,” he said.
India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which runs the federal government as well as the Assam State government, has never been shy of taking up pro-Hindu causes. Its new move against Muslim schools shows it has taken the next step – a crackdown on education – in its effort to make India a Hindus-only nation.