Bengal order on madrasas is disturbing

📌 Summary:

• Context: After a bitter campaign, the BJP won West Bengal; the new Suvendu Adhikari government has made it mandatory for madrasa students to sing "Vande Mataram" during morning assembly prayers
• Core argument: The editorial calls the order a "disturbing let-down" - it signals the government is focused on a polarising agenda rather than the pressing economic, social and governance challenges it has inherited
• Causal harm (1): Forced performative nationalism distracts attention from the real problem - West Bengal's education system genuinely needs reform
• Causal harm (2): In a diverse democracy, compelling students and families to endorse symbols that may conflict with their religious beliefs - as a condition for accessing their right to education - creates a fresh problem of exclusion
• Legal precedent: In Bijoe Emmanuel vs State of Kerala (1986), the Supreme Court held that forcing minority-community students to sing even the national anthem violates their right to freedom of speech, expression and religion
• The order follows the government scrapping religion-based assistance schemes, including scholarships for minority students, framed as countering "appeasement"
• Genuine reform need: poor education quality in unaided "khariji" madrasas and narrow pipelines to higher education for madrasa students remain unaddressed
• Solution: the government must address the real problems of the education system, take all people along, and step back from a path that leads only to exclusion and alienation

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 (Governance / Education and Fundamental Rights) - minority educational institutions, freedom of religion and expression, performative nationalism versus constitutional rights, and inclusive governance.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Bijoe Emmanuel vs State of Kerala (1986) protected students who declined to sing the national anthem on religious grounds, upholding rights under Articles 19(1)(a) and 25
• "Khariji" madrasas are unaided madrasas that are not recognised or aided by the state board
• Article 30 guarantees minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions

🔑 Key Term: Bijoe Emmanuel case (1986) - the Supreme Court ruling, also called the National Anthem case, that compelling students to sing the anthem against sincere religious belief violates fundamental rights to free expression and religion.