New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government through its Madrassa Education Board has asked minority welfare officers to photograph and take videos of Independence Day events in all madrassas of the state.

The idea behind this decision, the circular stated, was "so that the best functions can be repeated in future".

Clerics in the state, including those from the influential Deoband and Bareilly seminaries, have strongly opposed the order, calling it an instance of the Yogi Adityanath government "displaying its suspicion and antipathy" towards the community.

 Maulana Arshad Madani, national president of the Deoband-based Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind said, "The directions have been issued by people of a particular mindset who can never accept the fact that Muslims can also be loyal Indians. They never realise that our forefathers have also shed blood for the independence of this nation and that we too love this land like everyone else. They always look for excuses to malign our reputation, often by labelling us as terrorists. This photography or videography is also part of the same campaign to instill fear in the minds of Muslim students that some big brother is watching you all the time. This is despite that fact that our madrasas always participate in national festivals with full vigour and patriotism."

Rahul Gupta, registrar, UP Madrasa Education Board, defended the government's decision. "The directions are unnecessarily being misread by a section. The photography and videography is to record novel ideas, if any, adopted by the madrassas during celebrations. Those things can be repeated in other madrassas next year. We have very noble and clear intentions regarding this. It is wrong to say that madrassas are being targeted through these directions."