In his article “The other side of the war on terror” (The Pioneer, December 9, 2008) Prafull Goradia writes, “Historically, wars have been fought between the armed forces of sovereign states. Now the enemy is not a state but an ideology.” We may have different views but we have one thing in common. We all want a peaceful, progressive and powerful India. If that’s so then we must be honest enough in analysing issues of national importance. Let’s make an analysis of Mumbai terror attack in an impartial manner.
It happened in Mumbai but in fact it was India which was attacked with ferocity by terrorists. In the very beginning, terrorists shot dead ATS chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Slaskar and ACP Ashok Kamte. We must not forget Karkare was the man who cracked Malegaon bomb blast case with utmost commitment and honesty. He was the man who arrested several terrorists like Pragya Singh Thakur, Shrikant Purohit, Dayanand Pandey and some other collaborators. He thus earned the wrath of Hindutva forces. It is on record that BJP publicly defended Pragya Singh & co. They did not hide their vent and disgust and demanded that the probe should be handed over to CBI. It is interesting to note that the “terrorists” in Mumbai first killed those whom Hindutva forces hated most.
My second point centres around shipping trawler Al-Kuber on which terrorists travelled to Mumbai. Its captain was Amar Singh Solanki: on November 13, it came to Porbander and sailed out soon. It is very important to know who Solanki was and what were his ideological/political affiliations? Why Kuber came and sailed out of Porbander so soon? What was its mission? Gujarat is the Hindutva lab. And the Hindutva forces were gunning for Karkare and his team. When Narendra Modi visited Mumbai, he announced Rupees one crore for the family of Karkare, which they refused to accept. Why this sudden love? I think the refusal of Karkare family to accept monetary compensation from Narendra Modi reveals more than what meets the eyes.
After the arrest of Pragya Singh, the Saffron family had been shivering with fears. Press reports tell us that Manmohan Singh, himself assured, L.K Advani that, “Pragya will not be tortured”. What does it mean? In the case of alleged Muslim terrorists, Manmohan Singh had never given such an assurance. Why such double standards? L.K Advani met then Home Minister Shivraj Patil. Public has the right to know what transpired between them? Remember Shivraj Patil was regarded as Hindutva face within the Congress fold. All these points must be considered objectively.
Presently India is struggling between the Secular ideology which is enshrined in the Constitution of India and the Hindutva ideology founded by Savarkar, who tendered apology to the British to get himself released from jail. India became a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic on January 26, 1950 and the Constitution we gave ourselves assured the dignity of the individual and the unity of nation. However, despite swearing by secularism, a strange perversion of this concept took place when some sections of the majority community began to demonstrate crude communalism in practice, trying to justify their actions in the name of the same secularism which they are eroding practically.
As far as Hindutva philosophy is concerned, it has its roots in German and Italian fascism. There are documented records, which show that Hindutva propagandists like Moonje, Hedgewar and Savarkar were just copying European fascism. Their aim was and is to change India’s socio-politico structure from secular to Hindu Rashtra. No doubt, Hindutva forces have achieved some success thanks to our secular politicians. The latter did not check them despite assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Beginning from re-construction of Somnath Temple, a series of State sponsored religious projects were undertaken. But the irony is that justice is missing from the dictionary of governance.
We must take into account one more harsh reality. In every country, there are some groups that are not under control of the government. In India, ULFA, Naxalite, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, etc. are not under control of Indian government. There are also groups in Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are above government control. All these groups have their own agendas. They need money to survive and carry on their missions. There is possibility that some forces from other countries use them for their purpose. In my opinion, the tragedy of Mumbai may be the handiwork of some foreign terrorist organisation. It is due to this fact that we must consider who gained from Mumbai terror attack?
[The writer is a columnist based at Aligarh]