Mulayam

Lucknow, Feb. 20: Chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has had to hurriedly shelve his populist move to make schools shut at noon every Friday.

His Uttar Pradesh education department had issued a circular yesterday to all educational institutions, run by or affiliated to the state government, that classes must end at noon to allow Muslim children to attend Friday prayers.

Had the order been implemented, students of morning schools that start at 8 am and finish at 2 pm would have lost two hours of classes. Day schools, which start at 10 am, would have lost four hours.

But today, Mulayam Singh beat a retreat, announcing in the Assembly that the order stood withdrawn. The decision was preceded by much drama.

Yesterday’s announcement had sparked outrage, with academicians accusing the government of destroying academic standards for narrow political gains.

When the House assembled this morning, the Opposition, led by the BJP, went hammer and tongs. Opposition leader Lalji Tandon wanted to know what had prompted the “communal government order”. Bahujan Samaj Party members also pitched in.

After prolonged drama, the government agreed to make a statement on the issue.

Even the Mulayam Singh camp was divided over the move. Loyalists like minister Azam Khan congratulated the chief minister for his bold step, but members of minority trusts are learnt to have reacted anxiously.

They rang up Mulayam Singh’s secretariat to tell him that neither Muslim students nor school administrations were in favour of the move. Many of them asked the chief minister to visit some schools to gauge the students’ displeasure over the order.

Schools across the state shut their classrooms at noon today in keeping with the order. Missionary schools Loreto Convent, St Francis, Cathedral Convent and La Martiniere also had to close at noon.

Students could be seen playing or hanging out on the campus as no arrangements had been made to pick them up at 12. “This is a forced holiday thrust on us,” said Rajan Tripathy, a 12-year-old St Francis student.

Muslim students who were not interested in Friday prayers were also seen playing. “We don’t go to mosques, everybody knows. Our parents go,” said Afzal Amanullah, a public school student. Some students could be seen attending prayers in the old town, but they were free by 2 pm.

The two-hour-long chaos in the Assembly today prompted Mulayam Singh to say he was withdrawing the order.

Issuing a two-page statement, the chief minister said: “I have scrapped the order issued by the education directorate yesterday. In its place, a new order has been issued. Under that, the district magistrates of the state have been empowered to declare holidays on Fridays after 12 in educational institutions of those areas where they deem it necessary.”

Salaries hiked

The government today announced an increase in the salaries of ministers and MLAs. Winding up a debate on budget proposals, Mulayam Singh said MLA salaries would be increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 a month. Salaries of cabinet-rank ministers have been increased from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000, while ministers of state will get Rs 4,000 as against Rs 2,250 previously.