Shekhar Gupta, the noted editor of The Indian Express, writes in his ‘National Interest’Â column Victims of Errorism, ‘Terror attacks in Malegaon, Jama Masjid in Delhi, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, Ayodhya, Samjhauta Express, Sankat Mochan Mandir in Varanasi, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Sarojini Nagar in New Delhi have all gone fully unresolved. And these were no minor attacks, these have claimed nearly 300 lives’.
He further writes, ‘After the attacks they (police forces) faced in the first flush of the Mumbai rail attacks for ‘targeting’ Muslims and the hurry in which they were forced to call off the searches and interrogations have put the fear of God in the minds of securitymen…. So the question to ask the prime minister is, if it is wrong and unfair to profile any community as terrorist, must you always consider a suspect innocent just because he belongs to a community, and if so, is the motive just fair, constitutional secularism, or a misplaced quest for vote banks?…The harsh political reality is that this will only harm the Congress. As popular insecurity grows, with unsolved terror attacks — for three years already — and increasing Naxal mayhem, the mainstream (as different from majority community) Indian voter will blame the Congress for incompetence.‘
Shekhar Gupta is one of the most balanced and hence respected people in the media that we have today. The point he raises are very valid. The government needs to answer that why till date there has been no solution to the various terrorist attacks. Why is it that while there have been one attack after the other throughout the country there has been no conclusion to any of these terror acts? While at the social level India has responded in an excellent way without a single act of violence as a response to these terrorists’ acts the government has somehow failed.
If the Congress has gone slow on the investigations on the thought that it would have to take complicated decisions in which Muslims will be involved then it is a mistaken policy. Shekhar Gupta does a good job of raising the issue. But he does not enunciate a possible de-link that could be there between the Congress and the Muslim community on the matter. No one in the Muslim community would want that the anti-social elements in the community are not caught and left out. On the contrary the community will want that these elements are caught, tried and sentenced whose every act becomes a blot on the community. It is very evident from the terror act in Glasgow that the suspected involvement of the boys of a single family in Bangalore the whole community is put to question. If they are nabbed straightaway and tried swiftly it will actually be a deterrent for any other terrorist on the loose.
Just after the Mumbai, Malegaon and the Hyderabad blasts the community did raise the question on the investigation. The problem was not with the investigation per se but the un-professionalism of the investigation. In Mumbai just after the blasts a lot of Muslim boys were rounded up. Through my personal relations in Mumbai I heard that the police would come into a Muslim area in a hurry and just round up all the boys it can put its hands on. There were hundreds who were rounded up within a few days. That is an absolutely irresponsible way of investigation. The people in those areas raised the question on that type of investigation, which is not an investigation, but a targeting of the community at the police force levels.
In Malegaon similar things happened where just one path of investigation was followed and the police at the lowest level often followed its own whims with a prejudiced mind. In Mecca Masjid instead of tackling situation more judiciously indiscriminate shots were fired on the running crowd. Often the Indian police department does a few things just to show in their records instead of real investigation that is honest and result-oriented.
It is these irresponsible ways of investigation that makes many in the Muslim community feel targeted. If the government is stopping investigations then it is an absolutely irresponsible work on the part of the government. India needs some good policy where anyone doing anything anti-social is followed with all the resources at hand and is not allowed at all to go free whereas at the same time it is not easy for the lowest levels of officials to exploit the scenario and let their prejudiced minds take incorrect decisions. It is important as a strong deterrence for any future acts.
We need a policy of zero tolerance but at the same time not another draconian law like TADA.
Here is a very good case for the government of India to be accused of supporting/ tolerating terrorism. About nine cases of terrorism against it’s citizens in the last three years, about three hundred people dead and no one charged with the crime, no one punished.
India is fast becoming a safe haven for terrorists. The record in the last three years is very clear.
Shekhar Gupta, whatever be his credentials of presiding over a newspaper well known to kowtow to the BJP line, is mistaken in his criticism of both the Congress and the Left. If there is a decrease in Hindu- Muslim tensions in the last three years of the UPA, it is precisely because of the UPA’s strong secular credentials. If the perpetrators of any kind of violence have not been caught, it is not only in the case of the Islamic groups but same is the story elsewhere- Asom and Kashmir. the NDA/BJP’s record was hardly better- it paid little more than lip service to Kashmiri pandits. Nothing has happened in case of the anti Sikh pogroms even after 23 years. Inaction in th epast three years has more to do with the system’s inability to act professionally than with the UPA’s alleged minority- ism.
NDA definitely had a better track record on fighting terror than UPA. It had special legislations in place and active. It had special courts. Cases were investigated and tried.
Sure it was found wanting in many cases. Pandits from Kashmir are definitely a case in point. Kid glove approach to Modi’s government in Gujarat is another.
