By Suranjan G Dutta
A few years ago, the horrific Mumbai attack took place killing hundreds of innocent people and many of them still remember the scary memories of 26/11 attacks. There is no doubt that this attack was against humanity which had left its inhuman and brutal scars behind it. I have been equipped with the teachings where I have been always taught that religion is all about peaching peace and humanity and those who radiate terror or kill innocents are the enemies of the entire humanity. As I have been brought up in a Hindu family, I had always apprehended my religion for its tolerance, acceptance, and peace. These attributes define the Hindu religion and many others identify Hinduism as the same and legends like Mahatma Gandhi had also seen Hinduism with same lens. But the fresh revelations of Rakesh Maria in his book where he has revealed about the plan to project the attacks of 26/11 Mumbai attacks as "Hindu terror" by Pakistan has taken the nation to the storm. There was a plan to project the Ajmal Kasab, the only one of the ten terrorists to be caught alive as someone associated with Hindu religion with a fictitious name Samir Dinesh Choudhari belonging to Hyderabad. But this plan failed after Kasab was caught alive and a bigger conspiracy to besmirch Hindus went out of track. One must remember that just to avail political advantages, our own politicians who belong to a particular class had propelled terms like "Hindu Terrorism". There was a time in our political scenario when "Hindu Terrorism" was trending among few politicians which were solely based on artificial theories. The same political class on the basis of their theories attempted to vilify the Hindu culture with such radical terms. However, in 2014 such tactics backfired and these political class failed to harvest any political gains and today we see them seeking to wash out their old image with soft Hindutva. But it is a matter of grave concern, that nation like Pakistan perceived this as an opportunity and exported terrorist like Ajmal Kasab with a Hindu identity to kill people on the streets of Mumbai. Our internal politics allowed Pakistan and ISI to come up with such idea and Pakistan plan was to make the world believe that Hindu people of India are picking arms against their own government. This revelation by Rakesh Maria exemplifies that there is a political class which puts their political gains before national security. This incident not only exposes the selfish politicians and intellectuals who share good relations with Pakistan but also makes us rethink about the way politics is being done in our nation. This is the same politics which continued even after 26/11 attacks when a political leader brazenly carried a press conference and had launched a book which plants the blame of this gruesome attack on RSS and BJP. Such actions provided Pakistan with another opportunity to bail out from their outsourced terror activities in India which is unfortunate. These politicians are largely supported by a club of intellectuals including writers, journalists who write their fancy articles in foreign publications discussing Hindu terrorism or extremism which presents our nation negatively. These politicians and intellectuals usually speak about terrorism having no religion when they are asked about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism which is apparent in the world but imagine if Kasab would have died with a Hindu identity according to the malicious plan then they would have quickly associated Hinduism with terror activities. Maybe the plan of associating Hinduism with terror activities had failed but this theory and its proponents are still operating actively and they often use it according to their convenience. This false theory of Hindu terrorism had been seeded earlier by our own politicians to reap political advantages but now Pakistan has started reaping its benefit which is scary.
The common people of our nation now require to understand this at a serious level that how few politicians and media house had divided our society where a discussion about the religion of the terrorists takes place conveniently and selectively which has put our national security at stake and Pakistan understands this very well. Maybe, this is the reason behind these political class vowing to scarp seditions laws in their manifesto during the elections which may further help them to carry such anti-national activities without the fear of law.
We have had a great history of Hinduism preaching peace and humanity to the entire world. The idea of Hinduism was never about dominance, it is about acceptance and well-being of all-around in the world. Most of the peaceful religions like Buddhism, Jainism and many others had originated from this land of Hindus and over the time, people suffering cruelty had taken shelter to this peaceful land which is driven by the essence of Hinduism. Hence, it's time to see beyond such divisive and communal politics which puts our national security at stake and demeans our cultural legacy.
NB: We do not intent on hurting sentiments of any religion or community. Reader's discretion is advised.
ABOUT AUTHOR: Suranjan G Dutta
Suranjan Dutta is a Socio-Political activist and has a vast experience of working in the rural areas of Assam. Dutta has also established himself as a successful young entrepreneur actively engaging the youths.
Comments