Can Madarassas be compared with RSS run Schools?
Ram Puniyani
Digvijay Singh’s tweet ‘Madrassas
and Sarswati Shishu mandirs (SSM), both spread hate’ (Feb 23 2017) has evoked lot
of response from diverse sections. On one hand Muslim groups have taken him on
for demonization of Madrassas, and on the other, RSS supporters have come out
attesting the utility of SSM and criticizing him for comparing SSM with
Madrassas which are ‘dens of terror’ according them.
The demonization of Madrassas
Worldwide began particularly after the 9/11 2001, when US media propagated the
phrase ‘Islamic Terrorism’. This was the time when the role of Taliban-Al
Qaeda, trained in Madrassas of Pakistan came to the fore. The type of education
given in these few Madarssas became synonym with ‘Madrassas’ as such. This is
far away from truth as the Madrassas in Pakistan where the indoctrination for
terror took place were few in number and are not representative of Madarssaa
education and its system in any way.
As such Madrassas education in
India has been fairly old. It was mainly sticking to recitation of Koran in
particular, ‘learning it by rote’ method. There is a long history of religious
and secular education among Muslims, in India. The Muslim religious education focusing
on Islam and training of Ulema culminated in establishment of many well known seminaries
like Deoband and Barelvi. Muslim secular education began with the efforts of
Sir Syed, who contributed massively in introduction of modern, rational and
scientific education among Muslim. Interestingly Maulanas of most seminaries
were against British rule, supportive of freedom movement and opposed to partition
of the country.
Today Madrassa education in India
is restricted to hardly
2-3% of Muslim children. Mostly poor, un-affording Muslims send their children
there. These schools are also in the areas where the reach of public schooling
system is not high. Some Madrassas also support the food and lodge for the
children which become an additional incentive for poor Muslims to send their
children, away from the mainstream system
which is inaccessible to them anyway. While not totally keeping pace with the
Modern education, at places these Madrassas have tried to introduce subjects
like English, Mathematics and other secular subjects.
In contrast in Pakistan few
Madarassas, where Al Qaeda and its clones had been given training, were part of
the US plan to raise fanatic groups which could be marshaled to join the battle
against Soviet Forces which had occupied Afghanistan towards the end of cold
war. These Pakistan based madrassas adopted a distorted version of Islam,
totally intolerant to dissent; promoting violence against infidels (kafirs) in
the name of Jihad. These madrassas were supported by the US goals of control of
oil resources of West Asia. Their syllabus was planned from Washington. Their
genesis and growth had three pillars: US planning and funding, distorted
version of Islam from Saudi Arabia and their location in Pakistan. The
generalization that all Madarassas are dens of terror; came up through vested
propaganda. Few Madarassas which played the negative role are being equated to
whole Madrassa system, so to say. This generalization prevalent in society has
gone far and deep and this is what gets manifested in the tweet by Digvijay
Singh, which says “Is there a difference between Madrassas and Sarswati Shishu
Mandir Schools run by RSS? I don’t think so. Both spread Hatred.”
Similarly earlier Buddhadeb Bhattachrya, the CM of West Bengal had also
commented on Madrassas in the negative tone.
On a totally different wavelength
RSS combine, who are working for the goal of Hindu Rashtra, has set up Sarswati
Shishu Mandirs, which along with other institutions set up by this combine are
schools propagating the World view of Hindu nationalism. They have been making
news off and on for the content of their curriculum.
The demonization of Muslim kings, glorification of Hindu kings, spread of Islam
by sword, the conspiracy of Christian missionaries, the unsuitability of
secularism for our country, the folly of Gandhi-Nehru in imposing western
secularism on India are the regular part of the syllabus of these schools.
Additionally caste gender-biases and glorification of nationalism of Hitler and
Mussolini are the ground on which these children are raised. It is this
combination which makes the students of these schools to look at Muslim and
Christians differently. It is due to this that Gandhi and Nehru are looked down
by the products of these schools.
Their curriculum distorts the
history to create dislike for religious minorities and also, undermines
rational thinking and scientific temper and promotes the mythology of ‘We have
been the World teachers, equipped with all the wisdom and scientific
achievements like plastic surgery, aviation science or stem cell technology.’
These notions are being made to seep in the society very subtly and deeply;
adding to the foundation of sectarianism which have be part of RSS
propaganda. It is not a religious education so to say; it is motivated by
the political agenda of sectarian nationalism.
The need for differentiating
wheat from chaff is urgent and great. While some Madrassas, based in Pakistan, surely
sowed seeds of hatred for those differing from their own rigid interpretation
of Islam to the extent of doing violence against those differing from them,
most madarassas are centers for Islamic education. SSM’s on the contrary are
the ones disseminating education along with Hindutva political views.
Leaving aside the Madarassas
where Al Qaeda clones were groomed, the whole Madarassa system is very diverse.
They cannot all be put in the same category of spreading Hate, the way Mr.
Singh is doing. Such expression are superficial, non factual and also show that
leaders like Mr. Singh are unwilling to do their home work to understand the
genesis of terrorism in West Asia, its etiology being in the politics of oil
control masquerading as Islam. It is an unfounded generalization which
demonizes the minorities and sows the seeds of suspicion against them which is
not in the interest of our country.
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