An Indian state ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party on Wednesday passed a law abolishing state-run Islamic schools, saying they provided sub-standard education.
More than 700 of the government-funded religious schools, known as madrasas, in northeastern Assam will be shut by April, the state's education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the local assembly.
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"We need more doctors, police officers, bureaucrats, and teachers, from the minority Muslim community rather than Imams for mosques," said Sarma, a rising star in Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Opposition politicians criticized the move and said it reflected the government's anti-Muslim attitude in the Hindu-majority country.
"The idea is to wipe out Muslims," said Wajed Ali Choudhury, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress party.
