Email
Print
ShareDelhi: The Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind's (JUH's) 30th general assembly at Deoband that ended on Tuesday was a classic example of taking one step forward, two backward. The congregation's stated purpose was to usher in social and educational reforms, but the clerics seemed to have taken a dim view of women's emancipation.
The 10,000 clerics at the conclave vehemently opposed the women's reservation bill, calling it "unnecessary" and stressed on girls following shariat norms while continuing education.
A resolution adopted at the conclave said the bill had a "tilt in policies to benefit educated and economically-empowered women. The bill will diminish the presence of minorities, especially Muslims and Dalits" and create "social problems".
The opposition came from the Jamiat's highest clergyman, with JUH president Maulana Muhammad Usman Mansoorpuri claiming reservation to women was "uncalled for, unnecessary and unacceptable".
The resolution also called upon Muslims to establish "non-residential modern educational institutions for girls and carve out a special syllabus for them which should be completed within six years. On completion of 10 years of age, complete shariat norms should be observed while continuing education".
Following shariat norms while continuing education means girls would have to follow the purdah system, apart from a dress code, study religious texts and shun the "co-ed" system.
The conclave stressed that the Centre open "modern schools and educational institutions in Muslim-dominated areas", but refused government aid for institutions run by Islamic organisations.
The clerics demanded that the government set up a central board of education on the lines of CBSE (to be governed by a body of Muslim scholars) for easy affiliation to Muslim schools and educational institutes but condemned the Centre's proposal for a central madrassa board. They demanded reservation for Muslims, as recommended by the Justice Sachar Committee, in all public sector enterprises but were categorically opposed to a quota for women.
The main opposition was to the madrassa board proposal. In fact, Jamiat leader and Rajya Sabha MP Maulana Mahmood Madani said in the presence of home minister P Chidambaram, "Hum aadhi roti khayenge aur sookhi khayenge, lekin madarson mein sarkari dakhal nahi hone denge [We'll make do with less money, but won't tolerate government interference in madrassas].
