As a starter to this saga, the first article was published under the heading: Madrasas - Pious schools or Jehadi factories? (April 26, 2002), which was automatically and expectedly succeeded by another entitled" Madarsas: The terror factories, their anatomy, spread, funds' (April 27). The third write-up dealt with how Pakistan is controlling Madarsas and why India should follow Pakistan's example (April 29). The essays deriding the madarsas as Jehadi factories need not have been published now. Jehad ceased to be a buzzword three months ago.

"When anti-Muslim pogroms are being ruthlessly conducted in Gujarat, and while the communal situation in the country is highly volatile, this incisive violence-inciting article shouldn't have been published. Now, that it has been printed in its full glory, we need to seek some explanations. Like what caused this breach of ethics? And what propagated this crude insensitivity? And finally, what / who licenses the full-scale debasing of minority communities? Madarsas have been on the Hindutva hit list for too long. The timing of the article exposes the game plan of the Sangh Parivar. The writing is aimed at capitalizing on the current Hindutva sentiments. It follows the old RSS methodology of campaign first, crusade later.

Accordingly, Gurumurthy writes "The terror contacts were all in madarsas, all in UP. Who has uncovered these covert acts? The Indian Intelligence in a top-secret report. In a meticulously documented report, it brings out the link between madarsas and jehad. It says more." Why are these "top-secret meticulously documented" reports of the Indian Intelligence freely accessible to Gurumurthy - an average citizen, who is not associated with the CBI? Even granted he is a member, what allows him the right of reproducing information from a confidential report? For the illegitimate demands of the saffron mob to gain legitimacy, the Indian Intelligence is cleverly included.

Compare the Hindutva panic over the madarsas in India and the following report which was widely published: "We have never caught any militant with a madarsa background," said K. Rajendra, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir. "We have no objection to their functioning in Kashmir. They are unlike the madarsas in Pakistan which have become Jehadi factories," he added. Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Army and the BSF investigated the madarsas in Kashmir after the Government decided to ascertain the "hidden" agenda of the religious schools. None of them found any evidence that pointed towards the involvement of madarsas in spreading militancy. From the time militancy first reared its head in the Valley, these institutions of the Deobandi school of thought have distanced themselves from extremism. Their focus has solely been religious studies, the inquiries found." (Valley madarsas above board: Inquiry, The Indian Express, April 25, 2001).

Intelligence reports, like the one above, which illustrate the innocence of the madarsas, are cleverly neglected. The right wing indulges in selectively quoting only those reports that seek to sully the image of the religious schools. Lacking an unbiased brain, the saffron bandwagon reels off false information. Willing politicians take up the cause. Oft-stated falsehoods prominently published in the media achieve the exalted positions of truth. Swadeshi intellectuals' who don't know the difference between Madras and madarsas carry 'elaborate' desktop investigations into the 'Jehadi factories'. Only the madarsas and the poor Muslim students there suffer.

Heading the hallowed list of saffron 'intellectuals', who have decried the madarsas, is our Prime Minister Mr. Vajpayee. Enacting motherly concern he says, "We are not against all madarsas. But we want them to teach science, geography and other subjects as well as prepare children studying there to face global challenges in every field." On that account, he, rather the BJP government, is against some madarsas. Thus, these madarsas have to bear the brunt of weekly police checks, random seizures, a few tantalizing visits by the Indian intelligence officers and, to top it all, highly unfavorable media coverage. No need to fret Mr. Prime Minister, these harassments will ensure that the children studying in madarsas are well prepared to face global challenges in every field. Now, to the overtone of botheration: The pracharak in the PM wants madarsas to teach science, geography and other subjects as well. The words accentuate the pretense. If there was a genuine interest in the education of Muslims, steps must have been taken to improve the condition of Urdu. Significantly, the government endorses the VHP demand that Urdu must not be accorded the status of second official language. Instead of developing the madarsas, Vajpayee condemns them.

Going back to the Prime Minister's argument, how many part-time poojaris/purohits are trained in science, geography and other subjects as well? What could be the other subjects, Mr. Prime Minister? In keeping with Hindutva Agenda here's a possible list - Sanskrit, Jyotish Vigyan, Vedic Mathematics - an oozing list of Hindutva mumbo-jumbo. Then, maybe the Sangh Parivar wouldn't find problems with these Islamic centers of education!

Talking about the madarsas in India, the saffron crowds openly bemoan the "damage that is being wreaked on impressionable minds." Why this misplaced magnanimity? And what about the "damage that is wreaked on impressionable minds" by the RSS itself - Who accounts for that? What about the militant exercises, the practice in lathi-wielding, the marches; all the physical training? Or the bauddhik sessions of indoctrination where anti-minority ideas are permeated under the guise of patriotism? At least no madarsa is India gives arms training to its students.

A prominent Hindutva website (www.swordoftruth.com) writes regarding the "Places of Worship (Special Provision Act, 1991): "On the surface this Act appears to be simply a guarantee by the government to protect places of worship. What it actually entails is that the ownership of thousands of buildings which have been misappropriated by Muslims all over India, can no longer be questioned. It also means that limitations will be set on raiding Mosques which are primary storehouses of weapons supplied by ISI to Indian Muslim terrorists. In other words such an act would severely restrict the law enforcement agencies of India from investigating and searching Islamic religious places like Mosques, libraries, Madrasas, etc. which are the primary training centers for anti-national activities." We read and as a first reaction, we laugh aloud. Secularists need their share of laughter - it maintains our sanity. We forage for some civil, sophisticated words to label this anti-Muslim madness - Hyperbole. Hallucination. Delusion. Delirium. Quite unpredictably what follows this high-handed laughing-at-silliness, this stylish cataloging-the-communal is a despondency that pulls us back into our former hurt selves. We read it again - the Hindutva definition of Mosques - primary storehouses of weapons supplied by ISI to Indian Muslim terrorists. The words traumatize, making us terror-stricken. Tomorrow, the words will serve their intended purpose - Catalyze the communalists to carry on their devastation.

The website quoted above comments on the formation of a madarsa Board: "Setting up of a Madarsa Board which will facilitate the Muslim students to be given modern educational facilities like computer education, visual and electronic aids etc. It is in these very Madrasas that ISI breeds its Islamic terrorists for Jehad in Kashmir. Allowing these students access to Internet, and electronic media ensures that ISI and the Muslim terrorists of India can have instant communication access to each other via email, etc." Without the help of evidence, the Hindutva zealots have accomplished in portraying the madarsas as breeding grounds for terrorists. As a second part of their campaign, they stress that madarsas must not be given modern educational facilities - computers, internet and the like. Information Technology, Dot Com Boom, Cyber Revolution - like the Vedas of historic times, must be inaccessible to non-Brahmans. And obviously, the Muslims.