Islamophobic UP government declares 150-year-old Darul Uloom Deoband illegal
In a bizarre move that can be ascribed only to chronic Islamophobia, the Uttar Pradesh state government on Sunday declared Darul Uloom Deoband, a 150-year-old globally renowned Islamic seminary, as illegal.
In addition, 305 other Islamic seminaries were also declared illegal and unrecognized.
The decision follows a survey of Islamic seminaries – madrasas – in the state, a move initiated by its Hindu-supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) government.
The alumni of Darul Uloom, which is located in Deoband district, occupy important positions in Islamic scholarship at international and national levels.
On August 31, the Uttar Pradesh government announced a survey of teachers, students, facilities, and funding at the state’s Islamic seminaries.
The opposition criticized the move, accusing the BJP government of interfering in the running of Islamic seminaries to “terrorize” Muslims.
Recently, the government in Assam State, also ruled by the BJP, demolished three madrasas illegally without following due process, on the blatantly false charges of being associated with “a terror organization.”
Supreme Court orders $12,000 compensation for Muslim man’s death in custody
The Supreme Court has held the Assam state government responsible for the death of a a 27-year-old Muslim man, Jamal Hossain, in a police station last year, and ordered the government to pay a compensation of Indian Rupees 1 million (USD12,082) to his family.
Assam is ruled by the Hindu supremacist BJP.
Hossain was beaten to death by police officials at Sonamura police station in September 2021. The police falsely claimed Hossain died of a heart attack.
Earlier in June, the Tripura High Court had ruled that Hossain’s death was a result of violence and that the state government cannot avoid responsibility for his murder.
Hossain worked as a cleaner in Dubai and returned to Assam in September 2021 for a vacation. On September 14, 2021, a team of police personnel nabbed him and took him to the police station. He died the next day.
Museum on a Muslim community in Assam sealed within days of inauguration
The Assam government has sealed a museum commemorating the history of a community of Bengal-origin Muslims who settled in the modern-day Assam state in the late 1800s. The museum was inaugurated on October 23.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, infamous for his hateful anti-Muslim remarks, said the police will probe the source of funding for the museum. Sarma is a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, which pushes anti-Muslim policies seeking the creation of a Hindu state.
Other BJP leaders in Assam have also demanded that the Miya museum — so-called because Assamese Muslims call themselves Miya — be shut down immediately.
Sarma said that the emergence of Miya poetry and Miya school are issues of “grave concern.”
Hindu supremacists in the region have been agitating for decades to deport Bengali-origin Muslims. They refuse to recognize millions of Bengali-origin communities as Indian citizens.
