Blatant
Double Standards
By Jyoti Punwani
23 October, 2007
Times
Of India
With
Islamic groups “not being ruled out’’ as culprits
in the Ludhiana bomb blast, and Bangladeshis being interrogated for
the Ajmer blast, it is clear that in India’s fight against terrorism,
one group of terrorists is being completely excluded.
This is despite the Nanded
blast in April 2006, in which two persons died while making bombs in
the house of an RSS member, and the recovery of fake beards from the
house. This is despite the revelations during narco-analysis of the
accused that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was training Hindu
youth to commit terrorist acts outside mosques. Neither the RSS nor
any of its militant wings are ever suspected by the police of being
behind any of the bomb blasts that have targeted Muslims with regularity
since the 2003 Parbhani blast.
This newspaper highlighted
the sensational letter written from Tihar jail by an ex-Intelligence
Bureau (IB) informer detailing how IB, working with the Delhi Police’s
Special Cell, plants its own ‘‘jehadi maulvis’’
to lure Muslim youth to commit terrorist acts. The Central Bureau of
Investigation, directed by the Delhi high court, has corroborated the
most important accusations made by the informer. Every politically conscious
Muslim, thanks to the Urdu press and the internet, now knows this story.
These two factors taken together
are enough to destroy the credibility of the intelligence set-up and
the police. Yet, the latter continue to act true to type after every
blast, as though nothing’s changed. The same automatic blaming
and arrest of the usual suspects; the same revelation that the IB/home
department had warned about such a blast.
It is ironic that the very
congregations of Muslims that have always been treated with suspicion
by the police have become the targets of terrorist killings since 2003.
The depositions of senior
policemen before the Srikrishna commission were marked by a Friday-namaz-phobia;
they made it a point to stress that ‘‘bandobast was tightened
for the Friday prayers and no untoward incident took place’’.
The implication was clear: with Muslims gathering in such large numbers
to listen to sermons in mosques, there was every chance of them going
berserk thereafter.
Yet, there is little evidence
of the high-profile Anti-Terrorist Squads (ATS), set up in Maharashtra
and elsewhere, having conducted raids on RSS outfits. In fact, the Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act has not even been applied to the Nanded
RSS accused, while it has to those accused for the July 11, 2006 train
blasts, the Malegaon blasts and the alleged Naxalites. Nanded’s
Muslims had to move the court before the state even called in the ATS
to investigate the case.
You don’t need to be
the IB to fear a blast during Diwali. Imagine the backlash if that happens.
Yet, a blast on the eve of Ramzan Eid at India’s best-known Muslim
shrine created no such reaction. The Ajmer dargah was teeming with devotees
who had fasted the entire month and planned to spend their most important
religious festival at their favourite shrine. Even the return of the
bodies to their homes in Mumbai’s slums passed off peacefully.
Compare this extreme restraint with the threats given by the Modis,
Thackerays, Togadias and Singhals in similar circumstances.
After every bomb blast targeting
Hindus, these self-styled Hindu leaders ask why Muslims have not condemned
it. Their logic is clear: Because some Muslims have targeted Hindus,
the entire community has to distance itself from them or else share
their guilt. But not once in the recent blasts targeting Muslims has
such a demand been made by Muslims of Hindus; neither have Hindu organisations
condemned such acts.
The state’s agencies
have different yardsticks when dealing with terrorist acts targeting
Hindus and Muslims. What’s more disturbing is the difference between
the conduct of the victim communities in the aftermath of such acts.
Isn’t this difference an indication of the power equation between
the majority and largest minority in our secular democracy?
(The writer is a political
commentator.)
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.