RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch to conduct nationwide seminar in July

Looking to modernise madrasas and "broaden the views" of their students, the RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) is planning to hold a nationwide seminar of teachers and organisations which run these Islamic religious seminaries. The MRM is pitching the need for these madrasas to teach modern subjects instead of only imparting religious education, as this approach will help these youth hold their own in the competition for jobs and employment. "Religious education is necessary but so is materialistic education. (Otherwise they will not understand) where the world is headed and the strides made in the realm of science. Once they (madrasa students) will know this, it will increase their (knowledge) span," said senior MRM and RSS functionary Virag Pachpor. 

"There is a need to improve education standards. The biggest problem before the Muslim community is that of education. Problems like poverty have led to a huge dropout rate... So, we are laying emphasis on education," he noted. The two-day seminar is likely to be held in Delhi in July and will touch on issues like how "wordly, secular education can be imparted to children in addition to religious education". MRM office bearers are also planning to invite minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla or minister of state Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to attend the convention. 

"This will help broaden views and solve many problems," claimed Pachpor, pointing to how before the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about how he wanted to see Quran carrying Muslim youth also using modern technology like computers. "How this modernisation is to be done is a huge issue. There are government schemes and grants for it... students must be taught about the world outside religious books. (Otherwise)… this closes employment avenues for them," Pachpor said. 

However, Imtiaz Jaleel, AIMIM MLA from Aurangabad, noted that many madrasas had already begun teaching modern subjects like languages, science and mathematics with many students passing out and joining professional courses. "If something more needs to be done, then the community is competent enough instead of a third party (getting involved)," he said, adding that the Sangh Parivar should not get involved in this. The chief minister's study group under former IAS officer Mehmood-ur-Rehman had noted there were about 2,637 Madarsas in Maharashtra of which 1,426 are registered and 1,211 were unregistered.

The report, which was submitted in 2013, said that "although a small proportion of students go to Madarsa and Maktabs, the traditionalism of these institutions has remained a matter of concern. The improvement and help offered by the government in the past has been pervaded with many controversies. Many claim that Madarsas are religious institutions and as such the government should not intervene." 

The MRM has also launched the 'Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Memorial Trust,' named after freedom fighter and revolutionary Ashfaque Ullah Khan, to undertake educational and social activities. It was formally inaugurated in Pune in December 2015 by senior RSS functionary Indresh Kumar, who is the MRM's chief patron, and the trust's chief advisor.
In a bid to deepen its outreach among Muslims, the MRM was established in 2002 at the behest of then RSS chief K.S Sudarshan. It was initially called "Rashtravadi Muslim Andolan-Ek Nayi Raah" and re-christened as the MRM in 2005. 

Muslims form around 10.6% of Maharashtra's 11.23 crore population. However, only 2.2% of the community has completed education till graduation and the proportion is at a lower 1.4% for women. According to the Rajinder Sachar committee report, the share of Muslims in government services is just 4.4%. The community also suffers from regressive social practices like oral, triple talaq and low literacy and work participation of women.