It’s Shariat and not politicians to decide on Muslims: Shafi Saadi
Minister Zameer’s statement irks religious leaders
Bengaluru: The statement of Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan that “Muslims will not vote for BJP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Even if anybody voted, they are not Muslims” has triggered controversy.
It is Shariat to decide ‘Who is Muslim and how they should be’ and not the politicians, said Karnataka Muslim Jamaat general secretary Moulana NKM Shafi Saadi.
“Those who are in responsible positions should not give such statements. The Minister should give clarification. I will speak to him about the issue. If he gave such statement purposefully, there is no difference between Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde and himself. Only Shariat will decide on how the Muslims should be and not the politicians”, he said.
Expresses dissatisfaction
Opposition BJP, social media users and religious leaders expressed their anger about the Minister’s statement saying that “Religion is personal issue. Voting is Constitutional right. Instead of creating awareness on how to use it, no one should try to divide the society and disturb the communal harmony”.
“It shows how the Congress leaders who speak about secularism were afraid of the BJP. After independence, the Congress has cheated the Muslims who are not considering the statements of such leaders. Muslim brothers have understood who will protect their interests”, said BJP state general secretary N Ravi Kumar.
Muslims have been questioning the contributions of Congress leaders for their welfare after the independence. Now all Congress leaders including Minister Zameer Ahmed should introspect themselves, he said in a statement.
“Every citizen in India got voting power due to Constitution and everyone should understand that this right is not given on the basis of any religion. The Minister could have given politically motivated statement. But no one has given the right to the Minister to say that ‘you are not the Muslims if you voted a particular political party”.
-Mufti Bakhar Arshad, state president, All India Milly Council
“It is the decision of the eligible voter to vote to whom. They should create awareness on participating in the voting process and it is not fair to give such statements. It is better to neglect such issues. No one including the community or the society will accept such statements. People should not forget that only Islam will say who is Muslim and how he should be”.
- Atharulla Sharief, state president, Jamaate Islami Hind
“Congress party has not done even a single for the Muslims. Justice Sachar Committee report disclosed that the Muslims had worst situation than dalits in the Congress administration. A few days ago, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had said that ‘Congress is not a party of Muslims’. People have elected you to work for the community and not the party. The community has many problems. Instead of ensuring free education to the children and releasing the innocents who were arrested, the Minister said that ‘you are not a Muslim if you have not voted the Congress’ and it is like a Fatwa. The religious leaders will guide the Muslims on how to follow Islam and there is nothing to learn from political leaders. The Minister should stop giving such statements. The Minister who has not spoken anything against Ajith Hanumakkanavar who disrespected the Prophet in Suvarna TV channel, has spoken like that which is a shame”.
-AJ Khan, state president, Dalits and Minorities Sene
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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