CM Himanta Says All Assam Madrasas to be Shut, Calls Cong 'New Mughals'

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is visiting Karnataka, said he intended to shut all the madrasas in his state, as they were not needed in “New India”. “There is no need of madrasas in this ‘New India’,” he asserted, adding, “We have to move forward in this direction, we have to transform our education system; time has come to rewrite our history in a new way as it was distorted earlier.” The Assam Chief Minister was addressing a large gathering here after inaugurating a light and sound show on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Pointing out that there are a large number of people in this country, who claim with pride that they are Muslims or Christians, the Assam CM said, “I have no objections, but we want people who will with pride say, ‘I’m a Hindu’.” Sarma then went on to make unsubstantiated remarks about the 17th century Mughal ruler Aurangazeb allegedly trying to destroy Hinduism, while recalling his contemporary Shivaji’s contributions to protecting Sanatana Dharma and its traditions. Sarma insisted that India’s history is only that of Shivaji, Durgadas Rathore and Guru Gobind Singh and claimed that “Congress and Communists have made the history of Babar, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb as India’s history.” Speaking about the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and the construction of corridors at Kashi, Ujjain, and Kamakhya among others, Sarma claimed that “the Badshahs of Delhi spoke and worked on destroying temples”.