The Uttarakhand government has sealed 136 madrasas in the state in Ramzan month citing various illegalities, prompting clerics to accuse the BJP of harbouring an “anti-Muslim ideology”.

The Haridwar administration locked two madrasas on Wednesday on the ground that they were being run without registration from the madrasa board. On Tuesday, the first floor of a madrasa was sealed in Dehradun allegedly because it had been constructed without permission from the local development authority.

A member of the Dehradun madrasa said on the condition of anonymity: “The officials wanted to seal the entire structure but we protested and showed them all papers related to the land and the building. Finally, they used force to seal the first floor and left the ground floor open.”

“This building has been standing here since 1972 and we have up to Class VIII. Why didn’t they come before?”he asked.

On Monday, three madrasas were sealed in Haldwani, Nainital, because they were allegedly not affiliated to the madrasa board.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who is personally monitoring the crackdown, said: “We don’t want any institution with illegal funding and illegal structures in Uttarakhand.” There were 500 illegal madrasas in the state, he added.

Abdul Razzaq, general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, a leading organisation of Islamic scholars, said they had already moved the Supreme Court against the state government’s “illegal action against our institutions”.

“Like Uttarakhand, the Uttar Pradesh government had also issued notices to many madrasas in the state. We had filed a petition and the Supreme Court stayed the action and told the Uttar Pradesh government to wait till the final order is passed. We will approach the Supreme Court against the Uttarakhand government’s decision and hope to get a similar order soon,” Razzaq said.

“The government is conspiring against our centres of learning and religion without having any evidence against us. There is no law to register a madrasa with any other government body if it is registered with the waqf board,” he said.

“The government has information about all fundings to madrasas. Ali funds come through legal means following government approval. But the BJP government is trying to build a narrative against us.”

Naeem Qureshi, the president of the Muslim Sewa Sangathan, a social organisation in Uttarakhand, alleged that the government was taking action against madrasas without serving any notice to the management. “They are hurting us in the holy month,” he said.

Sonia Bansal, the district magistrate of Dehradun, said: “We have instructions to take action against unregistered madrasas and we are following orders.”