Opinion |
When the first Big Fight on terrorism began it was a debate subsequent to the 9/11 attack. In those days Bernard Lewis had influence world-wide and his belief that Muslims had not contributed anything significant because they were primitive and the other races and believers were better. This had a direct impact on Samuel Huntington and his theory of the clash of civilizations. Lewis influenced President George Bush so much that in the name of bringing democracy to Iraq he started a war on that country.
The attack on New York and Pentagon in Washington had nothing to do with Iraq nor was Saddam Hussein making any dreadful weapons of mass destruction. The attack on the US generated great interest in Islam and its followers. There was BJP and its allies who were in power in India.
We wanted world to see RSS and India as one, Imran did it#RSSBaseOfTerrorism pic.twitter.com/uP3USVwkbx
— Umar Khan (@Beingumar_74) October 5, 2019
The issue of terrorism raised at the UNGA on September 27, 2019, has ignited the debate once again. But the spasm of mental anguish has roots elsewhere (not in Kashmir) and much further in the past. The birth pangs were felt in 2001. Limiting the focus to 21st-century polarization started with Narendra Modi who used the pejorative phrase “Islamic terrorism” then. As usual, Modi spoke vehemently, and Dr. Rafik Zakaria, John Elliot, Vardharajan, Rajdeep Sardesai and the audience responded.
That was on September 18, 2001. Modi was singling out the religion and not the few individuals involved in the terrorist attack in New York and Washington. He mentioned the Bamiyan Budha statue which the Taliban had destroyed. Those taking part in the debate including the host objected that the accusation would also in that way make the demolition of the Babri mosque an act of terrorism by Hindus.
Imran Khan expressed potential and imminent fear of a terrorist attack a la Pulwama and then a surgical strike and remote possibility of a nuclear war.
This partisan view of Modi who at that time was a pracharak or spiritual leader of the RSS and was so inveterate then and continues even today calls for explaining his pernicious mindset. Many people were dismayed by the destruction of the Bamiyan Budha in Afghanistan. It was the work of the heady Taliban and so was the demolition of Babri mosque. LK Advani had a ringside view of the demolition. He supported it all the way as his chariot yatra powered by Modi’s speech and smearing of tilak in human blood by Hindu women at Somnath mandir.
He was a part of it as was his government who wanted to revive the building of the temple let thousands of kar sevaks in Gujarat travel to Ayodhya in 2002. The kar-sevaks tried to outrage Muslim women at the Godhra station and he also called the Godhra ghanchi Muslims as outlaws. Maulana Yunus even told PM AB Vajpayee that Godhra was the handiwork of Modi, he said this pointing his finger at the CM. Modi did much of the spadework of the Babri demolition by setting off the rath yatra and then attempting revival of the temple building it in 2002.
https://twitter.com/SuhaibSaqib1/status/1180131807695532032
This was entirely on account of the supremacist ideology of the RSS that led to the pogroms and prompted President General Musharraf to take the matter to UNGA. This was quaint because Modi was fighting December 2002 election for his own election which had no connection with Mian Musharrafe who he invoked for votes.
Imran Khan took a step further and named the ideology which had wrought havoc to his country by taking the matter to the UNGA. Otherwise, how would the world hear what the ideology of the RSS is! The same streak of terror and violence continues in throwing the blame of Pulwama on the Kashmiri Muslims. Hence the need to alert the world of working up to it into what would be danger of nuclear war.
There is a gestalt of tendencies which the world needs to learn about the ideology of radicalizing the Muslims in the world today. Muslims are not radical by birth or by programming.
Read more: From Nehru’s India to Modi’s Hindustan
Modi did not stop at that he went on elaborating that there were now two groups in a clash, the terrorists and the others who were opposing terrorism. Hammering on the point that opposing terrorism cannot be terror. What had happened to prompt Modi to say this was the attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon? No Indian Muslim was involved in it. But Modi and even PM AB Vajpayee joined the American initiative of fighting terrorism worldwide against the followers of Islam. Since then it has also become clear that the Hindutva terrorists like Ramsingh Kalsangara and Sunil Joshi were active in making and blowing bombs even before 9/11. They were members of RSS, nay like Modi they were pracharaks or apostles of RSS.
It also became clear that even such leaders of extremist Hindu organizations like Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar were also involved in a conspiracy to blow bombs. If Bhagwad Gita’s teaching is applied to such events, can one say that all happens for the best and what will happen will also be good? Hindu extremists like Bal Thackeray have justified the attack on Babri mosque and have justified 2002 carnage in Gujarat, could this also be justified in the same scriptural line of thought?
Modi’s Religious Fanaticism
On December 7, 2014, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj speaking of Modi presenting the holy book to President Barak Obama said that “Bhagwad Gita has answers to everybody’s problems and that’s why I said it while standing in Parliament (2011) that Shrimad Bhagwat Gita should be declared as the national holy book.” Swaraj quoted Modi who had said that he and his government had garnered support from 172 countries till three months back, ie September 2014 to have UNO declare Gita as Rashtriya Granth or National Book.
The foreign minister asserted that she reads the book even for solving the problems facing India and foreign affairs. For a country whose Constitution declares it secular, it is music to the ears. On the same day, BJP magazine Kamal Sandesh carried a report that calls Sant Rampal a terrorist and his temple like similar temples of such holy men as a “center of terror.” Rampal is, of course, a Hindu. If his temple is a ‘center of terror’ then why not the temples at Chitrakoot where Rajender Choudhary (assuming the name of priest Rambalak Dash) and Dhan Singh (Laxman Das).
https://twitter.com/innocentzartaj1/status/1180344444790419456
Lokesh Sharma, Dhan Singh, and Rajinder Choudhary hid after blowing bombs in Malegaon 2006 and were declared absconding until caught by NIA, be called as ‘centers of terror’ and why not Indresh Kumar be declared a terrorist because he had admonished them to take shelter in temples after terror strikes? Similarly, Swami Asimanand was based in Sabri Dham when the police declared him an accused in the same case. He absconded and fled to another temple in Hardwar why not then these temples also be declared ‘centers of terror.’ Terrorism Research Centre of South Virginia has declared RSS as a terrorist organization. Will then all the pracharaks of RSS including Devendra Gupta and Modi be deemed as terrorists?
Along with Indresh Kumar (number two in the RSS hierarchy) had advised the planters of bombs in Malegaon to hide in a temple to escape police. Another stalwart of RSS Ramdev escaped police arrest wearing a Sari. The RSS is far advanced in its sophistry and dodging responsibility. Imran Khan expressed potential and imminent fear of a terrorist attack a la Pulwama and then a surgical strike and remote possibility of a nuclear war.
Read more: Modism is 21st Century Nazism
Who will take the responsibility of handling the nuclear arsenal, the RSS or the security apparatus headed by the PM? “If a conventional war starts between the two countries, anything could happen,” said Khan. “But supposing a country seven times smaller than its neighbor is faced with the choice: either you surrender, or you fight for your freedom till death, what will we do?”
“I ask myself this question and my belief is la ilaha illallah, there is no god but one, and we will fight. And when a nuclear-armed country fights to the end, it will have consequences far beyond the borders.”
Mustafa Khan holds a Ph.D. on Mark Twain. He lives in Malegaon Maharashtra, India. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.