Uttarakhand: Dhami Flags ‘Anti-Muslim’ Actions as ‘Big Achievements’ of 3 Years’ Rule

Dehradun: On the completion of three years in office, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has taken action against 136 Madrassas (Muslim religious seminaries) in the hill state by sealing these and ordering a probe into their funding. This is part of the time-tested BJP/RSS ‘Gujarat model’ of deflecting attention from the more pressing public issues by vilification of the Muslim community.

The Chief Minister has flagged his actions against ‘Love Jehad’, ‘Land Jehad’, ‘Thook Jehad’, ‘Mazar Jehad’ and now action against ‘Madrassas’ as “biggest achievements” of his three-year tenure.

Interestingly, ‘Dhakkad Dhami’, as he is called by pliant media, celebrated his three years in office, and magnanimously announced that his campaign was not against “any community”.

More than 136 Madrassas in Uttarakhand have been sealed since March 1, 2025 in the entire state, as part of the Dhami government’s campaign against the community during the Holy month of Ramzan, which started from March 2, 2025. No prior notices were given to the closed Madrassas and no written orders were given for the action by the administration, said members of the community.

While the entire Muslim community in the state is agitated, the Jamiat-Ulema-e Hind, a body of clerics, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the “forcible closure” of Madrassas in Uttarakhand.

Maulana Fazlurrehman, a spokesperson of the Jamait, told this writer that the action by the Uttarakhand government was not legal, since Supreme Court, on October 4, 2024, hearing W.P.(C)000660/2024, a bench of the then Chief Justice D.Y Chandrachund, Justice J.P. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra, had stayed the notices issued to Madrassas by various state governments, particularly Uttar Pradesh, till further orders.

The Uttar Pradesh and other state governments had acted on the recommendations of National Commission for Child Rights, which called for closure of all Madrassas, saying that these institutions were not giving “proper education”, which was against the rights of children as per the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and said that all Madrassa students be admitted to the nearest government school.

The same was challenged by the Jamiat and the Supreme Court stayed the proceedings in October 2024.    

However, Uttarakhand government teams, led by local administrative and police officials, swooped down on the Madrassas, particularly in Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts, sealing these on one pretext or the other. The common pretext was that these Madrassas were not registered with the Uttarakhand Madrassa Board.

Some Madrassas were sealed on the pretext that they had not got their building plans approved by the competent authorities. Many of the Madrassas in rural areas do not require any building plans approved but those were also sealed, say members of the Muslim community.

“This is a complete dictatorial and anti-Muslim attitude of the authorities that are bent upon closing down Madrassas on any ground, whether legal or illegal,” said Maulana Iftikhar, president of the Madrassa Association of Uttarakhand, and a resident of Bhuddi village near Dehradun.

The officials, during their raids, reportedly verbally told the Madrassas’ authorities that their institutions were not registered with the Uttarakhand Madrassa Board, a government body.

“We have reviewed the Uttarakhand Education Board Act, 2016, and nowhere does it say that non-recognised ‘Maktab/ Madrassas’ are not allowed to impart religious education to our children. In other words, registration of ‘Maktabs/Madrassas’ is not mandatory as per law,” said Fazlurrehman.

There are more than 470 Madrassas in Uttarakhand that are registered with the Uttarakhand Madrassa Board and more than 150 have applied for registration.

The Madrassas affiliated with the Madrassa Board did get some benefits by the Central government schemes started by the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government, which have stopped after 2017.

The first scheme was to give money for infrastructure development by the Union government. However, none of the Madrassas in Uttarakhand was given money on this count. The second scheme related to providing grants to teachers by the Central government. A B.Ed teacher was to get Rs.12,000 and a graduate teacher Rs.6,000 per month as honorarium to improve the standard of Madrassa education and encourage them to teach English, Science and Mathematics. The amount was not salary but was to be paid once a year.

The honorarium of 565 such teachers from 187 Madrassas was not paid since 2017 and the Central government scheme was stopped and renamed.

Regarding the misconception that subjects, such as Science, English and Mathematics, are not taught in Madrassas, it is a fact that the syllabus of the Uttarakhand State Education Board is followed having all these subjects and National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) books are taught.

