Trial by fire

The serial blasts in Srinagar and Mumbai have once again put to test our ability to defend and strengthen the modern Indian secular, democratic republic.

The images of incendiary terrorist attacks in Srinagar and Mumbai on Tuesday bring to mind the stirring words of Rabindranath Tagore:

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Give me a voice of thunder
That I may hurl imprecation upon
This cannibal, whose gruesome hunger
Spares neither women nor children

The attacks in Srinagar have left eight dead and over 40 injured. The blasts in Mumbai killed nearly 200 and injured over 700. These terrorist attacks carried out by the enemies of the Indian nation have once again exposed our vulnerability. The country must rise as one to meet this challenge. Mumbai’s resilience and the spontaneous display of humanism when people rushed out to help the victims evokes a sense of both pride and confidence that the Indian people will defeat this challenge, just as they have done on many previous occasions. Clearly, this handiwork of those who do not want to see India prosper cannot be allowed to succeed.

Given this, the initial reaction of the RSS/BJP leaders implying that these attacks are the consequence of minority appeasement by the UPA government and that these attacks would not have happened if Pota had not been repealed are, to say the least, unfortunate. India was subjected to heinous terrorist attacks even when Pota adorned our statute books. Political parties set aside their differences and the nation stood united behind the NDA government and Advani as the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister to meet such challenges. The attacks on Parliament, the Red Fort, Raghunath Temple and Akshardham Temple all happened when the Vajpayee-led NDA government was in office. Surely, these attacks did not happen because of the NDA government’s ‘minority appeasement’?

The fact of the matter is that India is vulnerable to the designs of such terrorist outfits. It is this vulnerability that needs to be addressed. There are external enemies of our nation who would perpetrate such attacks in order to destabilise the progress of the country and its people. However, such low-intensity warfare, by necessity, feeds on internal discord. Remember, even a vulture swoops down on a carcass only when it smells blood. It is this internal bloodletting that needs to be stopped.

It is needless to add that in doing so, the UPA government will have to take — on war footing — all measures required to protect our internal security. All lapses will have to be investigated and corrective mechanisms put in place. Having said this, it is equally important for us as a country to look inwards and exterminate all the viruses that sow the seeds of division within us. It is in this context that the RSS/BJP reactions are ominous. It is not merely unfortunate but downright destructive to see a window of opportunity in these dastardly attacks — and that is the nature of the BJP’s attempt to whip up communal passions in order to regain its waning political base. The need of the hour is to unite to combat terrorism. The country cannot afford to allow the use of terrorist attacks to sharpen communal polarisation. This would destroy the very unity and integrity of our country and its social harmony.

Since their electoral defeat in 2004, the RSS/BJP have been plagued by their failed search to identify issues on which they can retrieve some of their lost mass base. However, being inherently opposed to taking up any issue that concerns improvement in the livelihood of the vast majority of Indians, they seek, at every available opportunity, to inflame communal passions to garner political support. On this occasion, such a gameplan cannot be allowed to succeed for the sake of our country.

In this context, another issue needs to be considered dispassionately. So far, apart from the Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism, India has succeeded in not attracting the attention of global terrorist outfits like al-Qaeda to conduct diabolic acts. However, with the increasing proclivity of the UPA government to change our independent foreign policy to make it dovetail into the US’s global strategic interests, such dangers may appear on our horizon. Surely, India’s foreign policy must always be aimed at furthering its own interests. In doing so, if this attracts the wrath of fundamentalist forces, so be it. However, if the shifts in foreign policy, like India’s position on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, are more due to succumbing to US pressure than furthering our own national interest, our vulnerability to such dangers increases manifold. Apart from undermining India’s independent and sovereign status, such shifts will expose India to a greater vulnerability to terrorist attacks.

While these issues will have to be given serious consideration, the serial blasts in Srinagar and Mumbai have once again put to test our ability to defend and strengthen the modern Indian secular, democratic republic.

While no organisation has claimed credit for this savagery, clearly the needle of suspicion points to the involvement of Islamic terrorist organisations. Such outfits will have to be isolated, combated and expelled from India’s social and political life. While this must be done with the urgency that the situation demands, it must be borne in mind that fundamentalism of all varieties feed off each other. Minority fundamentalism and majority communalism cannot survive without constantly feeding and strengthening each other.

Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, under whose leadership the founding conference of the Jamaat-e-Islami was held, had said prior to the Partition that Indians should organise their State and society on the basis of Hindu scriptures and laws, just as they would organise Pakistan on the laws laid down by Allah. Replying to certain queries by Justice Mohammed Munir, who was appointed as the single-member commission to inquire into riots against the Quadianis in Pakistan, Maududi said: “If a Hindu government based on Hindu law came to India and the law of Manu became the law of the land, as a result of which Muslims were treated (as) untouchables and were not given any share in the government — not only that, they did not even get citizenship rights — I would have no objection.”

More recently, the information secretary of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba had, on the eve of the 1999 elections, stated: “The BJP suits us. Within a year they have made us into a nuclear and missile power. Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is getting a good response because of the BJP’s statements. It is much better than before. We pray to God that they come to power again. Then we will emerge even stronger.” (Hindustan Times, July 19, 1999).

At this crucial moment, while expressing grief, sorrow and indignation, we as a people and as a nation will have to strengthen our resolve to rid ourselves of forces that feed off each other to undermine the strength of our republic.

The writer is a Rajya Sabha MP and Member, CPI(M) Politburo