Hindutva terrorism Bomb for a bomb Chilling confessions

February 6, 2011 February 2011, General Leave a comment

India is a large democracy and claims to be a secular state but the perusal of history indicates that Hindu terrorism had always been part of Indian religio-political culture and was advocated by leaders of right wing fundamentalist parties.

The involvement of Indian fundamentalist parties and their leaders in gruesome terror attacks on minorities derived from religious motivations were constantly treated by Indian government and the western world as mere propaganda because slogan of Islamic terrorism is more credulous to defame Muslims. Naba Kumar alias Swami Assemanand holds masters degree in science. He became an active Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member while pursuing his post-graduate studies and is now heading RSS affiliated Van Vasi Kalyan Ashram in Gujrat. Swami Assemanand confessed his involvement along with other Hindutva leaders in planning and executing a chain of terror attacks against Muslim population while they were busy performing religious obligations in response to attacks by Muslim extremists. Selected teams of RSS activists who were provided finances by Indresh Kumar, a member of RSS Central Committee targeted Samjohta Express in 2008 carrying 757 passengers, including 553 Pakistanis which resulted in burning of 69 innocent people. They also planted bombs in Mecca Masjid in 2007 killing nine people, Dergah of Khawaja Moin-ud-Din Chisti in Ajmer Sharif where Hindus also pay their respect in large majority in 2009 and Malegaon in Maharashtra on the eve of Shab-i-Barat which killed 31 worshippers and injured 312.
The term Hindutva is derived from two terms ‘Hindu Tattva’ which literally means ‘Hindu Principals. Britannica.com describes Hindutva as an ideology which defines Indian culture in term of Hindu values’ and is critical of secular policies and practices.
As a quick fix after these terror incidents number of Muslim boys were picked up, tortured and jailed by Indian police in collusion with intelligence agencies. Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was directly blamed for spreading terror. The irony of fate is that innocent young people who were picked up wrongly to satisfy Indian public and frenzied media were charge sheeted without any material evidence are now languishing in jail. It was an interaction of Swami Assemanand with an innocent Muslim boy in jail who was undergoing prison for the blasts executed by him and his followers which agitated his conscious and led to this confession.

Tehelka magazine in its issue of January 15, 2011, has published part of the confessional statement in which Swami Assemanand has unraveled the inner working of terror network Abinav Baharat. The basic motivation for generating anti-muslim and anti-minorities hatred by this terror network is derived from Hindutva philosophy.

India is a large democracy and claims to be a secular state but the perusal of history indicates that Hindu terrorism had always been part of Indian religio-political culture and was advocated by leaders of right wing fundamentalist parties. Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by activist of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha six months after independence indicates the mind set of fundamentalist parties. Sardar Patel, a member of Hindu Mahasabha noted at that time:

‘There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahsabha was involved in this conspiracy. The activists of RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of government and the state. Indeed as time has marched on, the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their subversive activities in an increasing measure.’

Fundamentalist/extremist parties in India have communalized Indian national politics providing shelter to Hindutva terrorists. The brief study of Hindutva is essential to understand the mindset of those Hindu fundamentalists who are a much larger threat to Indian secular, social and cultural values than any kind of Islamic terrorism in India and neighboring countries.What is Hindutva philosophy

Hindu fundamentalism is an old phenomenon. Communal organizations in India have been using religious symbols, dresses, markings and terminologies as tools of propaganda for their vested interest even before independence. Today they are in direct confrontation. The term Hindutva is derived from two terms ‘Hindu Tattva’ which literally means ‘Hindu Principals. Britannica.com describes Hindutva as an ideology which defines Indian culture in term of Hindu values’ and is critical of secular policies and practices. Answer.com says that Hindutva is Hinduness and that it refers to the ideology of Hindu nationalists’ and that the term has fascist undertones. It negates inter and intra religious pluralism and rejects the concept of Indian national and secular dimension which transcend the boundaries of caste, creed, faith, language and region.Gowalker, the thinking mind of RSS was opposed to the idea of secular Indian state. While expressing his views he says:

Non-Hindu people of Hindustan must adopt Hindu culture and language, must learn and respect and hold in reverence the Hindu religion and must entertain no idea but the glorification of the Hindu race and culture. In a word they must cease to be foreigners, or must stay in the country wholly subordinate to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges far less any preferential treatment’ not even citizen rights.

The study of right wing extremist parties and mission of their creation would clearly indicate the depth of fundamentalist orientation found in today’s largest democratic country.

