BJP’s Samik Bhattacharya welcomes Bengal govt’s notice for closure of 252 madrasahs

Kolkata, Sep 13 (IANS) West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President and Rajya Sabha member, Samik Bhattacharya, on Sunday welcomed the decision of the state government for closure notices to 252 madrasahs in the state, most ‘kharijis’ (unrecognised).

The state government had at the same time slapped show-cause notices to 100 more madrasahs in the state asking them to cite reasons why similar closure notices will not be served to them.

The closure and show-cause notices were served to these entities, after the state minorities affairs and madrasah education department conducted a review of the functional aspects of different madrassas in the state, including their management systems, number of teachers, student attendance, infrastructure, syllabus and source of funding.

Speaking to the media persons on Sunday afternoon, Bhattacharya referred to late Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the last Chief Minister of the previous Left Front government, while advocating in favours of such khariji (unrecognised) madrassas.

“Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also said once that militants are being bred in such khariji madrasas. As soon as a controversy arose over his comments, he had to bow to pressure from his party. If the Left Front government had listened to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that day, this situation would not have arisen in the border districts,” the State BJP President said.

He also added that while Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had to succumb to the pressure from his own party in the matter for some reasons, the current BJP government in West Bengal will not succumb to any such pressure.

“Education is not a medium of any religious control or rituals and practices. Education should be the path to building knowledge, rationality, scientific temperament, and humane values. Keeping pace with time, we must make our education system more modern, technology-driven, employment-oriented, and progressive,” Bhattacharya said.

According to the State BJP President, since education is the backbone of the nation it should not get trapped in the web of superstitions and narrow-mindedness.

“If that happens, then the nation’s progress is obstructed. Our goal is to achieve such an education system where no child’s future is determined based on their religion or identity,” Samik Bhattacharya said.

“The BJP wants a superstition-free, scientific, modern, and progressive education system where there will be equal opportunities for all. Our goal is one nation, one education system,” he added.

–IANS

src/khz