(Khaleej Times Online
16 September 2006)
India's secularism is on test in Malegaon
by Praful Bidwai
THE September 8 bombings in Malegaon, which killed 30 people, were a gory reminder of the depths to which Indian society has sunk under the weight of sectarian hatred. Unlike many recent terrorist incidents, the Malegaon blasts specifically targeted Muslims. The victims were emerging from a mosque after the Friday prayers to observe Shab-e-Barat.
After initial hints that Hindutva elements were responsible, the police have attributed the bombings to jehadi factors, possibly connected with the recent Mumbai attacks. According to them, the attackers’ sole motive was to spread mayhem, confusion and fear.
It’s of course possible that the culprits were disaffected young Muslims under the influence of extremist organisations, which thrive in this town of impoverished weavers. But the authorities haven’t established a good prima facie case. They are overplaying the claimed use of RDX high explosive as a "tell-tale" sign. Yet, the Home Secretary, no less, had ruled RDX out. RDX is not a Muslim monopoly, it can be procured by any determined group.
The hypothesis assumes that the sole aim of radical Islamists is to create disorder-even if that means killing devout Muslims. It holds that "Islamic" terrorists are so completely irrational as to unleash mass destruction at the drop of a hat.
But the Malegaon violence wasn’t random. Jehadi violence as a rule isn’t "mad" or "mindless". It involves a certain (perverse) rationality. It aims to send a "message" — about an adversary’s vulnerability (the 9/11attacks), register a protest (against, for instance, Spain’s Iraq policy), or avenge injustices (Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay), etc.
Even suicide bombers don’t act randomly. Chicago University researcher Robert Pape recently studied suicide attacks in his ‘Dying to Win’. He found that 95 per cent were ‘demand-driven’ and aimed at foreign occupation, not driven by the ‘supply’ of fanatics.
Lebanon witnessed many suicide attacks during the post-1982 Israeli occupation, but these ceased when Israel withdrew. Iraq witnessed no suicide attacks until the 2003 invasion. Since then, fidayeen attacks have become commonplace. There’s no organic link between suicide bombings and Islam. The world leader in suicide bombing is the non-Islamic LTTE.
Votaries of the "jehadi attack" hypothesis use convoluted arguments, to which facts are irrelevant. Islamic terrorists strike, they say, because they are, well, terrorists. There’s a simpler, more direct, counter-hypothesis: Hindutva extremists deliberately and consciously targeted Malegaon’s Muslims. Location-specific facts support this view — especially the Bajrang Dal’s activities in neighbouring Marathwada. In April, two Dal activists were killed in Nanded while fabricating a bomb.
The incident occurred in the house of an RSS-Bajrang Dal activist. A second bomb was recovered from there. In April 2003 and August 2004, Bajrang Dal militants detonated bombs in mosques in Parbhani, Jalna and Purna, injuring scores of people.
After Nanded, civil society organisations, including People’s Union of Civil Liberties, did some fact-finding, including convincing photographic evidence that bombs were being fabricated by Bajrang Dal-VHP activists. Some pictures showed that the police tried to cover up their involvement by planting firecrackers. The activists warned of a Hindutva attack. They were ignored.
The government would be disastrously wrong not to seriously investigate the Bajrang Dal’s involvement in Malegaon. It shouldn’t be led by the belief that Hindu extremists are somehow more "patriotic", and less evil, than Islamic extremists. The belief presumes that Hindus, by virtue of being India’s majority, are quintessentially more committed to India.
This obnoxious presumption profoundly misrepresents India’s Constitutional nationalism, based on the equality of all citizens irrespective of religion. Powerful refutation of the presumption is provided by the barbaric burning of Graham Staines and his two children in Orissa by BD activist Dara Singh in 1999 and by the VHP-BJP’s butchery of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat. That carnage assaulted India’s plural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious foundations.
The Maharashtra government hasn’t covered itself with glory in Malegaon. The victims’ families there were offered a compensation of Rs2 lakhs, as against Rs11.5 lakhs for Mumbai’s victims. Many thoughtful and sober Muslims are dismayed by this.
Their concerns must be honestly addressed. This can only happen if the state stops blaming Muslims for all terrorism in a knee-jerk fashion and starts acting against Hindutva lumpens. It must convince Muslims that they aren’t selectively targetted.
The government should produce a White Paper fully documenting the VHP-Bajrang Dal’s involvement in violence. The importance of this task is underscored by the report of an independent fact-finding team headed by a former Bombay High Court judge (BD Kolse-Patil), which says the RSS might have staged the June Nagpur terrorist ‘plot’.
Militant majoritarianism has held sway in India over 20 years and created fear among Muslims. This has given India’s counter-terrorism strategy an Islamophobic edge. In states like Maharashtra, Muslim alienation has never been greater. A significant minority of police and intelligence officials, serving and retired, have embraced hard or soft Hindutva.
The BJP’s 2004 defeat hasn’t changed this. Indeed, many officials commenting on recent terrorist incidents betray anti-Muslim prejudice. They speak of "us" and "them" as if the two belonged to two different classes of citizens.
Communal poison has penetrated these agencies. It must be purged through three kinds of efforts.
First, the agencies must be ordered to work impartially and to be seen to be doing so. They must be told that an anti-Muslim bias won’t be tolerated. Manmohan Singh made a good beginning while addressing Chief Ministers on September 5. He has since demanded rapid implementation of the 15-point minorities plan. He must go further.
Second, the government must sincerely try to win Muslim hearts. Muslims must find a respectable place in Indian police and intelligence agencies. Today, Muslim representation in these is barely five per cent. It must be sharply raised through affirmative action.
Prosecution of the culprits of the 1992-93 post-Babri demolition violence must be expedited. The government must reach out to Muslims through the emerging secular and liberal intelligentsia.
Finally, Singh must set up a high-level commission on justice for Gujarat. The Hindutva forces must be told that their hatreds won’t be allowed to tear Indian society asunder.
Praful Bidwai is a veteran Indian journalist and commentator.