Comment

Rather than feel some kind of unholy glee about this so-called “Hindu terrorism” which has been exposed in this, our fine nation of 61 years, it might be a good idea to stop and take stock of what we are on the verge of becoming.

It might be said, in my reckoning at least, that the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 was some kind of Hindutva-inspired terrorism.

But since the definition of terrorism is an anonymous attack by one group upon a hapless, helpless general public in order to make a point to an authority which has ignored it, then perhaps the demolition does not count.

But what happens when a group of people, fed on the hate that has been their daily diet for some years, plan to bomb an area where people of another religion are likely to congregate? Is that an act of terrorism? And does this group truly represent all the people of the religion it feels it is defending or is little more than a fringe element?

Recently, when it became clear that some Muslims in India were turning to terrorism, either indoctrinated by Wahabi groups or by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence or by Kashmiri militants, we have been consumed with discussions on whether Islam was inherently predisposed to produce terrorists and so on.

When events in India tied in with international happenings like the attacks on New York in 2001, the discussions got extra ballast. Partly, some Muslims were themselves to blame, for emphasising “Pan-Islamism”, as if there were no fights and contradictions between the various Muslims all over the world.

This is a discussion that dehumanises the group being discussed. Muslims ceased to become men, women, children, students, writers, poets, actors, soldiers, politicians, accountants, singers and so on. They were just Muslims, a homogenised group. This suited political and religious power-heads who wanted to push forward their narrow agendas.

So now what do we do about “Hindu” terrorism? Is Hinduism predisposed to creating terrorists? After all, we can argue that there have been Hindus who have committed acts of terrorism before. Just as it has been argued that madrasas have been teaching hate and exclusivism, you could argue that the Hindutva schools and organisations have also been spreading hate. Both have used the same ploys — religion as a moral basis for acts of violence and a sense of “victimhood” to play upon an inherent inferiority complex that is a must if you are to be successfully brainwashed.

The group of men and women who planned the blasts in Malegaon this year did it to save Hindus and to attack Muslims and stop them in their evil designs upon India. In a small way, the argument is as ludicrous as Osama Bin Laden attacking New York to stop the United States and its evil designs upon Islam.

Both do not stand up to scrutiny. But for us in India this is a good time to take a look at ourselves and examine the narrow-minded, hate-filled, prejudiced, petty, mean and destructive society we have become. Just over 61 years ago, we started with such hope. Where are we now?

I end with a story. In a television singing contest aired on Sunday, a contestant explained his lacklustre performance to the judges saying that he was very distressed because, after he had sung the song Allah Hu in an earlier episode, he had got calls blasting him for being a tikka-wearing Hindu who sang songs in praise of Allah.

He was told that he should be ashamed of himself as a Hindu. He did not know if he had done the right or the wrong thing. The judges were appalled and told him that all gods were the same and he should pay no heed to such narrow-minded people. What lessons does the young man learn about the general public of India?

That we are a nation of petty, small-minded people consumed with prejudice? That our nation is growing less, not more, civilised with time? What was the dream that the poet had, “Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls… into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.” Is the dream broken?
Email: b_ranjona@dnaindia.net