Who is provoking Indian Muslims ? Religious Minorities should be called 'second majority', says BJP ::: ....on tenterhooks after High Court ban order on Islamic schools

The Allahabad High Order ‘banning’ madrasas will impact the minority community amid elections in the most populous Uttar Pradesh state. 

The big debate is not why and how this order came. The real political question is whether the court decision may come in handy in keeping Muslims on tenterhooks in the middle of an election campaign, dominated by Narendra Modi who is seeking a 'an enhanced mandate' and the third consecutive term in office.

2010: Madrasa teacher in front of Ram temple complex 

An Indian court’s order declaring madrasas or schools imparting Islamic religious teachings as violative of the principles of secularism enshrined in the country’s constitution may snowball into a controversy ahead of the general election.

The Allahabad High Court on March 22 declared northern Uttar Pradesh state’s Madarsa Education Act, 2004, as “unconstitutional,” which essentially bans madrasas in India's most populous state. Muslims form 19.26 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s 200 million.

UCA News article

The top court in the state has asked the provincial government to accommodate the madrasa students in the formal schooling system.

“We are studying the judgment. Our legal team is vetting all the legal options to appeal in the Supreme Court,” said Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board.

He, however, said that if relief is not forthcoming “then a problem will arise for teachers, staff, students and their families,” who are depending on madrasa education.

Uttar Pradesh sends the highest number (80 of 543) of members to India’s Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament. The state is infamous for religious polarization and its chief minister is Yogi Adityanath — a radical Hindu monk-turned-political leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Muslims have been at the receiving end of a decades-old campaign to construct a new Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh after the demolition of a medieval-era mosque. Hindu hardliners are also targeting two other equally old mosques in the state — Mathura and Varanasi — claiming they were “originally Hindu temples.”

The ban on madrasas may further distance Muslims from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP ahead of a crucial general election. But it could also aid in further consolidating their Hindu support base.

Modi’s rule since 2014 has ensured the consolidation of “Hindu nationalist politics” in northern India, especially Uttar Pradesh.

The Allahabad High Court order came on a writ petition filed by a lawyer Anshuman Singh Rathore, who challenged the constitutionality of madrasas arguing they failed to provide universal and quality school education to all the children and thus violated “the fundamental rights of the students.”

The ruling party sympathizers said there was no religious discrimination involved in the petition or the order. The Modi government was only undoing historical wrongs committed in the name of “minority appeasement” by previous governments.

Rakesh Tripathi, a BJP spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh, said the party is “not against madrasas” but was concerned about the quality of education being imparted to Muslim students.

“We are against such discriminatory practices. The government will decide on further action after going through the court’s order,” he said. Javed said there are 16,500 recognized, 560 aided and 8,500 unrecognized madrasas in UP. Over 200,000 students study in them and some 10,000 teachers are employed.

“Where will these students go... I am also worried about the fate of the teachers,” he said.

Islam is the second largest religion in India, with 14.2 percent of the country's 1.4 billion people, or 211.16 million followers.

BJP leaders say instead of calling themselves “minorities,” Muslims should see themselves as the “second majority religious group.”

But as some independent analysts point out, the pro-Hindu BJP could be wary of a “Muslim votes consolidation” in favor of rival Congress across the country, especially in states like Uttar Pradesh where they have high numbers.

The BJP was humbled by the Congress in the May 2023 provincial assembly polls in the southern state of Karnataka.

"One major factor that led to the BJP's defeat in Karnataka was Muslim consolidation in favor of Congress. Congress gained in votes handsomely in Muslim-dominated pockets," according to political analyst Vidyarthi Kumar.

Nine Muslims won on the Congress ticket while the party gained 67 seats in constituencies where the minority community formed 20-25 percent of the total voters, he pointed out.

A repeat Muslim consolidation went in favor of the Congress in southern Telangana state in the November 2023 polls, helping it to wrest power from a regional party in the state.

“A consolidation of Muslim votes may not be possible at the national level as the community is scattered. But in some states, this might affect the BJP’s victory prospects,” agreed West Bengal-based analyst Ramakanto Shanyal.

The court decision may come in handy in keeping Muslims on tenterhooks in the middle of an election campaign, dominated by Modi and his BJP who are seeking a third consecutive term in office. 

(The process to elect India's new Lok Sabha - the lower house of Parliament - has begun with the announcement of poll schedules. The first phase of voting will take place on April 19 -- less than a month from now.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP, which banks on an overwhelming Hindu support base, is expected to win the polls for the third time in a row having won in 2014 and 2019 earlier. Muslims and rights groups have accused from time to time that some influential leaders and affiliates promote anti-Islamic vigilantism.)

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