Fatwa to withdraw wards from schools

The Law Board’s fatwa comes after muftis of Dar-ul-Uloom, Deoband issued a fatwa early this week, saying that for Muslims to sing Vande Mataram, was against the tenets of Islam.

The Government’s move has led to widespread resentment among the Muslim community here. While Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, a Shia cleric, has decided to stage a demonstration at Bada Imambada tomorrow, other Muslim scholars are tomeet Governor Suraj Bhan on November 27, to protest against the State Government’s order.

President of the All India Muslim Intellectuals’ Forum Mohammed Yunus Nagrami explained that all kinds of worship is not allowed in Islam. “We can sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the nation, but we cannot be forced to worship a particular deity,” he said. Without naming the BJP, he said each party has its “own agenda” and has the right to bring it in practice when assuming power, but Muslims “too have the right to lodge a protest in a democratic manner against any decision that is not acceptable to them”.

The Government is unperturbed. Urban Affairs Minister Lalji Tandon says, “Those opposing Vande Mataram have no right to live in the country.”

But the Babri Masjid Action Committee convenor Zafaryab Zilani, feels all this is a “political gimmick”. He says,“The BJP has not issued a Government order in this connection. And the issue is being raised when elections are going to be held in some statesonly. The idea is to divert the attention of the people from the misrule of the BJP at the Centre and in the State.”

Minister for Basic Education Ravindra Shukla, however, made it clear that orders have been issued in this regard. “We have issued orders for the implementation of the Kalp Yojana in Government schools, which makes recitation of Saraswati Vandana a must,” he said.

Apart from elaborating its objectives in the Kalp Yojana, the State Government has now focussed on textbooks. It has formed a three-member committee of writers to suggest how “heroism of Hindus”, and not “Mughal dominance”, can be glorified in these texts.

“History has been presented in a distorted version in our textbooks. If Akbar was `The Great’, then why not Maharana Pratap? The chapter highlighting the valour of Rana Pratap in the Haldighati battle was deleted from textbooks, during the Chief Ministership of Mulayam Yadav,” claimed Shukla.

Denying that the decision was guided by “communal bias”, Shuklasaid that those opposing it were doing so “for the sake of opposition”. The committee of writers will submit its report to the Government soon, he said, adding that the new textbooks would be ready by the next academic year.

Understandably, this move has also attracted strong protests. President of the All India Muslim Forum Nehaluddin says, “The BJP Government’s gameplan to tamper with the history of the country by deleting the Muslim heritage, is its way of dividing Hindus and Muslims.” He said the Forum will now stage a demonstration outside the Vidhan Sabha on November 25.

But Shukla is adamant. “If Muslims do not object to their wards singing prayers in convent schools, why should they object Vandana in Hindi schools. Our attempt is not guided by a communal bias, but it is a move to project history in a right manner,” he pointed out.

The saffron agenda