'Madrassas gave IAS, IPS officers': How Muslim bodies reacted to Supreme Court verdict

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind's Maulana Kab Rashidi said the Supreme Court's verdict gave a very big message.

Muslim religious leaders and opposition parties on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict upholding the validity of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrassa Education Act.

Advocates react after the Supreme Court's verdict on UP Madarsa Education Act.(PTI)

Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, a senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said now madrassas can continue to run with complete freedom.

"How can a law made by the government be unconstitutional? Thousands of people are associated with these madrassas and the Supreme Court's decision has given them great relief. Now we can continue to run our madrassas with complete freedom," he said.

All India Shia Personal Law Board spokesperson Maulana Yasoob Abbas said madrassas have given to the country several IAS and IPS officers.

"We welcome the way the Supreme Court has found the Act correct and justified. Madrassas have played an important role in the independence of the country. Madrassas have given us many IAS, IPS, ministers and governors. It is wrong to look at madrassas with suspicion. If any madrasa is going on the wrong path, then action should be taken against it but not all madrasas should be looked at with suspicion," Abbas told PTI.

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind's Maulana Kab Rashidi said the Supreme Court's verdict gave a very big message.

"This is a very big message. Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind welcomes this," he said.

"If the government wants there should be some improvement in modern education in madrassas, then we can sit together and discuss it. But if it imposes something unconstitutional, then it will be fought legally," he added.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the order has ended the uncertainty over the future of madrassas.

"The Supreme Court's important decision declaring the UP Madrassa Education Board Act, 2004 legal and constitutional is welcome. With this, the controversy surrounding madrassa education in Uttar Pradesh and the uncertainty over the future of thousands of madrassas will end. It is important to implement it (court order) properly," she said in a post on X.

The Samajwadi Party, meanwhile, slammed the BJP saying the party wanted to deprive the people of the country of their constitutional rights.

"The BJP wanted to deprive people of their constitutional rights. Madrassas were established legally after the country's independence but since the BJP government is against minorities and does politics of hatred, there were constant talks and statements against madrassas," Samajwadi Party spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan said.

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the 2004 Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrassa Education Law and set aside an Allahabad high court verdict quashing it on the ground that it was violative of the principle of secularism.

"We have upheld the validity of the UP madrassa law and moreover a statute can be struck down only if the State lacks the legislative competence," CJI DY Chandrachud said.

The bench said the high court erred in holding that the law was violative of the principle of secularism.

With inputs from PTI