NEW DELHI: Officials of minority-run educational institutions in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha live in a state of fear all because they refuse to heed requests for admission in their institutes from local authorities.
The officials are “harassed” and often booked under “false” charges, according to the 2016-2017 annual report of the National Commission for Minorities that is expected to be tabled in Parliament soon.
Three of the states—Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh—are BJP-ruled while the BJD is in power in Odisha, which has a poor track record of safety of minorities, particularly Christians. In 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his sons were burnt to death by the Bajrang Dal.
“Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, MP and Orissa are examples where principals of schools—for not giving admission to students recommended by small local executives like school inspectors, block education officers—are harassed and at times, these officials become instrumental in filing false FIRs against them,” the NCM report stated. The commission urged the states to take “immediate action” in the matter.
The report said managing minority-run institutions had become a “major problem” in these states even though they don’t take any government aid.
“The NCM regularly receives representations complaining of undue interference and harassment by government agencies in the day-to-day functioning of minority run educational institutions,” the report said.
Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution gives minority communities the fundamental right to preserve their culture and to establish educational institutions of their choice. The minority-run educational institutions are supposed to be free of government interference.
The NCM, headed by Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, has also highlighted other problems. “Often minority rights are violated with regard to selection of teachers, constitution of selection committee and their appointments. The MP government and other state governments need to take immediate action in this regard,” the NCM said.
The NCM report comes in the backdrop of increasing harassment and attacks against minority institutions, particularly in MP. In December 2017, a group of Catholic carol singers was attacked in Satna district.
Instead of the acting against Bajrang Dal activists, the police booked six people, including M George, the head of a Christian educational institution. Goerge was subsequently arrested.
In January this year, a right wing outfit, the Vishwa Sanatan Sangathan, tried to perform Bharat Mata ki aarti at St Mary College in Vidisha. (With inputs from Anuraag Singh in Bhopal)