LUCKNOW: Madrassas where the national anthem was not sung and the national flag not hoisted on Independence Day , lack patriotism and taking action against such people and institutes will not be wrong, said cabinet minister for minority welfare, Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary in Lucknow on Friday.He further said that patriotism is above all religions,"Rashtra Dharm' is Sarv Dharma and nothing is bigger than it. Chaudhary was referring to the state government's circular for madrassas to videograph their independence day celebrations on August 15 and send them to the UP Board of Madrassa Education.Launched on the day, the madrassa portal was said to be a much needed step in bringing about transparency in around 19,000 Madrassas registered under the UP Board of Madrassa Education. "Previous governments only used madrassas for 'tushtikaran' (appeasement) and as vote banks while there was no record of teachers, students, payments, registrations and schemes maintained by them. (There were numerous complaints of mismanagement and of scams). Exploitation of teachers and staff, duplication of students and teachers in more than one madrassas and nepotism is high on these complaints and all will be under technical eye through the portal now," he said.

Source: Times of India August 18, 2017 11:09 UTC