In successive meetings held in New York, Dubai, Washington, Chicago, and Houston in the US – Dubia in UAE – and Allahabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengalaru, Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Patna, Bhopal, Indore, Tonk, Raipur, Dibrugarh, New Delhi and Ranchi in India – by organisations such as Hindu Sanatan Dharma Parishad, Tehrik-e-Hind and the `Committee for revival of the ethos of 1857’ (CR-1857) – Indians from all walks of life – students, political activists, doctors, engineers and artistes and academicians – condemned the recent bomb blasts in Delhi. At least five bombs exploded in quick succession in crowded markets and streets in the heart of India’s capital New Delhi on Saturday (September 13), killing more than 18 people and injuring scores more. These killings of innocent people follow closely the havoc wreaked by recent Ahmedabad and Bangalore blasts.
The members of these organisations appealed for national unity and peace and urged for a speedy investigation which can bring the culprits of the Delhi Blasts to book. The said members, however, questioned the neutrality of the Security forces in using the name of Indian Mujahideen and SIMI, as the ‘appointed’, culprits, to victimise the Muslims in India. The said members accused authorities concerned of not probing and investigating the Bajrang Dal-RSS-VHP or the Ken Haywood angle in the Delhi blasts.
Speaking from the USA, Mr. Amaresh Misra, General Secretary of Hindu Sanatan Dharma Parishad, said that Mr. Haywood from whose IP address the ‘Indian Mujahideen’ terror e-mail was sent before the Ahmedabad blasts, left the country from IGI Airport in August, without informing the police and the ATS, in a Jet Airways flight. Mr. Misra added that Haywood came back to India on September 10, 2008 – just two days before the Delhi blasts! The ATS seems to have given him a clean chit!
Mr. Misra said that ignoring Ken Haywood and Bajrang Dal type forces and targeting Muslims is against the religious ethos of Sanatan Dharma. Mr. Misra informed the Press that Swami Swarupanand, the Shankaracharya of Badrinath and Dwarika, has explicitly asked the Central Government to desist from harassing ordinary Muslims, and investigate the RSS-Bajrang Dal and the Ken Haywood angle.
Mr. Misra also said that there seems to be a nexus between right-wing forces in America and India. Mr. Misra pointed towards the timing of the Delhi blasts – he said that apart from the fact that Ken Haywood arrived in India two days before the blasts, Indian general elections are around the corner – the BJP, the front electoral organisation of RSS-Bajrang Dal-VHP combine, has been pushed to the third place – the fight at present is between two more or less secular fronts – the Congress-led UPA and the Mayawati-Left Front. Mr. Misra said that this seemed to have riled the BJP – the BJP’s hand was suspected in the Ahmedabad Blasts as well, and its role in facilitating Delhi blasts to garner Hindu votes and divide the polity cannot be ignored. Mr. Misra urged all true Sanatani Hindus to stand firm against any anti-Muslim propaganda as the RSS-Bajrang Dal-VHP combine and the BJP are keen to divide India – they are organising blasts and putting the blame on Muslims so that Indian Muslims – who have so far not been associated with International Terrorism – are also not dragged into the international image of ‘Muslim Terrorist’.
Mr. Misra said all true Hindus ought to see this as a conspiracy against the very idea of India as a diverse, secular nation. He added that if things continue like this, all patriotic Hindus and Muslims of India will get-together and hit the streets to start a non-cooperation movement against Fascist Terror, Muslim Persecution and anti-national conspiracies.
Speaking in New York, Mr. Shahid Ali Khan, Vice-President Tehrik-e-Hind said his organisation is committed to Hindu-Muslim unity and the Ganga-Yamuni Tehzeeb of India. He further added that every terrorist found guilty ought to be hanged; but this can be done only if the security agencies stop harassing innocent Muslims and stop stereotyping an entire community for something in which people like Ken Haywood and Bajrang Dal – whose members were found making bombs in Nanded in Maharashtra and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh – are equal suspects.
Mr. Shahid also explicitly condemned the arrest of Mr. Abdur Rashid Agwan, a prominent social activist and founder of Universal Knowledge Trust in Rajasthan. He said this was an attack not just on a Muslim but a patriotic citizen of India. The police has no evidence against Mr. Agwan – the communal forces in the Indian security forces want now to scare prominent Muslim social activists from performing any relief work for their community and Indians as a whole. (Mr. Agwan was however released in the night of September 14).
Mr. Shahid also condemned the coming to Kashmir of an Israeli General on the invitation of the Government of India. Mr. Shahid said such moves are meant to extend to India the inhuman policies of the Government of Israel which is recognised the world over as the number 1 terrorist State.
Speaking from Dubai, Mr. Arif Durrani – President of CR-1857 – said that his organisation makes sure that Hindus and Muslims of the Indian subcontinent remain united in face of threats from foreign powers like the USA and Israel. Mr. Durrani said that Hindus and Muslims fought together in 1857 and they have to come together in this hour of crisis. Mr. Arif said that thousands of Hindus and Muslims living in Dubai have condemned the blasts – but they too want an impartial enquiry and an investigation into the Muslim persecution and the possible role of RSS-BJP-VHP combine in the blasts.
Mr. Shahid Askari, UP convener of Tehrik-e-Hind, Mr. Khalid, co-convener of Tehrik-e-Hind. Mr. Uttam Sharma, president Hindu Sanatan Dharma Parishad, Mr. Lal Mohan Tyagi, Mr. RP Tripathi, Mr. Shashi Yadav, Mr. PP Solanki, Mr. DS Ram, Mr. Atul Gupta, Mr. KK Srivastava, Mr. Bhairon Singh Ahilwal and countless leaders and members of the Hindu Sanatan Dharma Parishad also demanded a probe in the Ken Haywood and the RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal-BJP angle in the Delhi bomb blasts.
