LUCKNOW: RSS-affiliate Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) has taken up a nationwide campaign to convince madrassas across the country to celebrate the Republic Day by hoisting the tricolour on January 26 in their campus. Darul Uloom Deoband has, however, shot back, saying, “Does RSS hoist the flag at its headquarters in Nagpur?”The MRM campaign, which saw letters being sent to madrassas across the country, comes a few days after reports that a Kolkata teacher was beaten up for teaching national anthem to students to prepare them for Republic Day celebrations.“The campaign has been named ‘Jhanda Falani’,” said UP co-ordinator of MRM Merajidhwaj Singh. RSS central functionary Indresh Kumar is MRM’s national coordinator.“The campaign is being carried out throughout the country,” said Singh. “MRM is also going to write letters to Islamic seminaries Darul Uloom Deoband and Nadwa, requesting them to make members of the community aware about the significance of national festivals like the Republic Day,” added Singh.When TOI contacted Darul Uloom Deoband for its reaction to the MRM’s move, its press secretary Maulana Ashraf Usmani said: “Does the RSS hoist the tricolour at its offices or its headquarters at Nagpur? Does the RSS’ basic ideology believe in the national anthem?”“Several madrassas through the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Deoband’s social chapter, not only hoist the Tricolour, most of them observe a holiday during national festivals like Republic Day and Independence Day,” Maulana Usmani said.Singh, who is also an RSS pracharak, said: “RSS offices are mainly used as residence for its workers, who attend functions at schools, colleges and other places during such national festivals where they take part both in celebrations as well as hoisting of the tricolour.”MRM volunteers are also visiting madrassas as part of their Republic Day celebrations campaign. “The campaign is a bid to create a deep feeling for the country, which comes before religion. The aim is to mark the celebration and ensure everyone’s involvement. Celebrating Republic or Independence Day has nothing to do with religion,” Singh said.“MRM is an organisation for Muslims and of Muslims and hence it has taken up the mission of ‘Jhanda Falani’,” he added.On January 20 and 21, MRM will convene the meeting of its national working committee in Varanasi to take stock of the campaign and list out madrassas that have not been covered.