NGR Regime’s Crusade Against Madrasas Dr. Ameer Ali Over the last two years, and since that Easter Sunday infamy of April 2019, ultra-nationalist politicians and their apparatchiks, the Secretary General of Bodu Bala Sena, and certain sections of the Sangha had joined forces to demand the closure of all madrasas in the country. Just to please these agitators, the Yahapalana regime decided to register all madrasas with the government, which did not satisfy this mob. The Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa (NGR) regime, which is facing crises on multiple fronts, politically, economically, in public health and foreign relations, has now embarked on a crusade against madrasas. Accordingly, the Minister of Public Security, Admiral (retired) Sarath Weerasekera (SW), either on the order of President NGR or in consultation with him, has decided to close down around 1000 elementary Quranic Schools and bring the rest under some form of government control, the details of which are not clear yet. This announcement was a follow up to an earlier one that banned imports of books on Islam authored by Muslim intellectuals and writers whom the regime considers extremists. Incidentally, even copies of the Quran have been confiscated by the police for scrutinizing their content. What is the real objective or the agenda behind this crusade? It is a question that worries not only Muslims but also others who are alarmed at the emerging symptoms of totalitarianism in Sri Lanka.