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VIEWPOINT: FIFTH COLUMN
Victims
Of Proxy
Don't
let politicians and clerics trigger our own clash of civilisations
—By Tavleen Singh
As
we get closer to the first battle of what US President George W. Bush
has called the "first war of the 21st century", we need to examine
some of its uglier consequences for us in India. The ugliest of these
in the view of this column is that Hindu-Muslim tensions, always bubbling
ominously just below the surface of our "secular" national fabric,
have once more come to the fore. Not violently yet but if Afghanistan
is attacked, as it almost certainly will be, how long will it take for
unscrupulous politicians and unwise religious leaders to exhort the poor
and the semi-literate into action?
The Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, always reliable
in these matters, has already started making trouble. Addressing a congregation
at his mosque two Fridays ago, he said the US was the real villain of
the piece and that their sympathies should be with their Muslim brethren
in Afghanistan. This is dangerous talk. Osama bin Laden is not a hero
in India. His Islamist warriors have been responsible for countless acts
of terrorism in Kashmir and anyone who appears to be speaking for him
instantly risks inciting Hindu outrage.
S adly,
the Imam is not the only Indian Muslim speaking for bin Laden. In the
wake of the terrible events of September 11, I have met educated, refined
Indian Muslims who inadvertently justify the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon. They condemn these acts of terrorism, of course,
but usually add that US policies in the rest of the world are largely
responsible for what happened. And when they speak of bin Laden they incline
towards the Taliban position of "what is the evidence that he was
involved". Among less literate, more religiously charged Muslims,
there is open support for bin Laden. I remember seeing him on the cover
of an Urdu magazine in Hyderabad more than three years ago when he was
relatively unknown. The magazine praised him, as I remember, for being
a true Muslim hero.
These voices may not represent the majority
opinion of the Muslim community but they tend to get heard more than others,
strengthening the tacit Hindu view that all Muslims are fanatics. Since
America's new war began, the view is becoming increasingly less tacit.
Not since our present home minister and erstwhile Hindu charioteer set
forth on his rathyatra to liberate Rama's temple in Ayodhya has there
been so much anti-Muslim feeling evident in the Indian air. In elegant
drawing rooms and in grubby streets these days a worryingly large number
of Hindus openly speak about how pleased they are that the Americans have
declared war on the Muslims. The US President has made every effort to
clarify that his war is against terrorism and not Islam but when seen
through average Hindu eyes, terrorism is synonymous with Islam and Pakistan.
There is a certain irritation at the US seeking Pakistan's help in its
war but also the conviction that after the Taliban have been decimated
it will be Pakistan's turn to face America's wrath.
That in recent years terrorism in India has
been largely Islamic does not help. Nor does the fact that Islamic fundamentalist
groups have, as this magazine pointed out last week, proliferated alarmingly.
Why outfits like the Armenian Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia or
the Islamic Movement of Sudanese Students should have been allowed to
open branches in India in the first place is a question the Home Ministry
needs to answer.
There is much else that the Home Ministry needs
to do. It needs, first and foremost, to try and win our battle against
terrorism in Kashmir. The Americans are not going to come and win it for
us. With the possibility of a war in Afghanistan, a solution in Kashmir
acquires special urgency since it is in danger of becoming part of the
extended battlefield.
The Home Minister then needs to take firm steps
to eliminate fanatical organisations on both sides of the religious divide.
It will not be possible to justify a ban on the Students Islamic Movement
of India if the Bajrang Dal is allowed to roam free. There are signs that
the BJP sees the growing Hindu-Muslim polarisation as a welcome development
in view of elections in Uttar Pradesh. Before September 11, it was widely
believed that the BJP would be lucky to come in third in the elections
next year but now there is quiet jubilation in the ranks over the possibility
that the anti-Muslim feeling could work to the party's advantage.
This is a short-sighted view. With the second-largest
Muslim population in the world, encouraging anti-Muslim feelings is likely
to achieve only violence, and with so much Islamic fundamentalism in the
region, the possibility of terrorism on a whole new scale. With so much
talk in the West about a clash of civilisations we need to be particularly
careful that this dangerous idea does not acquire a frightening dimension
in India. Much as we should be totally on America's side in its war against
terrorism we need to be careful that India does not become an accidental
victim of it.
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