The Rajya Sabha rejected a motion on Friday that called for the establishment of a special fund to modernise madrassas in light of the educational and social underachievement of Muslims, particularly women.
Abdul Wahab, a member of the Indian Union Muslim League, presented the motion in the Upper House of Parliament on February 10.
Women, Children, and Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani commented on the resolution, saying, “For me, this resolution which casts aspersions of inequality…in reality reduces it to a slur on the basis of religion…I pray it is rejected by the entire House. “A new India cannot be divided along religious lines. Due to this,I would ask that this resolution be unanimously rejected by the entire House so that we, the prime minister and the citizens who are helping to create the new India, can do so on the principles of inclusion, equity, and equality.
The resolution was rejected by a voice vote amid a walkout staged by the Congress and other opposition parties. Irani said the resolution states that Muslim women are not given the equal opportunity to get educated.
On the gender inclusion infrastructure fund proposed in the resolution, Irani said the new education policy takes care of the need for education of women as well as children. After three decades, India now has a new education policy, she said. She said the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship caters to the need for skilling for a new India.
“The resolution seeks to cast aspersions on citizen and the Constitution alike. Through this resolution aspersions have been cast on one of the holiest of books…that our nation at large seeks to divide people on the basis of religion and deny access to a better life in the present and in the future to those who belong to minority communities,” she said. BJP MP Ajay Pratap Singh opposed the resolution saying that the very constitution of the Sachar Committee was challenged in the Supreme Court.
He said it is not justified to implement the recommendations of a committee on which there is a big question mark.
The resolution had sought to implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee and other reports that have discussed the educational and social backwardness of Muslims.
It sought to reinstate and enhance all those scholarship and educational upliftment programme that aimed to improve the higher education participation of Muslims.
It sought to help madrassas to modernise with a special infrastructure fund.
It also sought to develop and implement special affirmative actions for Muslim women to improve their presence in central universities, institutes of national importance and their work participation.
