Every time there is an act of Islamist terrorism on Indian soil, I draw attention in this column to the jehad against us infidel Hindus and every time I do this I get a mailbox full of hate mail from ‘‘moderate’’ Muslims who charge me with spreading hatred against an entire community. I have protested that this has never been my intention but it is my intention, as a politically incorrect columnist, to try and tell things as I hear them with my ear pressed to the ground. So, this week I begin by telling you about a recent encounter with a group of young journalism students. It was my lot as veteran hack to speak to them about a facet of the world they were hoping to soon enter and the subject I was asked to speak on was political correctness. The language of my speech was Hindi and as I found myself unable to find the right words to translate ‘‘political correctness’’ I asked the students if they understood the term. Not one of them did so I spent the next hour explaining it through illustrations. When the Babri Masjid was torn down in Ayodhya, I said, those of us who had followed the dialogue between Hindus and Muslims knew that the Babri Masjid Action Committee’s obduracy was as much to blame as Hindutva but we hesitated to say this because it was politically incorrect to blame a minority community. We exhibit the same genteel hesitation when it comes to discussing the role of the madrassa in the jehad and we allowed Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to create a sense of grievance in a community that is among the most privileged minority communities in the world. My examples caused a most unexpected outpouring from the students. They were fed up, they said, of allowing Muslims to get away with murder. ‘‘Why do we always have no response when terrorists come and kill our people in the most brutal way. Why do we do nothing?’’ This was two days before the bombs went off in Sarojini Nagar and Paharganj and I imagine that their response was muted compared with what it would have been had my lecture taken place after the bombings. The points the students made to explain their rage (and rage is the only way to describe it) was that in their view secularism had become a twisted, ugly idea. Why when there was a Hindu-Muslim riot was it alright to identify Hindu rioters but not Muslims? Why were they described only as ‘‘members of a particular community?’’ Was this not an attempt to show that it was Hindus who caused the violence? They were tired of militant Islamists killing Hindus and getting away with it. They wanted action taken against these people and when I asked if by this they meant violent action they said if that was what it was going to take then it needed to be done once and for all. Whenever in this column I have raised the subject of radical Islam it has been to draw attention to this rage that simmers under the surface in a disturbingly large section of urban, middle-class India. It is a dangerous, potentially destructive rage and will become increasingly difficult to contain unless our ‘‘secular’’ rulers show some sign that they are doing something to prevent further acts of Islamist terrorism on Indian soil. What can be done? Lots. One act of terrorism in New York and the American government set up a department of Homeland Security. One act of terrorism in London and the British Prime Minister declared that the rules of the game had changed and that Britain would no longer tolerate fanatics preaching hatred from British soil. In India more than 60,000 people have lost their lives to terrorism since 1992 and we do not even have a special anti-terrorist force to deal with the problem. Our intelligence agencies, never among the best, remain untrained to deal with this new kind of warfare. Whether it was the ‘‘communal’’ Mr. Vajpayee or the ‘‘secular’’ Dr. Manmohan Singh the response to terrorism has so far been the same. No response at all. Zero. If this is out of misguided, politically correct concern for Muslim feelings it is beyond stupid because what this absence of action will result in is endangering the lives of ordinary, peaceful Muslims. It is they who always become victims of that rage that simmers dangerously close to the surface. A Department of Homeland Security carved out of our wholly ineffectual Home Ministry could be a good first step to showing that the government means business when it comes to containing terrorist violence. So far there is no indication that it does. Write to tavleensingh@expressindia.com
