New Delhi
Amid the controversy generated by Shia Waqf Board chief Wasim Rizvi against madarsas, the chairman of the National Commission for Minorities today dismissed such remarks saying the Islamic institutions produced IAS officers, not terrorists.
Rejecting Shia board chief Wasim Rizvi’s controversial remarks “madrassas breed terrorists”, Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi said it was a “laughable” remark made to earn a few brownie points from the government.
“It is laughable and juvenile to connect madrassas with terrorism. One or two isolated incidents cannot be used to defame madrassas,” he said.
“Nowadays, children who studied in madrassas are becoming IAS officers and earning fame in multiple spheres. Madrassas don’t breed terrorists, they produce IAS officers,” he added.
Waseem-ur-Rehman from the Deoband in UP cleared UPSC in 2008. He got 404th rank. Maulana Hammad Zafar from Madrassa Ali Arabia in Mau, Madhya Pradesh cleared the exam in 2013, he said.
The Shia Board chairman had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on January 9 in which he claimed that madrassas bred terrorists and demanded that the Islamic institutions should be shut.
The minorities commission chairman said Rizvi’s letter would have no bearing on the government’s stance towards madrassas.
“His comment was meant to earn some favour from the government. But I am confident that the government will pay no heed to his statements. It instead wants to modernize madrasas,” he said.
“There have already been changes in the madrassas. Modern education is being imparted there and the ones where it’s not happening, the government is working for them too,” he added.
The Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind served a legal notice on Wasim Rizvi citing the ‘defamatory’ remarks. It sought for a written and unconditional apology from Rizvi and a payment of Rs 20 crore towards damages.