by Brinda Karat (The Times of India, 11 Nov 2008)
The aggressive defence by the Shiv Sena of the terrorist activities of people acting in the name of Hindutva, combined with the BJP's refusal to
condemn these activities, represent a danger mark in the political response to the rising tide of bomb attacks and violence against innocents. Any effort to give terrorism a communal colour will surely spell disaster for our country.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad once ascribed India's "inner vitality and resilience" to a "confluence of cultures, faiths and beliefs that has gone into the making of a composite India". In the Assam serial bomb blasts, Hindus, Muslims, and tribals were equally victims. It is our country's tragedy that we have before us another type of "confluence", the confluence of the blood of innocent victims, regardless of community, religion, sex or age. The death of five-year-old Morromi, her beautiful face and little body burnt beyond recognition, symbolises the helplessness of the innocent victim.
Between 2004 and 2008, India has been the victim of at least 25 major bomb blasts in which 717 people were killed and hundreds injured. Earlier, after every such attack, investigating agencies would point to the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorist networks. In some cases such terrorists were identified, and many shot dead. A feature of recent terrorist attacks, however, is the involvement of a network of groups drawn from a small section of Indian Muslim youth, revealed in investigations.
The failure of the state to ensure justice to the victims of communal attacks and to punish those guilty of serious crimes against the minorities is indeed attracting a few elements among Muslim youth to the extremist cause. Such feelings of alienation get exacerbated when Muslim youth in various localities are rounded up, harassed and tortured even when there is not a shred of evidence against them.
We require the widest possible secular mobilisation against the profiling and demonisation of a whole community. Prominent Muslim organisations have condemned those involved in terrorist attacks. It is essential to isolate and fight back those extremist forces within the community who seek to exploit the genuine grievances of Muslims. These extremists are the enemies of the Muslim people at large and seek a social order that denies ordinary Muslims their fundamental human rights. Groups and individuals who are in a state of denial about the involvement of such elements, regardless of their intentions, can hardly be considered friends of the victimised minority community.
Strong action must be taken against the guilty established through legal, transparent procedures and must apply to terror groups regardless of what religion they claim to represent. On the basis of the evidence it has, the Centre has pleaded before the Supreme Court for a continuation of the ban on SIMI. It is wrong for some parties to demand that the ban be lifted. The list of 32 organisations that are proscribed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act also includes terrorist organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen, Khalistan Zindabad Force, International Sikh Youth Federation and Babbar Khalsa International. Yet today when there is mounting evidence of involvement in terrorist attacks against the Bajrang Dal and other such organisations, the government has not taken action against them. It is such double standards that deeply compromise, if not put to question, the secular character of the state.
Particularly disturbing is the report of the possible involvement of a serving army officer along with two ex-army officers, both of whom are linked to the Bhonsala Military School run by an RSS-founded trust in Nashik. This is the first time that a serving army officer is suspected to be involved in a terrorist crime of this nature. It is known that army recruitment is disallowed for anyone with political affiliations. But is the screening applied to all affiliations, including those who may have direct or indirect contacts with the RSS or affiliated organisations?
The Bhonsala school was already on the radar of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Maharashtra in the 2006 Nanded bomb blast case. The ATS unearthed a conspiracy by the Bajrang Dal in 2006 after a bomb they were making exploded and killed two of them. Two of the accused confessed that they underwent training at the branch in Nagpur. One of the accused stated that he attended a training camp organised there by the RSS in which two retired ex-servicemen and a retired officer of the Intelligence Bureau were present. Three dozen more, mainly Bajrang Dal activists, were also named. Shockingly, nothing came of this investigation. The cases were handed over to the CBI where the entire matter was given a quiet burial.
Maharashtra is run by a Congress-led government. Why did it not act on the earlier ATS investigation? Who was responsible for the CBI's weakening of the case? Why has the Bhonsala school been allowed to function even after its links with the accused in the earlier Nanded case were established? Has any enquiry been conducted into its activities and if not, why so? What is the extent of penetration of such elements into our security forces?
India's fight against terror is as much a political fight as an administrative one. Although extremist groups act in the name of religion, the vast majority of believers, whether Muslim or Hindu, abhor violence that kills innocent people. This is the abiding strength of our country. Terrorism cannot be ascribed to any one religion. The politics of secularism is the only means to ensure the unity of India in the fight against terror.
The writer is a CPM Rajya Sabha MP.
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