Opinion Madrasa madness

The editorial in the latest issue of Organiser,titled “Join madrasa,why sit for tough CBSE board exam?” observes: “The UPA’s weird ideas on affirmative action to appease its vote bank have taken yet another absurd leap. The latest is to make madrasa certificates equivalent to CBSE. The Union Human Resources Ministry is all set to grant madrasa certificates equal status with CBSE so that it would help in mainstreaming the students coming out of these Islamic religious schools. It is not clear if the government is also planning either to downgrade the CBSE curricula or upgrade the madrasa menu to make the two certificates academically compatible. But there is no doubt that it is a crude joke on millions of hard-working students. It is widely believed that the madrasas are the nurseries of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism in India.”

It adds: “If mainstreaming is the real concern,better schools should have been established in Muslim localities and persuaded the Muslim children to get enrolled in them. Though the centre has been distributing hundreds of crores every year to modernise the madrasas they have refused to either modernise or streamline. They have also been resisting any attempt to persuade them to adopt some portions of the modern syllabi in their curriculum. The maulavis have often issued fatwas against any attempt at modernisation in these institutions though they have no qualms in receiving huge grants from the tax-payers’ money. As a result,these madrasas have become islands of superstition,fundamentalism and divisive activities misleading the children in their formative years to resist all modern and scientific outlook and integration with the rest of the society.”

The unity of India

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A news item titled “India has to give a unifying principle,” quotes RSS general secretary Mohan Bhagwat as saying: “The RSS is helping everything and everyone who tries to protect his own identity and loves other identities at the same time. RSS is always with all those efforts. The concept of one identity being against other identity itself is not our concept.”

The news item further quotes Bhagwat,“Though the world calls it a Hindu culture,it is not a monopoly of the Hindus,it is for all human beings. It is actually manavata (humanitarian view of life). We might have all the power in the world but we are not to use it to crush the smaller or poorer nations. We are creating a world order in such a way that all nations can benefit from it and every nation becomes fit to contribute for good of the humanity. This view itself is our national view and that is why though we profess to organise Hindus we have termed our organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh because it is our nationality. The term Hindu does not apply to any religion or particular people living in particular land. The term applies to this ancient glorious tradition,to this world-view. This will become a panacea for the whole world in modern times and therefore,I exhort you all to join hands in this endeavour …That is the gist of Hindu tradition — living together with each other,living together with nature and realising the unifying principle. That is the gift Bharat has to give to the world — a unifying principle — perceiving the same in our own way of recognising God and at the same time respecting others of their ways but never converting one to another faith.”

Compiled by Suman K Jha