To teach cattle protection, madrasa sets up cowshed
Around 1,000 students are enrolled in the madrasa, named ‘Garib Nawaz’ that is situated near Bajpur town, 40 kms from Rudrapur.
Acting on an advice of Muslim Rastriya Manch (MRM), an arm of the RSS, a madrasa has set up a cowshed in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand to teach students the importance of cattle protection, apart from providing them milk, people managing the institution said.
Around 1,000 students are enrolled in the madrasa, named ‘Garib Nawaz’ that is situated near Bajpur town, 40 kms from Rudrapur. A madrasa is a school where mainly Islamic theology is taught, though of late modern curriculum has been accepted.
“We were already keeping cows in madrasa and decided lately to have a cowshed. It’s a new experience for us as well as students,” said Maulana Usman Alvi, chairman of the Ali Welfare Educational Society society that handles the administration of the madrasa. The society runs 11 madrasas in Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts.
The cowshed that was inaugurated on Saturday has 15 cows and the number is likely to increase in coming months, said Muhammad Ali, the caretaker. “We have agricultural land adjoining the cowshed on which fodder is grown for the cattle.”
Alvi is associated with MRM that is an arm of the RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP. Indresh Kumar heads the MRM. The RSS works for cow protection, saying rearing of cattle is not a matter of religion.
Alvi said Kumar suggested to open a cowshed at the madras during a meeting held last month. He said cow milk has medicinal values.
“We prefer to keep cows instead of buffaloes so that students can know about the importance of gau sewa (cow protection),” Alvi added.
Faizan Ahmed, secretary of the society, said some ulemas – religious preachers – were creating awareness about cow protection and the importance of being a vegetarian.
Two months ago, the Madrasa Welfare Society that manages 207 madrasas in the state decided to teach Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language, to students from the coming academic session.