Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind organised a conference under ‘Tahaffuz-e-Madaris (Protection of Madrassas) Conference at Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh on June 1, 2025, addressing the “arbitrary notices” sent from the Government, demanding demolition or shutdown.
“This event has not been organised for any celebration… The Madrasas in UP are getting different types of notices and are being shut down,” said Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President, Maulana Syed Arshad Madani.
He also informed that, after Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana, the Haryana Government has also started sending notices to Madrasas in Panipat and other regions. Madani reminded of the involvement of Madrasas in the Indian freedom movement and how they had served against colonial rule. He asserted that he will oppose the moves against Madrasas till his death.
“If Mosques are where we pray and read the Quran, Madrasas are centres where it is taught how to pray and read the Quran. They are as crucial as our mosques,” he said.
He said that today bulldozers run over the very Madrasas, which once stood for the freedom movement against the British.
“Those who think that madrasas mean reading and teaching books are wrong. The madrasas that fought for freedom, today it is said that terrorism is being taught there,” he said.
Madani addressed the gathering, stating that discrimination based on religion is “unacceptable in a secular, democratic country and that when madrassas and mosques are targeted purely on religious lines, it violates the very spirit of the Constitution.”
Speakers from various schools of thought participated in the conference. The speakers criticised the growing number of demolitions, the ban on the call for prayers, the bulldozing of homes, and the snatching of people’s rights.
The collaboration also reiterated that Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind will continue its legal fight for justice against the enforced shutdown of Madrasas.
“This campaign is not against the people, but against governmental policies that undermine our rights,” Madani said.
