Fact Check: There is no Article 30A in the Indian Constitution, viral post is fake

New Delhi (Vishvas News): Social Media remains abuzz with fake claims and misleading facts. Hundreds of messages circulate on social media platforms on a day-to-day basis claiming false information as true and unfortunately, people trust these messages and posts. Similarly, a post is going viral on social media regarding Article 30A of the Indian Constitution. In the post, it is claimed that while Article 30 gives the right to teach Quran in madrassas, Article 30A prevents the teaching of the Gita in schools.

Vishvas News in its investigation found that the viral claim is fake. There is no Article 30A in the Indian Constitution and Article 30 deals with the rights given to educational institutions established and operated by minorities.

What is in the viral post?

Posted by Facebook user Giri baba (Archive Link) on December 20,

अनुच्छेद 30 मे ,मदरसो मे कुरान पढाओ
अनुच्छेद 30A मे, विद्यालय मे गीता मत पढाओ
ये है हिन्दुस्तान में हिन्दुओ की स्वतंत्रता

(In Article 30, teach Quran in madrassas
In Article-30A, don’t teach Gita in school
This is the freedom of Hindus in India)

Vishvas News Investigation:

To investigate the viral claim, we first did an open search on Google with keywords. On June 1, 2020, a report was published in Jagran Josh regarding Article 30. According to the report, there is a provision of fundamental rights from Articles 12 to 35 in the Indian Constitution. During the investigation, we found that Article 30 gives many rights to the minorities (religious or linguistic) in the country, however, there is no article named 30A in the Indian Constitution. Article 30, which deals with the rights given to religious or linguistic minorities in the country, gives minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions. It has three sub-sections:

(1). Gives the right to all minorities (religious or linguistic) in the country to establish and run educational institutions of their own choice.

(1A). Where any law is made for the compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational institution established and maintained by any minority, the State shall ensure that such law shall not violate or abrogate the rights of the minorities.

(2). The state government will not make discrimination in the matter of providing financial assistance to any educational institution run by a minority.

Article 30 gives minority communities the right to provide education to their children in their own language. This means if Muslims want, they can teach their children through Urdu and if Christians want, they can teach through English medium.

The copy of Indian Constitution is uploaded on Legislative dot gov dot in. According to this, Article 30: Right to establish and administer educational institutions –

(1) All minorities based on religion or language shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

(1A) In making any law for the compulsory acquisition of an institution established and administered by a minority referred to in clause (1), the State shall ensure that the amount fixed by or under any law for the acquisition of such property shall be such that under that clause Subsequent rights should not be affected.

(2) In granting aid to educational institutions, the State shall not discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of any minority based on religion or language.

At the same time, Article 28 is about attending religious instruction or religious worship in educational institutions. It has been given in clause 1 that no religious instruction shall be imparted in any educational institution run out of state funds.

In clause (2) of Article 28, nothing from clause 1 shall apply to any educational institution administered by the State, but established under a trust, according to which giving religious education in that institution is mandatory.

We spoke to Ashnika Sharma, a lawyer practising in the Allahabad High Court, about this viral claim. She said, “Article 30 gives the right to all minorities based on linguistic or religion in the country to establish and administer educational institutions. Whereas, Article 30(1) empowers minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

While Clause 1(A) deals with the acquisition of land for any educational institution established and administered by a minority, clause (2) enjoins the State Government not to discriminate in the grant of financial aid to educational institutions governed by minorities.

We scanned the Facebook page ‘Giri Baba‘ which posted the fake post. 582 users follow this page and it was created on July 19, 2022. This page is inspired by an ideology.