Secularists try to rationalise terrorism

Why do Muslims feel the system is biased against them? Our society is divided into so many sections and everybody is angry about something or the other. Even a Dalit is angry about the way he’s treated. Why doesn’t he react in the same fashion?

 

A Hindutva Supporter

 

Igrew up in a small town in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. After completing my school and college education there, I moved to Delhi. Mine was a typically apolitical, middle-class family. No one had ever been a member or actively supported any particular political party — they used to vote for Congress and later shifted to Biju Patnaik’s party.

 

As a schoolboy, I did not have any political leanings. But in class XI, I started attending RSS shakhas, simply because it was the ‘in’ thing and all my friends had joined. It was basically a reaction to the Emergency and since the ban had just been lifted, we were looking for an alternative ideology to the Congress.

 

When I joined JNU for my post-graduation in the ’80s, there was no ABVP on the campus. Communism seemed attractive for a while. I appreciated their discipline, commitment and anti-imperialist views. But that was then. The Nehruvian concept of secular India has become irrelevant now. Today, I am totally disillusioned by the so-called secularists and Leftists. I am all for Hindutva.

 

It angers me when secularists try to look for a cause and rationalise every terrorist act. Terrorism is terrorism, it cannot be condoned. They try to link the Mumbai blasts of 1993 to the Babri Masjid demolition and 7/11 to Gujarat. By doing this, they justify the acts of terrorists.

 

Minority appeasement policies of various political parties are the root cause of a lot of our problems. This has only harmed minorities (read Muslims), since they have not been able to integrate into the mainstream. Thanks to these policies, terrorists feel they can get away with anything. We come across as a soft state.

 

Theologically, there is a fundamental difference between Muslims and non-Muslims. The Muslims have problems of co-existence with most other communities. Examples abound all across the world: look at Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan. In Bangladesh, there is a systematic attack on symbols of Hinduism. All over the world, Hindus are considered moderate and accommodating people. If secularism and democracy has survived in India, it is only because of us.

 

Unfortunately, the voice of the moderate Muslim is not loud enough to be heard by even their own community. Their protests don’t seem to matter to anyone. No wonder it is the extremists’ leaders who have become politically relevant now. And why do they feel the system is biased against them?

 

Our society is divided into so many sections based on caste, ethnicity, state, and everybody is angry about something or the other. They don’t resort to violence to show their angst. Even a Dalit is angry about how he’s treated; why doesn’t he react the same way? Many houseowners may not be willing to rent out their premises to a Bihari, so why is it that only a Muslim feels victimised?

 

Can minorities in any other country behave in this fashion and get away with it? What happened in Gujarat was a response of the majority community to certain actions. If the majority does not react all the time, it comes across as soft. The message had to go across: every action can have an equal reaction.

 

— These are the views of a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, who spoke to Sujata Dutta Sachdeva.