good article. Remember the attacks on churches in Andhra Pradesh by similar militants.
Umesh
Dilip/Dil Deka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dilip/Dil Deka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This editorial makes sense to me at least.From the Sentinel.Dilip==================================================_______________________________________________
Last updated : SATURDAY 3RD JUNE 2006
The bid by terrorists to attack the RSS headquarters
at Nagpur in the wee hours of Thursday is a grim reminder of the fact that India, despite it being a highly secular and tolerant nation, continues to be targeted by elements with sinister designs. Let there be no doubt about that; the so-called redefined bonhomie with Pakistan, that harbours anti-Indian terrorists, being just a matter of consolation. The Nagpur police personnel who shot dead all the three terrorists who could successfully break the first barricade in the guise of police in a white ambassador car with a red beacon, must be commended for their prompt action and valour. This is all the more important as one realizes that when it comes to facing well-armed terrorists, the police generally remains a tottery lot. This time, however, the Nagpur police could avert what could have been the worst post-terror turmoil. One must remember that the attackers were targeting the hub of the Hindutva brigade, least concerned about the fact of volatility involved therein, and at a time when the country cannot afford even mild communal flare-up. There seems to be clear clash of interests: one, a modernist epitome of progress that India stands for; the other, unrepentent indulgence in primitivity and barbarism that terrorists stand for. This apart, what is worrisome is the failure of the Indian state to tackle the emerging face of terror. What one must understand is that words alone would not suffice when one is dealing with the worst of terror phenomenon that targets institutions that hold the potential for nationwide chaos. The RSS headquarters is one such institution, mired in controversies of varied hues, and perhaps prompting questions as to the very ethos of Indian secular culture.
The point, then, is pretty simple: those terrorists, who were allegedly members of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba, calculated well as to how a hostage-like situation or, worse, mayhem at the RSS headquarters would be a perfect setting for communal syndrome throughout the country. This, of course, defines the emerging face of jihadi terror in India, sponsored unabashedly by not only the old veteran in the game, Pakistan, but also by new, friendly neighbours like Bangladesh that has remained a mute spectator to rampant Talibanization of its society except for those cosmetic crackdowns on terror modules. The brand of terror exported by these two countries to India would like India to bleed in communal carnage, pitting the Hindu and Muslim communities against each other and scripting perhaps yet another pre-Partition saga in a secular India. There lies the crux of the matter: the terrorists, at the behest of failed states that promote such nefarious brand of terror, are fighting against a happening India out of sheer envy and hate. So the attempt to attack the RSS headquarters cannot be treated as mere attack on Hindutva. It is an attack on the spirit of a secular India that does not believe in cementing factories to manufacture and export terror. More important, it is an open challenge to the religious majority in the country the majority in this majority being the one who would simply write off fanaticism of any hue by virtue of being groomed in the holistic Indian tradition. Let the Hindus and Muslims in the country, then, rise to the occasion and say that they are one just Indian!
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Umesh Sharma
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Class of 2005
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