Condemning the serial bomb blasts in Delhi, the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (AIMMM) said, “These are the work of coward beasts who do not believe in any human value or ethics of any kind.”
Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, head of AIMMM, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, said that police and intelligence agencies should meticulously probe these blasts and nab the real culprits and bring them to quick and exemplary justice.
Dr Khan warned against attempts by some media organisations to jump to conclusions and mislead investigations by the competent authorities. “Conclusions drawn within minutes of any such incident only serve as red herring and divert the attention from the real culprits. Dr Khan said that there are many internal and external forces which for a variety of reasons do not want to see a prosperous, powerful and secular India,” he said.
Dr Khan added that there is also a misguided force in our country which resorts to this kind of incidents for political gains and its activists have been caught red-handed in various places in the country, most recently in Kanpur. The possibility of the involvement of this force, which hides behind deceptive slogans, should also be thoroughly probed after each such incident, he said.
Strongly condemning the serial bomb blasts in Delhi, Nusrat Ali, Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), described them as “inhuman”.
“By doing these antihuman conspiracies some forces want to destroy peaceful atmosphere and solidarity of the country,” the JIH leader said.
He said, “It is not the first terrible incident of Delhi or the country; then why our Intelligence Bureau was completely unaware or clueless about the incident despite having a massive network across the country and why it is happening continuously?” He added, “This leads us to the conclusion that our Intelligence agencies are showing irresponsibility in performing their duties to identify real culprits, and thus getting disappointment.”
He supported the demand that the government should set up a high-level committee to investigate such incidents to prevent them from recurrence instead of just targeting a particular community.
Mr Nusrat Ali also called upon the government’s intelligence agencies to show responsible behaviour towards these cases and appealed to the media to give proof of constructive journalism instead of carrying out yellow journalism and sensationalism or rushing to hasty conclusions, and show responsible conduct towards the society and don’t make such cases complex by spreading reports without probe.
Mr Nusrat Ali said that the possibility of some political gains behind these series of blasts could not be ignored. He described that it is a sad tradition to always blame Muslims without investigation into terror attacks.
Demanding from the government to conduct impartial, high-level investigation, he asserted, “Do not blame any person or community prior to the investigation.”
He called upon the government that it is the responsibility of the Government to establish and maintain peace and amity in the country and it is not right to show negligence in this regard.
Condemning the heinous bomb blasts, Prof. Dr. M.H. Jawahirullah, President, Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) said, “The perpetrators of this crime, which targeted the innocent public, are definitely barbarians. These criminals did not have even an iota of humanism in their heart.”
He also condemned the trend of putting the blame on Muslims even before the commencement of preliminary investigations into the blasts. “In Tamilnadu Muslims were not responsible for the bomb blasts at the RSS office in Tenkasi. In Maharashtra, on two occasions, Bajrang Dal activists lost their lives while assembling bombs at Nanded. When bombs exploded at Thane, Panvel and Varshi in last July, Maharashtra Police arrested activists of a Hindu extremist group Santhan Sanstan. Very recently two Bajrang Dal activists were killed while manufacturing bombs at Kanpur. In this background, suspecting only a particular group as responsible for the blasts would not bear necessary results,” he said.
“The Lok Sabha polls are around the corner. Fascist elements who would like to get maximum benefit out of the incidents like the blasts with the objective of polarisation of the Indian society could have triggered the serial blasts across the country. The central government should also probe this angle,” he added.
The TMMK urged the Centre that the Delhi blasts should not be investigated with a premeditated mindset but with an open mind and it should be probed from various angles so that the real perpetrators of the crime against secular India are booked and punished.
Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA), an advocacy group dedicated towards safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, also denounced in strongest possible terms the bomb blasts across Delhi.
“IMC-USA condemns this heinous act of mindless violence by cowards. Our sympathies are with the victims and their families,” said Mr. Rasheed Ahmed, President of IMC-USA.
He added: “Increasing incidences of terrorism in the recent past with the election around the corner raises suspicion of such blasts being orchestrated by communal forces bent on polarising the society to reap electoral gains. A thorough and transparent investigation should be made to bring the culprits to the book instead of rushing to hasty conclusions”.
Three weeks back, police found a large stash of bomb-making materials including explosive powder, timers, batteries and pellets when two Bajrang Dal men were killed in Kanpur while manufacturing bombs. Investigators suspect that the blasts of Delhi Jama Masjid in 2006 and Ajmer Sharif dargah in 2007 could be the handiwork of these groups.
“If police excludes incidences like Kanpur and Nanded bomb blasts in which Bajrang Dal militants were either killed or injured making bombs, it will amount to a wilful cover up”, Mr. Ahmed further stated.
In recent years, several cases of bomb blasts by men affiliated with Hindu nationalist groups have been shoddily investigated and in some instances covered up by the investigating authorities.
IMC-USA called upon government and police authorities to put the welfare and security of people ahead of communal politics and demonstrate political will in nabbing the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Preventing future acts of terror is possible only by conducting transparent and honest investigations to bring the culprits to the book and not through indiscriminate arrests and brutalisation of young Muslims. Following the recent blasts in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, there has been an outcry by minorities and human rights activists that police officials were quick in scapegoating innocent Muslim youth than in seriously solving the growth of terror networks.