Srinagar: National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah Wednesday said RSS shakhas produce ill-informed bigots.

Abdullah made the remark attacking former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta for his reported remarks that madrasas breed militants.

“And RSS shakhas produce ill-informed bigots like Gupta here,” said Abdullah in a tweet. 

The BJP leader and former dy CM Gupta had earlier said, “Madrasas are the places where militants are born.” 

NC chief spokesperson Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, meanwhile, dubbed Gupta’s remarks as “sheer idiocy” arising out of “mental frustration”.

Mehdi said Gupta’s statement reveals the amount of revulsion that the saffron party and its cadres have for Muslims.

Gupta’s statement indicates his ignorance and malice against Muslims, he said.

“The statement is coming from a person who is affiliated with RSS, an extremist rightwing organisation that didn’t play any role in the independence movement of the country, on the contrary it showed revulsion for the movement,” rued Mehdi.

“The person who killed Mahatma Gandhi had links with the RSS and its affiliated parties. Pertinent to mention here that RSS was also banned following the killing of Mahatma Gandhi, he added. 

The allegation is coming from a person who is affiliated with an ideology, which, Mehdi claimed, didn’t accept tricolor.

“Muslims do not require certificates of nationalism from those who were opposed to the very Constitution of India. The role of madrasas in the 1857 mutiny and other anti-colonial movement is a well established fact that cannot be berated by people like Gupta, he said.

The NC spokesperson said the madrasas played a pivotal role in national movement.

“Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali, Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, Sheikh-ul-Islam Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani, Maulana Waheed Ahmed Faizabadi, Maulana Aziz Gul and Hakeem Sayeed Nusrat Hussain and others had to face penitentiary and imprisonment for their role in supporting the national uprising against British colonial rule, he said.

Mehdi said the services rendered by Muslim intelligentsia towards emancipation of the lower class in India are immense and still remains undisputed. 

“In India, madrasas have played an important role in protecting humanism, social values and other virtues including patriotism. The role of Muslims and madrasas in the national awakening and national building is no less than any other group in the country,” he said.

The NC leader said India’s first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad too was a product of madrasa education.

“It was he who established various institutions in the country ranging from UGC to IITs. As the chairman of Central Advisory Board of Education, he gave impetus to adult education and literacy. Not only did he lay emphasis on elementary education but also propagated diversification of secondary education and vocational training, said Mehdi.