Are Indian politicians turning a blind eyer to Muslim radicalization?
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]A[/dropcap] couple of terror incidents in the last few days announced the presence of the Islamic State supporters in India. While cops in Uttar Pradesh (UP) burst a jihadist module, ISIS supporters carried out a train blast in Madhya Pradesh (MP) which injured 10 people. Even as security personnel are working on these and other terror attacks, politicians are busy peddling fairy tales, downplaying radicalization, and indulging in Muslim appeasement.
There have been many reports of young Muslims getting recruited to fight for the ISIS in the Middle East.
India is no stranger to terror. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, terrorism has killed as many as 34,781 people, including 9,899 security personnel since 1994. This includes thousands of victims of Islamist violence. Yet, politicians have mostly denied or making light of the role of Indian Muslims in jihadist violence. Pakistan is mainly blamed for trouble in India; and the charge is not untrue. It is a well-acknowledged fact, accepted by many even in Pakistan, that it has become the jihad factory.
Ignoring home-grown jihadists, many of them radicalized by ISIS agents, is proving to be a costly affair. There have been many reports of young Muslims getting recruited to fight for the ISIS in the Middle East. But Indian politicians—from the shamelessly jihad-compliant liberal leaders to the bosses of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP—are reluctant to utter a word critical of the doctrines and practices of Islam which actually are the root-causes of Muslim fundamentalism and terror.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]hey often try to lull the people into a false sense of security. So, India Today reported on December 27 last year, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Today, IS is being talked across the globe. But India is the lone country in the world where it has not been able to establish its roots due to family values of the Indian culture. As Home Minister, I want to tell you, Indian Muslims are the ones who don’t let their children get influenced/radicalized by ISIS.”
Leaders of other parties are even more equivocal, often brazen, in denying Muslims’ role in terror and peddling victimhood.
Earlier, on May 24, 2015, Press Trust of India reported Singh saying, “Muslims in India are nationalists. They have always opposed such [terror] elements. They have opposed and demoralized them.”
Leaders of other parties are even more equivocal, often brazen, in denying Muslims’ role in terror and peddling victimhood. In the wake of the shootout in UP’s state capital Lucknow, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said, “This is a wake-up call for the government not to alienate the Muslims when it comes to providing equal rights and opportunity. The government needs to be more inclusive. Fanatics of any sorts are a problem.” The Congress, now in the Opposition, has ruled India for 55 years since Independence in 1947.
The party’s vice-president and heir-apparent, Rahul Gandhi, has denied the very threat of jihad in the past. According to a cable by former US ambassador to India Timothy Roemer, released by Wikileaks, in December 2010, Gandhi said that “the bigger threat [to India] may be the growth of radicalized Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community.”
While it is true that there are some radicalized Hindu groups, but they are extremely insignificant in numbers and virulence. Comparing them with jihadist groups is like comparing a tinpot dictator with mass-murderers like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. This is not to say that Hindu terror should be tolerated; it should not and it is not. A special court on Wednesday convicted three Hindu nationalists of a blast at Ajmer in Rajasthan.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he real problems pertain to not only the growing ISIS influence but also to the increasing radicalization of Muslim society. The most retrograde and misogynist practices are being promoted by the clergy and tolerated by India’s politicians. An illustration: the BJP is the only prominent party that has always favored a uniform civil code, which is a constitutionally prescribed Directive Principle of State Policy; but, after coming to power in May 2014 in full majority, it has shied away from redeeming its pledge.
More often than not, however, ordinary Muslims are cowed down by mad mullahs and fanatics.
Therefore, it is not surprising to see that the most bigoted voices in the Muslim community are getting louder. A 22-year-old girl, Suhana Sayeed, was viciously trolled in the last few days by Muslim fanatics for singing a Hindu devotional song in a reality TV show.
The fanatics want to impose their values and dress codes on their coreligionists. They severely attacked Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami for posting his picture with wife Hasin Jahan who wore sleeveless attire. They wanted Shami to force his wife to don a hijab. The cricketer responded angrily to the unsolicited remarks and took on the bigots. More often than not, however, ordinary Muslims are cowed down by mad mullahs and fanatics.
Unfortunately, the powers that be in India continue to turn a blind eye to the nefarious activities of mullahs, thus downplaying Muslim radicalization which is the matrix of jihad.
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There are reports of kerala youth in ISIS camps. If that is the state of a fully literate state that boasts of human development indices comparable to developed countries one can imagine what could be the state of affairs elsewhere in India. But I fail to understand how badly even knowledgeable muslims are misinformed of history and ground realities. Once a friend was telling me how Israel is making life miserable for Palestinians and why Israel should be destroyed. I asked him a simple question: Christ and Bible had come much before the Prophet and Koran and Bible mentions of jews being the original inhabitants of Israel. So isn't Palestine being unreasonable in demanding Israel and working for its destruction as a jewish homeland? He simply replied that I did not know how cunning the jews were in spreading misinformation!