It’s then that you realise that kattarpanti or fundamentalism needn’t be as unidimensional as we, outsiders, see it. The 1.77-lakh-strong tehsil of Deoband in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, home to the Darul Uloom, is fiercely proud of the century-old seminary and its brand of ‘fundamentalism’—the right attitude to stick to its values while having the grace to accept others’ beliefs.

For a Deobandi, every new day comes with routine concerns, issues and priorities. And all of this revolves effortlessly around the seminary. Which is why it irks them when the Darul-Uloom is “needlessly drawn into controversies”.

Pandit Jai Prakash, priest of the Balasundari Devi Temple (it is believed that the Pandavas stopped by at this shrine to seek the goddess’s blessings before the Mahabharta war), says maulvis from the Darul Uloom have been an inspiration. Students from the seminary come here everyday to study some of the ancient carvings at the temple. Ask him about the Darul Uloom’s recent fatwa condemning terrorism and the priest says, “It is a shame for the country that an institute like the Darul Uloom has to prove its patriotism time and again.”

Established in 1867, the seminary was among the first nationalist institutions to be set up after the First War of Independence in 1857 and was the first to be branded ‘anti-social’ by the British. Over a century later, Deoband—and the seminary—flaunts its records to show that the British got it wrong: crime in Deoband is among the lowest in the region. “I haven’t seen or heard about any other such university which has close to 4,000 students but hasn’t had a single incident of rioting, protest or hooliganism-ever,” says Shashi Shekhar Dixit, Circle Officer of Deoband. He says what makes this commendable is that Deoband borders the district of Muzaffarnagar, considered the crime capital of Uttar Pradesh. “There are around 3-5 unnatural deaths in Deoband every year, but they are mostly accidents,” says Dixit.

Disputes are usually over land and crops. Since sugarcane drives Deoband’s economy, petty disputes over the crop reach the sleepy district court. But most are solved at the office of the Ganna Samiti. The sugar mills in Deoband are among the biggest in the state and farmers usually don’t have to go out of town to sell their produce.

Prosperity has come in steadily too. The literacy rate has touched 70 per cent and government health centres are seen as reliable. The number of people below the poverty line has gone down to 5,841, according to official records. “People here are aware, cooperative and highly assertive,” says Pramod Kumar, the public development officer.

The assertion and awareness coincided with the increase in enrolment in schools and professional institutions over the last two decades. Along with six government colleges, the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) run by the Darul Uloom has seen a three-fold rise in admissions. Half of the students come from the 40 per cent non-Muslim population in the tehsil. Nearly all those who passed out of the institute have jobs—some in other countries. The ITI’s alumni contribute to the Muslim Fund Trust, which gives out loans to farmers and small time businessmen at zero interest.

“The world outside knows a different Deoband and probably has a different impression of the Darul Uloom. But people here know it as a centre for excellence that has taken the development of the region forward,” says Dinesh Chandra, Sub-Divisional Magistrate.

The tehsil has a pucca road to each of its 237 villages and the town’s main road can put Delhi’s to shame. Two cellphone towers mark the skyline of the town along with the minarets of the Darul Uloom mosque.

“Even with these cellphone towers, there has been a long communication gap,” says Nawaz Deobandi, poet and chief controller at the ITI. “The world,” he says, “has failed to reach out to the Darul Uloom.”

“Socho! Aakhir kab sochenge? (Think! When are we finally going to do that?),” Nawaz Deobandi quotes from one of his own poems.