It
is obvious that the objective of terrorists who blasted bombs in the
ancient Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi on March 7 or inside packed
suburban trains in Mumbai on July 11 is not limited to killing and maiming
innocent citizens. Through such heinous acts, extremist outfits intend to
widen the communal divide in India. The insidious plot failed miserably in
Varanasi thanks to the sagacity of the mahant of Sankat Mochan temple and
to the socio-economic interweave of the holy city’s Hindus and Muslims.
While Varanasi responded to the blasts with an exemplary demonstration of
communal amity and solidarity, the same alas cannot be said of post–7/11
Mumbai.
As we are all
aware, among the Mumbaikars who rushed to the rescue and relief of the
victims of the Mumbai serial train blasts, there were a disproportionately
large number of Muslims. Long before the police and the fire brigade
personnel could arrive, Muslim volunteers, along with others, reached the
blast sites with bed sheets, saris and even lungis to rush the dead and
the injured to the nearest hospitals and morgues. Others stood in long
queues through the night, donating blood. Sadly, in the days to come,
Muslims, even those who had helped so selflessly, were condemned to suffer
vile abuses being hurled at their community by co-commuters, not only in
the general but also the ladies’ compartments of Mumbai’s suburban trains.
In one ugly incident a Muslim man was beaten so badly that he had to be
hospitalised with two fractured ribs.
In next to no
time the sangh parivar had splashed banners across Mumbai and other cities
in the state, asking "pro-terrorist Muslims" to go to Pakistan. The
provocative banners were pulled down by a seemingly indifferent police
only after complaints by some citizens groups. Then there were incidents
of the police rounding up scores of Muslims. Herded to police stations,
most of them were let off in a few hours, but not before news channels had
telecast images that recalled old "prisoners of war" scenes. Following a
Muslim outcry against what seemed like the targeting of an entire
community even while the identity of the perpetrators remains unknown, top
police officers took corrective steps. But six weeks after the blasts, as
we go to press, the first complaints have started coming in: of torture,
sexual misconduct and communal abuse by the police.
One week after
the blasts, the city stood in two minutes’ silence to pay homage to
victims of the blasts and as a gesture of solidarity with their bereaved
families. The next day Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray offered "a million
salaams" to the city’s Muslims who joined condolence meetings in large
numbers. If the terrorists had hoped to trigger a communal bloodbath in
Mumbai with their serial blasts they have clearly failed in their diabolic
mission. But below the surface calm it is evident that Mumbai today is a
fractured city where communal attitudes have hardened on both sides. On
one side are the Muslims, in a denial mode. There is a widespread feeling
among them that the bomb blasts in Mumbai and elsewhere could be someone
else’s doing (the sangh parivar in alliance with Mossad is the most common
refrain) with the malevolent intent to corner Muslims. On the other hand,
proponents of Hindutva are lamenting India’s reluctance to take lessons in
tackling terror from Israel. Between them lie the police, who insist they
are doing a fair job.
With the
ongoing Ganesh visarjan processions, to be followed in quick
succession by the court verdict in the 1993 serial blasts case, Navratri,
Ramzan, Diwali and Id, tension in the city is palpable. No one knows what
the terrorists’ next target could be but only the naďve would believe the
era of bomb blasts is now behind us. We have no choice but to learn to
live with terrorism in the foreseeable future. Foiling the terrorist
design, refusing to demonise an entire community and maintaining communal
amity are the challenges before the people and the police of Mumbai and
the rest of India.
Terrorism today
is a global concern yet, ironically, those spearheading the "War on
Terror" are themselves its worst perpetrators, targeting non-combatant
civilians in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq. Morally and politically, the
"state terrorism" of the US, UK and Israel must be considered a far bigger
crime than extremist terror for it operates under the cloak of lofty
principles such as democracy and the rule of law. That is why state
terrorism, too, is the focus of this special anniversary issue of
Communalism Combat.
– EDITORS
.