But that does not deny the fact that the communist parties did intervene during the investigations of terror cases in the last three years of UPA government. Execution of convicted terrorist are systematically blocked.
Yes the general tardiness of the Indian system has definitely contributed to this situation. So it did in Kashmir- remember the Kashmir terrorist in vehicles openly displaying their AK-47s in the 80s and “azadhi was supposed to be “around the corner�. Indian police looked pathetic with their 303 rifles?
Definitely anyone who knows Punjab days will remember how the Indian police was not supposed stand up to the superior militants.
In both the cases the tardiness of the Indian system was definitely a very important reason for escalation. The tardiness led to the militants thinking that the state will never react. Many of them are not alive to know it but we know now that the Indian state reacts.
My point is that again the same tardiness is giving a different set of militants a feeling that the state will not react.
Already more articles are coming in the Indian press like the above here. An article by Tavleen Singh is another example. It quotes the Prime Minister expressing concern over the stereotyping of Muslims in light of the London-Bangalore incident but he has never shown any concern for the 300 mothers who have lost their sons/daughters in the last 3 years.
If POTA/ TADA are bad and the communist do not like them, there is no evidence of any revolutionary replacement of them by the UPA. If the techniques followed by the Indian police are not to the liking of the “secular� parties, there is no evidence of that being changed either.
This can lead to a situation where a majority of people feel enough is enough and that the state should act. That time the state might not react pretty.
That time there many not be much room for enlightened concepts like human rights etc. We have seen that happen in our own country and other places- Chile to Russia. The religion and ideology involved does not matter.
Wouldn’t it be better to apply the existing law, techniques (while we improve our ability to police better) now than keep waiting for the excellent tools and abilities come in one day?
Especially considering the fact that no such attempt to improve policing is being made now. Also remember there are objections to intelligence collection also. After all it is invariably going to involve some profiling.
And people who are fed up with death and destruction; and are desperate, are not going to be nice enough to sit back and hair split between the track record of NDA and UPA at that time.
The way state government dealt with Naxals in Tamil Nadu and Kerala; militancy in Punjab, Kashmir are cases in point.
Not fair but people might simply prefer the lesser devil.
Depends on what one considers to be a lesser evil. The Congress minus Mrs Sonia Gandhi is little different from the BJP, and the UPA minus the Left is little more than the NDA.
No on is without blemish, including the communists. But when it comes to secularism, I’d rather live with them. There is little wonder then that they are the first to come under attack from even those that are ostensibly liberals like Gupta, when they are not busy attacking Mrs Gandhi.
The communists are no better than the politicians of any of the other parties. The worst of the communist parties is the CPI. People like A.B.Bardhan, D. Raja etc. will have difficulty winning a personal Lok Sabha election on their own, but think that they have the people’s mandate. All the communists have done in the last few years is block any measure meant to push the agenda forward. They like living in the past and want to equalize society by keeping everybody poor, rather than making everybody rich. Internationally also, more people have died and more people have suffered due to communism than any other ideology.
Whether you like Congress or the BJP or not, between them they represent a comfortable majority of the country. The communists do not represent the country.
Lastly, secularism is not an end in itself. It is a means towards achieving an end – that end is that every citizen of the country lives a life of freedom, dignity and equal respect under the law. In fact, the word ‘secularism’ did not appear in the constitution of the country until Indira Gandhi had it inserted during the emergency. If the ideals enshrined in the constitution (and summarized by the preamble as it existed until 1976) were to be upheld, it is natural that the state would have to be separated from religion and that no citizen would receive any differential treatment under the law due to his/her religious identity. It would also not be the perverted form of secularism that the so-called secular parties, including the left parties follow.
You are entitled to your views, Girish. I have very different opinion about the CPI in particular and on secularism in general.
Bhupinder
Yeap role of CPI in the Marad riots and subsequent events speaks volumes on the secular principles of the party.
Also I am not convinced with your view that UPA is more secular. I do not see any explanation.
I am also of the firm belief that economic growth and prosperity is very important for social stability. One of the main reasons for frequent riots in India is lack of economic opportunity.
If people had jobs, and they see that they can live a very comfortable (yes I can drive my family in my AC car to Ladakh, go holidaying etc. that sort of growth) life they will not throw that away and go rioting because that is going to affect their opportunity. If they have enough opportunity to make money they would do that than go rioting.
They will have a wrested interest in maintaining peace.
The main damage done by communist party is that of blocking economic growth by their outdated and horrendous ideas on the economy.
That to me is their greatest disservice to harmony in the society.
I’m curious, have the Communist parties in India ever criticized China for its blatant disregard for human rights in Tibet and cultural/ethnic cleansing? I guess if it’s not one system (religion) then it’s another (communism) that becomes the opiate.
