Rajasthan sends police to get details on madrasas, DGP says ‘routine’

DGP Manoj Bhatt told The Indian Express, “It is a routine exercise and such information is regularly collected by intelligence.”

ADGP (Intelligence) Utkal Ranjan Sahoo also called the process “routine”. “The main aim of this exercise is that there are several madrasas being run by outsiders and people living adjacent to them have no knowledge about these persons.” Gathering such information becomes even more crucial in border districts, he said.

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A madrasa teacher confirmed that police officials had arrived at the madrasa where he teaches two days ago and sought detailed information on the owner, the number of students, ideology,etc.

Said Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s state president Khursheed Husain, “This move will only create suspicion and hatred towards madrasas, which is in no way in favour of the nation.”

Ameen Kayamkhani, patron of Rajasthan Madrasa Shiksha Sehyogi Sangh, that has called a protest in Jaipur on the issue Monday, said, “Our main objection is to the enquiry about ideology. A madrasa is just an institute which provides education. How does ideology come in? They have also inquired about Tablighi Jamaat visits, but then the Jamaat is not banned. And why did they have to involve police? They could have simply sought information from the Board. We want the government to withdraw these orders.”

Ahuja, who at the height of the JNU row had said that over 3,000 used condoms and 2,000 liquor bottles were found on the campus daily, had raised the issue of “suspicious activities” in madrasas in the Assembly recently.