The cycle of religious extremism

Violence in the name of religion is not new to India. In the wake of the blasts that rocked Indian cities and finally the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, the radical groups advocating a Hindu backlash will aim to garner popular support. The Gujarat riots were ‘justified’ by reference to the Godhara carnage. A large section of Hindus feel that purging of the ‘treacherous’ Muslims is an immediate necessity. There seems to be a growing sense of frustration among a section of Hindus that the ruling Congress Party has played the card of ‘vote bank politics’ to appease minorities and compromised on tackling Islamic terrorism within the country. Radical Hindu groups have earned popular support and Narendra Modi has emerged as a hero! On my last visit to hometown Kolkata, I met quite a few people who expressed their support for Modi. That’s not too surprising, after the Left Front government of West Bengal forced controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin to leave the state following protests by Muslim fundamentalists. This is not the only time that the Communist-led government had sung to the tune of Islamic hardliners and earned the label of being ‘pseudosecular’.

The nation is under threat from both Muslim and Hindu fundamentalist elements. Each act of crime has led to another. The end of this chain is not in sight, unless the state machinery proves to be a neutral force that cracks down hard on any form of terrorism, before an eye for an eye makes us all blind. Godhara led to the Gujarat riots. The hatred of Gujarat sowed the seeds for the string of violent blasts this year, carried out by Muslim groups within the country.

The terrorists of 26/11 came from Pakistan. It is difficult for the ordinary Indian citizen to gauge how much control the Pakistani government has over the Islamic terrorists operating inside that country. The responsibility of dealing with terrorism having its roots in their own country belongs to the Pakistani government. Suffering from frequent bomb blasts and a highly volatile political atmosphere, Pakistan is in a state of utter chaos. Does Islamabad’s denial of any sort of Pakistani involvement stem from the fact that the stability of the government will be under threat from the Islamic extremists and their loyalists in the armed forces if action is taken against them? If Pakistani authorities are unable to contend the terrorists in their homeland, India may have to take charge and it is up to the higher authorities of our country to decide if military strikes on Pakistani soil are a suitable option. An Indian citizen may feel that our government should consider armed intervention. But let us also accept that everyone on the other side of the border is not our sworn enemy.

A few days back, I was reading the account of a doctor who had rushed to the Taj during the terrorist attacks. He is a Muslim. I read about some other Mumbaikars who had helped the victims of the attack. Many of them were Muslims. Some radical groups have been advocating a Hindu backlash. That will only help us to alienate the vast majority of Muslims who have nothing to do with communal clashes and instill in them an added sense of insecurity, leading to more people from the minority resorting to violence . One week before 26/11, I had come across an interview of the President of the Hindu Mahasabha. She demanded that India should be declared a Hindu nation and anyone who is not a Hindu must be treated as a second-class citizen and denied voting rights. One section of Hindus will view this as the only way out. This is a cause for concern. Pakistan is a huge threat to the security of Indian citizens and the terrorists bred over there want to see us divided in the name of religion. When we spread hate and widen the communal divide, the terrorists are victorious. If the UPA government at the centre fails to gain the confidence of the vulnerable section of Hindus, who can toe the line of fundamentalists from a sense of insecurity, deeper problems will be in store for us.

A backlash in the name of religion is bound to fuel a violent chain of reactions. Neither the fundamentalist Muslim nor the fundamentalist Hindu of India can be allowed to pose a threat to innocents, which will produce more terrorists. Pluralism is intrinsic to the idea of India and the force to combat the barbaric acts of terrorism has to be ruthlessly secular.