We shall overcome

The Independence Day special issue of Organiser is devoted to analysing 8216;Terrorism: The Siege Within.8217;...

The Independence Day special issue of Organiser is devoted to analysing 8216;Terrorism: The Siege Within.8217; The opening article by editor R.Balashankar, unlike many of those that follow, avoids shrill stereotypes and strikes a positive note. As though addressing the Togadias in his own ranks, he writes: 8216;It is tempting to paint communities and religious denominations as the wicked prophets of terror. But we believe and our experts confirm that the treacherous traitors to our nationhood form only a miniscule portion of our population. We should not give them larger than real importance. Terrorism is a passing phase8230; But it will meet its inevitable end on the soils of this sacred land.8217;

Modi8217;s take

Narendra Modi offers a very long and rambling analysis on the 8216;hydra-headed monster8217; of terrorism and the need to tackle it through a 8216;multi-pronged strategy.8217; At one point, he says that 8216;8217;terrorism has no boundaries such as national, geographical, social or emotional. This is a ruthless and callous manifestation of a sick mind whose only intention is to acquire political power so that he can rule.8217;8217;

At another point he insists that the upsurge in terrorism is because the 8216;surplus8217; mujahideen from the Afghan war have turned mercenaries, many of whom 8216;are injected into the Indian soil to spread terrorism in India.8217;

But on the ISI modules in India, he says, 8216;A criminal is a criminal, a terrorist is a terrorist, and there is no religion of a criminal or a terrorist.8217; In this context, he refers to 8216;a Brahmin boy8217; caught in Bhavnagar, an ISI operative.

Modi8217;s lengthy treatise is silent on the charge that the Gujarat riots may have provided the breeding ground for a new generation of disaffected youth. In an oblique reference, however, Modi writes: 8216;In Gujarat, over a period of time, the police have succeeded in nabbing several criminals and terrorists who have revealed serious plans of subversion in the state. In the aftermath of the Godhra carnage, the incident at Akashardham drives home the point conclusively that the state is an object of the attention of militant groups.8217;

Pakistan factor

A recurring theme in several of the articles is that terrorism is not just a Kashmir-directed Pakistani tactic but integral to Pakistan8217;s anti-India strategy. Murli Manohar Joshi, for instance, refers to Chaudhuri Rehmat Ali, who first proposed a separate Muslim state in India in 1930 and propounded a 8216;Millat and Mission8217; doctrine in 1940 to establish a 8216;Pakasia8217; 8211; a project to Islamise Asia. Pakistan8217;s long term goal is 8216;dismantling if not completely destroying India,8217; Joshi says.

Arif Mohammad Khan takes the same view from another angle. 8216;The goal of terrorism in India,8217; writes Khan, 8216;is not to help the 8216;Kashmir cause8217; but to avenge the humiliation and fragmentation of Pakistan in 1971. Terrorism is the tool that is employed to generate fear by the use of violence to achieve political goals when direct military victory is not possible.8217;8217;

Hindu under siege

Story continues below this ad

Some writers go even further. All terror attacks in India since 1945, says Subramaniam Swamy, 8216;have been carried out to demoralise the Hindus, to undermine and ultimately dismantle the Hindu foundation of India.8217; And since the Hindu is the target, 8216;Hindus must collectively respond as Hindus against the terrorist and not be complacent because he or she is not personally affected.8217;

VHP chief Ashok Singhal could not agree more. Advocating a series of hard measures such as snapping ties with Pakistan and Bangladesh and replacing 8216;pseudo secularists8217; with 8216;nationalists8217; at the helm of affairs, Singhal writes: 8216;Anything short of a Hindu government with absolute majority cannot implement this agenda against terrorism.8217;

8212;Compiled by Manini Chatterjee