BJP MLA attacks TMC govt over madrasa funding, says it produces criminals, not doctors

The BJP MLA’s communal vitriol targeting the Muslim community, while accusing the TMC government of fostering criminals by funding madrasas instead of producing doctors, engineers and teachers, and of neglecting their real development as recommended by the Sachar Committee, plunged the West Bengal Assembly into chaos for the third day.

The disruption erupted on the third day of the ongoing budget session when BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul, participating in the debate on the interim state budget tabled a day earlier, alleged that financial allocations to madrasas had failed to uplift minority communities and were instead contributing to criminality among minority youth, an assertion that immediately drew sharp objections from the treasury benches.

Paul argued that despite years of state funding, madrasas had not produced professionals such as doctors, engineers or teachers, and she accused the ruling party of treating minorities merely as a vote bank while ignoring substantive educational and social advancement, further claiming that the recommendations of the Sachar Committee had been systematically overlooked.

She also challenged senior TMC leaders, including Cabinet Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim and Mass Education Extension Minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury, to place in the public domain a white paper detailing the number of professionals who had emerged from madrasas over the past 15 years, while simultaneously alleging that many youths had instead been pushed towards crime, remarks that triggered an uproar in the House.

TMC legislators strongly condemned the comments, following which Hakim and senior minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay submitted a formal letter of protest to Speaker Biman Banerjee, who subsequently ordered the expunging of the controversial portions of Paul’s statement from the official Assembly records in an attempt to restore order.

Opposing the remarks during the debate, Hakim asserted that minorities could not be equated with criminality and maintained that branding an entire community in such a manner was unacceptable, while later reiterating that minorities had made significant contributions to India’s freedom struggle and national life and enjoyed equal rights as citizens.

Hakim also mounted a counterattack on the BJP by referring to incidents of communal violence in BJP-ruled states and by alleging that several leaders associated with the party had themselves faced serious criminal charges, thereby questioning the moral authority behind Paul’s allegations.

Chowdhury, for his part, rejected the claim that madrasa education encouraged criminal behaviour and demanded an apology, while also pointing to broader educational indicators in the state, including the presence of a large number of missionary schools and the steady number of Muslim students qualifying for competitive examinations each year.