Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board Chairman Waseem Rizvi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a shut down of all madrasas across India stating that ISIS ideology is being promoted there to influence the students, reports ANI.
Reportedly, in a letter addressed to PM Modi dated January 21, Shia leader Rizvi said that if madrasas in the country are not shut down with immediate effect, then within the next 15 years half of the country’s Muslims will get influenced by Islamic State ideologies.
“I write to you seeking the shut down of all madrasas in the country…because we have seen across the world that children are the first targets when it comes to plotting and planning terrorist activities, and with the increasing threat from Islamic State, there is fear that it will influence India as well,” Rizvi’s letter read.
Rizvi went on to allege that the ISIS is luring children in Jammu and Kashmir with money and financial stability and in return the Islamic terrorist organisation is teaching the young children hostile doctrines in the name of Islamic education and misleading them, adding that it could prove dangerous to the well-being of the country.
The Waqf Board chairman urged Prime Minister Modi to bring in provisions to allow students who have cleared high school to enrol in madrasas if they want to choose a career in religious paths. “That way, a child can attain proper education in regular schools and learn communal harmony and at the same time, have the opportunity to follow the religious path if so desired,” the letter read.
This is not the first time that Shia leader Waseem Rizvi has issued such bold statements as earlier he had said that homosexuality is prevalent Madrasas across the country leading to his expulsion from the Islam. In the past, he had sent a video to media stating that the Muslims who keep beard without moustache are fundamentalists who have become the scary face of terror in India and the world.
It is notable here that the Shia Board chairman has been severely opposed by Sunni groups and has been very vocal against the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He had earlier stated that mosques built over Hindu temples should be returned to Hindus. He had also been supportive of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Interestingly, he had also stated in the past that madrasas are the breeding grounds for terrorists, for which a Muslim group had put a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head. There had also been threats to his life and in April, the Delhi police had arrested some suspected aides of Dawood Ibrahim over a plot to kill Rizvi.
