BELAGAVI: BJP-governed Assam intends to shut its remaining madrassas after having already converted those that used to be funded by the state into general schools because “there is no need for any such religious education in new India”, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday in poll-bound Karnataka.
“What Assam needs are schools, colleges and universities to produce doctors, engineers and other professionals to serve the state and the country,” Sarma told a gathering at the inauguration of a light-and-sound show on Chhatrapati Shivaji in Belagavi.

The BJP-led government last year shut close to 600 state-run madrasas, but spared those managed by private organisations. The Gauhati high court upheld the decision after it was legally challenged.
“I come from Assam, which faces the threat of infiltration from Bangladesh every day. There is a threat to our culture and traditions. We have to transform our education system. The time has come to rewrite our history in a new way as it has been distorted,” Sarma said.
The Assam CM also took a swipe at Congress, accusing the grand old party of representing “new Mughals”. “Earlier, the Mughal invaders tried to weaken India. Now, Congress is doing it. Why do you speak in favour of Babri Masjid and not for Ram Mandir?” the Assam CM said. Sarma said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was leading a “new India” determined to reclaim its culture, traditions and shrines. “I hear people saying, ‘I am a proud Muslim’ or ‘I am a proud Christian’. We want people who say, ‘I am a proud Hindu’. People try to create differences between us. But we should know that we are Hindus and Indians. Sanatan is the only way this country will get stronger,” the chief minister said.