As the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) expressed strong opposition to the Centre’s decision to organize Surya Namaskar events in schools across the country to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, it said it was a form of worshipping the Sun, while Islam only permits worshiping of Allah. As a mark of respect for the occasion, the board recommended that students sing the national anthem instead.
A ‘Surya Namaskar’ is a way to worship the Sun. In India, Islam and other minorities do not believe that Sun is a deity and do not approve of its worship. The AIMPLB statement said the government should withdraw such instructions.
‘India is a secular, multi-religious and multi-cultural country. Our constitution has been drafted on the basis of these principles. The Constitution does not allow anyone to impart teachings of a particular religion in government educational institutions. It also does not allow anyone to organize events based on the beliefs of a particular group,’ the statement read. According to the statement, the government is deviating from the principles of secularism by the imposition of the ideology and tradition of the majority on all sections of the country.
The Centre has instructed that such a move was unconstitutional and promoted false patriotism. The board called on the government to instead ‘focus on real issues, like rising prices, unemployment, and the depreciation of the rupee’. As part of the statement,
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