LUCKNOW: In a settle, the row kicked up following the statement of state minister for Haj over introducing dress-code in state madrassas, the UP government refuted the possibility of any such proposal.
Denying any such move being mulled by the state government, Laxmi Narayan Chowdhary, the Cabinet Minister for Minority Welfare, Muslim Waqf and Haj, summarily rejected MoS Mohsin Raza's proposal.
Notably, two days back, Raza had claimed that the state government was contemplating to introduce a dress code for madarsa students as a modernisation push to the Islamic institutions. However, Raza's statement had faces stiff resentment from Muslim clerics and maulanas who had called it a bid to interfere in community's affairs.
As per the highly placed sources, the state government's U-turn came through after PMO's intervention and Cabinet minister Laxmi Narayan Chowdhary claimed that there was neither a new policy nor any plan to introduce a dress code in madrassa.
It is believed that on late Tuesday night Centre took the notice of Raza's dress code statement and Union minister for minority welfare Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had called him up. This was followed by a call received by the minister form the CM office and also Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma talked to him over the issue.
Subsequently, later on Tuesday night, Laxmi Narayan Chowdhary took to Twitter to clear state government's stand claiming that there was no such proposal in the pipeline. Chowdhary had said that "it could be Moshsin Raza's personal views and not a policy matter of the Yogi Adiyanath's government".
"My department has not drafted any such proposal to introduce dress code for madrasa students nor has any plan in the future to do. The controversy with regard to issue should end now," said the Cabinet minister.