Sangh Parivar's bluff
A.G. NOORANI
The book ably documents evidence of saffron terror.
Godse's Children: Hindutva Terror in India
by Subhash Gatade
Phros Media, New Delhi.
400 Pages / Rs. 360
TERROR was never
absent from the Sangh Parivar's techniques. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh
(RSS) has been repeatedly censured by commissions of inquiry for its complicity
in communal riots. The Bharatiya Janata Party's defence of recent outrages of
saffron terror exposes it completely.
Subhash Gatade, an
engineer by training and a freelance journalist and translator as well, has
written extensively on issues of communalism and Dalit emancipation. He has
rendered a service by bringing within the covers of one book ably documented
evidence of the saffron terror.
On January 10, RSS
boss Mohan Bhagwat claimed, revealingly, that “of the majority of the people
whom the government has accused [in various blast cases] a few had left
voluntarily and a few were told by the Sangh that this extremism [ sic] will
not work here, so you go away”. He owes a clear duty in law to name them, the
ones who left as well as the ones asked to “go away”. We can then identify in
which of the cases launched by the police these “former” RSS men figured.
The author describes
the focus of his book. “A significant part of the book discusses terror acts
perpetrated in different parts of the country by Hindutva formations. It gives
an idea about the expanse of the majoritarian terror modules which can strike
at will at any place and also makes it evident that it is no more a regional
phenomenon. Secondly, it also brings forth the commonality of tactics used by
these terror modules. Thirdly, it underlines the Himalayan task which awaits
the investigating agencies as they have hitherto limited themselves to
apprehending the planters of the bombs or local people who provided shelter or
arranged logistical or financial support, but are yet to nab any of the
masterminds, planners, financiers or ideologues of this terror project.
“Barring two
chapters, which discuss the global dimensions of Hindutva terror and the
‘Mossad' phenomenon, the focus of the book remains largely confined to India.
Looking at the fact that different Hindutva formations have established
international networks/linkages, which have facilitated their work in many
ways, this aspect of the phenomenon needs greater attention. One also needs to
understand that apart from the overtly political and cultural groups, the
plethora of ‘spiritual gurus' have also established an international network
and it is an open secret that such groups share close relations with many
militant Hindutva groups.”
The book records the
facts of the Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif and Samjhauta Express
terrorist outrages and identifies the culprits as well as the roles they
played. “The credit for inviting people's attention to the terror turn in
Hindutva politics and highlighting the danger it posed to society goes to
writers, journalists, civil society organisations and marginal secular and
leftist groups and individuals. They persisted despite limited human as well as
material resources in hand and in spite of a general resistance in society to
broach a topic which could put the ‘tolerant' majority community on the
defensive. These efforts did not have much impact but helped keep the issue of
Hindutva terror alive.
“It was only when the
Malegaon 2008 bomb blast took place and the ruling dispensation led by the
Congress-NCP in Maharashtra asked the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the State to
investigate it that the situation took a dramatic turn. ATS chief Hemant
Karkare, who had been successful a few months back to nab terrorists belonging
to Sanatan Sanstha for bomb blasts in Thane and Panvel (April 2008), took up
the case with the same vigour. After a painstaking investigation, he brought
forth the startling fact [that] members of the RSS and allied Hindutva
organisations had been engaged in creating terror modules at different places
in the country and had been successful in even penetrating the military.”
The BJP and the RSS
cried “witch-hunt”. The book exposes that falsehood and very many more. In
doing so, the author makes some important points. “One could say that the
approach of secularists is ‘state centric'; it not only emphasises the role of
the state in combating communalism but makes demands on the state, it asks the
state to ban communal outfits or take strict action against the violation of
constitutional rights or popularise scientific temper, etc. This approach does
not address the question of secularisation of polity. It is left unsaid but
effectively the societal vacuum is left open to religious and communal
organisations or NGOs or other status quoist formations. Clearly, the approach
does not even envisage the possibility of the state being in the hands of
communal forces (that would then have a free run, enacting laws, carving out
statues to present Hindutva itself as another name for democracy).”
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