“It is false propaganda against Muslims. We follow the state education board syllabus and our students take 10th and 12th class board examinations and read NCERT books,” said Maulana Sharakat, who runs a Madrassa at Jeewangarh near Vikasnagar. 

 “The Only Madrassas imparting purely religious education are affiliated with the Darul-ul-Uloom, Deoband, in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh,” said Mufti Riyasat, who runs a Madrassa in Roorkee.

Out of more than 400 Madrassas, 212 recognised by the Madrassa Board get mid-day meals from state education department. Nearly more than one lakh students are currently enrolled in Uttarakhand Madrassas but the number is rapidly coming down.

 Agitated Muslim community during sealing of a Madrassa in Uttarakhand.

“It is due to the fact that the degrees given by Uttarakhand Madrassa Board are not recognised and given equivalence with Uttarakhand State Education board 10th and 12th class pass certificate. The issue of grant of equivalence has been pending with the state government since 2016 but no action has been taken, forcing the students to abandon Madrassas, since they see no future,” claimed Hafiz Shahnazar, a senior journalist.

The Madrassas associated with Muslims have been targeted by the BJP government since 2017 to whip up communal polarisation.

A total of 64 Madrassas in Udham Singh Nagar, 44 in Dehradun, 26 in Haridwar and two in Pauri Garhwal district have been sealed in the current operations.       

“The present action is part of the ongoing anti-Muslim campaign of the BJP government led by Chief Minister Dhami which started with ‘Land Jehad’ and then various other aspects like ‘Love Jehad’, ‘Mazar Jehad,’ ‘Thook Jehad’ and Uniform Civil Code. Now the action against Madrassas. This action is clearly against the constitutional guarantees given to religious minorities to pursue their religious and cultural education without any interference from the State. Muslim children are not being allowed to have their religious education freely,” said Javed Alam, a Dehradun-based advocate.

The authorities of the sealed Madrassas, in a letter addressed to the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, have highlighted that the Constitution’s Article 30 gives the right to the minorities to establish and administer their own educational institutions and respect of these rights, the Supreme Court had passed multiple judgements to restrict State interference in minority- run institutions, whether government aided or unaided. They charged that a large number of teachers had been rendered unemployed and over a lakh students would be adversely affected, and sought immediate de-sealing of Madrassas in the state.  

Mufti Shamoon Qasmi, chairman of the Uttarakhand Madrassa Board, however, said that the affected students would be shifted to government schools.

The recent statement by Chief Minister Dhami to probe the funding of the sealed Madrassas has tried to put Muslim organisations in bad light, he said. “Most of the Madrassas are in bad condition financially and run on small donations and Zakat being given by the Muslim community as part of their religious obligation. The Chief Minister in his anti-Muslim and divisive agenda has tried to indicate that something illegal or nefarious has been going on in Madrassas. The simple legal question is: “Are Madrassas illegal or Madrassa education of studying Quran and ‘Hadith’ and other religious scriptures unlawful in the country?” said Razia Baig, a former chairperson of the Uttarakhand Bar Council.

This is not the first time that “outrageous” statements have been made against the Muslim community and their institutions by the BJP leaders, including Muslims who have got a position in the present dispensation, said observers. Shadab Shams, chairman of Uttarakhand Wakf Board, is known for making such statements. He has called for teaching Sanskrit, Ramayana and Gita in the Madrassas.

Trying to prove himself more loyal than the king, the said leader, who has reportedly “endeared himself” to the Sangh Parivar by being closely associated with the Muslim Rashtriya Manch and Gau Rakshak organisations of the outfit, since taking over his post has made “outrageous” statements regarding Muslims, Madrassas and mosques, said observers, adding that “his utterances are soothing the BJP and Sangh leadership.”

In an interview with a news portal last year, Shams is said to have even suggested that he would get CCTV cameras installed in all the 709 mosques and Madrassas in Uttarakhand with control rooms in respective police stations to prevent “unlawful activity”. Recently, he also reportedly announced a ‘Modi-Dhami Eid’ kit with two litres of milk, rice and sugar to poor Muslims as an Eid gift.   

The question many are asking is: Is the Muslim community in Uttarakhand going to live under a police state?

The writer is a freelancer based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.