People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist)
|
Vol. XXXIII
No.
43
October
25, 2009
|
Editorial
Combat
This Hindutva Terror
HINDUTVA
terror has, once again, raised its ugly
head. Two people have been killed in a
bomb blast at Madgaon in Goa. An organisation called the Sanatana Sanstha
has been found responsible for this attack.
Police investigations have now revealed that the Sanatana
Sanstha was
also involved in the recent pre-state assembly elections communal
clashes that
had taken place in Sangli and Kolhapur
districts
of Maharashtra. Sangli
superintendent of police, Krishna Prakash
has told the media that �We had information that Sanatan Sanstha
members were
distributing weapons to Hindus during the riots. We
had also seized a four-wheeler of the
Sanatan Sanstha carrying swords and chains.
Three Sanatan Sanstha members were arrested in the case.� (The
Indian
Express) In fact, the Anti-Terrorism
Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra and its martyred former chief, Hemant
Karkare had
asked for a ban on the Sanatan Sanstha in June 2008 following a
terrorist blast
in Thane, Maharashtra.
The current ATS chief has confirmed that a
proposal for banning this organisation was sent to the state
government, but he
was not aware of its current status.
The
recommendation came after the ATS arrested
six men with alleged links to this outfit. Sources say the suspects
involved in
the September 29, 2008 Malegaon blast �
the
members of Abinav Bharat and Jai Vande Matram Samiti � are from Jabalpur, Bhopal
and Kanpur.
However, they
conducted conspiracy meetings at Deolali and Nasik. Moreover, a Malegaon blast
accused, Rakesh Dhawade,
allegedly organised a terror training camp for Bajrang Dal members near
Sinhgarh Fort in Pune in 2003.
In these
columns in the past, we had repeatedly
drawn attention to reports linking some RSS affiliates with various
bomb blasts
across the country. The CPI(M)�s intervention in the
October 13, 2008 meeting of the
National Integration Council
stated: �Police investigations in the past few years have noted the
involvement
of Bajrang Dal or other RSS organisations in various bomb blasts across
the
country � in 2003, in Parbani, Jalna and
Jalgaon districts of Maharashtra; in 2005, in Mau district of Uttar
Pradesh; in
2006, in Nanded; in January 2008, at the RSS office in Tenkasi,
Tirunelveli; in
August 2008, in Kanpur etc etc.� Subsequently, on September 29, 2008,
the ATS
rounded up a number of RSS people for questioning and arrest including
Sadhvi
Pragya Singh Thakur and the commandant of the Bhonsala
Military School,
Nasik.
The issue of
imparting militant training to the
Hindus has a long history. It was
Savarkar who gave the slogan �Hinduise
all politics and militarise Hindudom�.
Inspired by this, Dr B S Moonje, mentor of RSS founder Dr
Hegdewar,
traveled to Italy
to meet the fascist dictator, Mussolini. The meeting took place on
March 19,
1931. His personal diary notes of March
20 reveal his fascination and admiration of the manner in which Italian fascism was training its youth (read storm-troopers) militarily.
Upon return to India,
Dr Moonje established the Central Hindu Military Education Society at Nasik in 1935, the precursor to the Bhonsala Military School
established in
1937. Golwalkar, in 1939, exults
Hitler�s purging of the Jews under Nazi fascism and says that it is �a
good
lesson for us in Hindustan to learn
and profit
by�. More recently, following the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the
RSS
tentacles, VHP and Bajrang Dal, had publicly prided themselves at the
training
imparted to `kar sevaks�. The then BJP
chief minister of Uttar Pradesh publicly stated that he was proud of
the kar
sevaks who accomplished the job of demolishing the Babri Masjid more speedily and efficiently than any
professional contractor.
In this
context, the pleas by the RSS and its
affiliates to not use the term Hindu militancy or terrorism are,
indeed,
mysterious. Clearly, no religious
community, as a whole, can be held responsible for the terrorist
activities of
individuals belonging with it. However,
should this not apply to all religions?
Not according to the RSS. At its
recent Akhila Bhaarateeya Karyakaarini Mandali Baitak, October 17-19,
2008, it
adopted a resolution titled, `Curb Islamic terrorism with an iron hand�. Apart from such double standards, this
resolution showers praise on the police force in Maharashtra
and elsewhere particularly on the ATS for �their successful actions�. This is now turning out to be very
embarrassing for the RSS as it is the same ATS that has now acted,
rightly in
the country's interests, against Hindutva terrorist outfits. The current investigations in the Goa attacks must be speedily concluded and the
law of the
land must take its course.
The time has
come for all these cases to be
thoroughly investigated and to ensure that the guilty are punished. These developments, in fact, have proved the
two assertions we have repeatedly made in these columns in the past. First, terrorism has no religion.
It is simply anti-national and, hence, non
negotiable and not acceptable. Secondly,
terrorism of all hues only feed and strengthen each other.
In the process, they destroy the very unity
and integrity of our country.
This larger
pernicious ideological methods of
using terror as an instrument of political mobilisation is widening its
footprint. Terror whipped up through communal polarisation or regional
chauvinism to garner larger electoral support is the surest recipe to
tear
asunder India�s
complex social fabric. To safeguard and
strengthen modern India�s
secular democratic foundations, it is imperative that such politics are
defeated.
(21 October
2009)
