All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi speaking in the Lok Sabha. | Photo Credit: File photo
Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday sought to dispute the stereotype of Muslim men oppressing women, and pointed to data that indicated higher enrolment of Muslim girls as compared to that of boys.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Mr Owaisi, who is the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president, said, “Those who say we don’t teach our girls and oppress women are wrong. I am quoting data, and I can challenge anyone. Muslim girls are enrolled at school-level – that is higher than of boys. The gender parity index for rest of the population is 0.93, but for Muslims it is 0.99.”
Mr Owaisi then stated that Muslims are prevented from education not because of some “evil men”, but because of crushing poverty, and absence of government support.
The AIMIM president then accused the government of favouritism. He stated that institutions of higher education such as Jamia Millia Islamia and the Aligarh Muslim University have an allocation of ₹3 lakh per student and ₹3.9 lakh per student respectively. In comparison, the Banaras Hindu University has an allocation of ₹6.15 lakh per student. “Why this favouritism?” Mr Owaisi asked.
Mr Owaisi said that a direct connection could be drawn between the policies of the government, and the continuing backwardness of Muslims in both higher and school education. He said that Muslims want education but on account of the government’s apathy and negligence, students are forced to drop out sooner than children of any other community.
“Enrolment percentage of Muslims drops from 14.2% in upper primary classes – VI to VIII – to 10.76% higher in education – classes XI and XII,” he said. He added that only 76.37% Muslim students continue after elementary education as compared to national average of 81.26%.
Mr Owaisi questioned the NCERT’s rationale behind the removal of references to Babri Masjid and the 2002 Gujarat riots. “Why should people not learn from mistakes of past? Should our children not learn of the Gujarat pogrom, and massacre of minority Muslims. Those who ignore mistakes of history are bound to repeat them,” he said. He went on to add: Why do you want to hide killers of Mahatma Gandhi? Do you want to make Godse a freedom fighter? Let children know who is a patriot.
