EXPLOSIVE: Three men from Dabhel madarsa were arrested for possessing arms and RDX

Last month, three days before Bakr Id, animal welfare activist J.R. Vyas received a tip-off. Despite an official ban, some 200 cows, he was told, would be slaughtered in broad daylight at Tankaria, an all-Muslim village in Gujarat's Bharuch district, close to Kantharia where one of the largest Deobandi madarsas in the state is located. Swinging into action, Vyas posed as a Muslim cattle trader and arrived at the Tankaria mosque. The notice board confirmed his worst fears. He immediately informed the police. On D-day, however, the 40-constable force was no match for the villagers who went ahead with the ritual slaughter. The police were challenged by stone-pelting mobs and had to open fire. Vyas managed to capture everything on video.

A few days earlier, a Kashmiri militant, Mohammed Ali, who surrendered to the security forces in Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir, revealed that he had studied at the Deobandi Akewada Madarsa near Bhavnagar in Gujarat between 1996 and 2000.

UNDER A CLOUD: The madarsa at Dabhel

Around 1,000 kashmiris study in deobandi madarsas.

While the two incidents may not be directly related, they are assuming a greater significance in the wake of the Godhra train carnage and the equally bloody backlash that followed. It is becoming clearer now that the recent round of riots was not an immediate reaction to the burning of Ram sevaks at Godhra. The general perception is that this was the venting of a latent anti-Muslim sentiment fostered by the unchecked activities of radical Islamic schools in the state. Being debated just as hotly is the question of why the authorities failed to check the blood-letting. Was it because the BJP feared its new-found secular image would suffer if it came down heavily on the fundamentalists? Or was it plain administrative inefficiency?

Among the madarsas operating in Gujarat, the Deoband, its missionary affiliate the Tableeghi Jamaat and the Ahl-e-Hadis are the most powerful. Like Ali, a number of militants fighting in Kashmir and elsewhere in the name of jehad are reportedly being churned out from these schools. The Bhavnagar madarsa management denies such charges. But at least 40 Kashmiri students are believed to be on its rolls, with the total enrolment in the Deobandi madarsas in the state numbering between 500 and 1,000.

Several incidents in the recent past do appear to link the madarsas with the jehad movement. Recently, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad caught three persons, including Maulvi Asad Munshi of the 94-year-old Deobandi madarsa of Dabhel village near Surat, with over 2.2 kg of RDX, 2 kg of plastic explosives and 10 Chinese pistols and bomb timers. Investigation revealed that he had received the consignment from one Kifayatullah, alleged to be an ISI-controlled operative.

Professor Nisar Ahmed, leader of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema, an affiliate of the Deoband school, hits out at the attempts to link madarsas with militancy. "How can you blame a university for the criminal act of one student?" he asks. "The Deoband school has even supported India's freedom movement." Yet, only a few months ago police had to step in and arrest some Deobandi youths when they roamed the streets of Dahod near Godhra dressed like Osama bin Laden.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad International General Secretary Pravin Togadia claims this "jehadi virus" has resulted in the current upsurge against the Muslim community. While that can by no means justify the bloodshed that the state witnessed during the riots, the Government has finally decided to conduct a survey of the wide network of madarsas in the state. Admits Minister of State for Home Gordhan Jhadaphiya: "After Godhra, there are several lessons to be learnt." Many more to be unlearnt too.