Hindutva Organisation

  1. Rashriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Founded in 1925 at Nagpur by K.B. Hedgewar with stipulated mission to form Hindu Rashtra by unifying Hindus. This radical group is the spiritual parent of India’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
  2. Hindus Mahasabha: Launched in 1922 to act as pressure group with mission to eliminate Muslims and Christians.
  3. Bharatiya Jana Sangh: Set up in 1951 by Dr Shyam Prasad Mukherjee with mission to make Hindi as national language and banning cow slaughter. It was renamed as Bharatya Janta Party in 1984.
  4. Visha Hindu Parishad (VHP): Formed in 1964 by S.S.Apte as reaction to activities of Christian missionaries, to protect Hindu culture.
  5. Bajrang Dal was formed in 1984 for liberating Ayodhaya site. It is militant arm of VHP.
  6. Shiv Sena: It is a highly fascist organisation that believes in theocratic Hindu nation idolising Hitler and his ideology. Led by Bal Thakeray. His disciples target Muslims and resort to ghastly rape of Muslim women.
  7. Rashtriya Swayamsevika Sangh. Created in 1948 to safeguard Hindu women and indoctrinate them for the cause of RSS.
  8. Hindu Jagara March: Strong proponent of Hindutva ideology through its provocative publications. Set up in 1992 for construction of Ram Temple.
  9. Swadeshi Jagaram Manch. Set up in 1994 with the mission to initiate false propaganda against minorities based on religious and cultural differencesAccording to diplomatic cable by Wikileaks, Rahul Gandhi seen as Indian Prime Minister-in-waiting told US ambassador, Timothy Roemer that radicalized Hindu groups could pose a far bigger threat to regional and global peace than Taliban, al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba. These three are declared as peanuts if equated with Hindutva Brotherhood and Sangh Parivar, and Washington was asked to take up the issue with Indian leadership.

    Indian Army and Extremism
    Hindutva has spread out of proportion because of official patronage and Indian army’s backing. Indian army has been providing moral and physical support to activists of Shiv Sena, RSS and other extremists for targeting Muslims and Christians. Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, a serving army officer who was serving in a military intelligence unit in Nashik is a founding member of terror outfit, Abhinav Bharat. He motivated number of other officers to join this outfit. He provided military grade RDX for these terror activities. Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare unearthed the involvement of serving army officer and arrested Lt Col Purohit. Karkare was mysteriously killed in 28/11 drama to close the inquiry of Samjohta Express which had detected a close link between Hindu extremists and senior officers of Indian army. Lt Col Purohit issue was put in cold storage by Indian authorities after his murder. Confessional statement by Swami Assemanand corroborate the findings of Karkare’s investigations regarding growing links between Indian army and extremist organizations.

    Indian army while following the philosophy of Hindutva has unleashed a reign of terror in Kashmir. Recent stance of Indian government for reducing strength of security forces by 25 per cent in Kashmir has been vehemently opposed by army high-ups. Indian army in Kashmir operates under emergency powers which allow the military to curtail civil liberties. Atrocities in Kashmir against Muslims are well documented by Indian Human Rights Organization. WikiLeaks reveals that a cable sent from a US mission highlighted that Indian army was involved in gross human rights violations in Kashmir where GOC-in-Chief Northern Command was equated with General Milosevic of Bosnia for butchering Kashmiri Muslims. Cable asked US government to divert UN attention towards the genocide of innocent civilians in Held Kashmir  and suggested that US should avoid holding any joint drill with Indian Army until it stops inhuman activities in Kashmir. The cable also indicated involvement of top Indian army leadership in collaborating with extremist Hindu militants to undertake terror activities against Muslims in order to pressurize Pakistan army and ISI.

    Lt Gen P. N. Hoon (Retd) is heading the militancy wing of Hindu extremist and is provided full tactical, logistic and financial support from senior army officers. Swami Assenanand confession leads to confirmation of all these transcripts which have already revealed though WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks cable refers to Rahul Gandhi seen as Indian Prime Minister-in-waiting telling US ambassador that radical Hindu groups could pose a far bigger threat to regional and global peace that Taliban, al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Terrorism against Christians
Christians are also facing alarming wave of violence and persecution, especially in state of Orissa. Many churches have been ransacked, masses disrupted, priests beaten which has spread panic in Christian community. Human Rights Watch has reported that Sangh Parivar which is a group of three nationalist organizations, VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS is responsible in promoting anti-Christian propaganda under the patronage of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Sister Antolina Martinez de Maranon, Daughter of Charity who works in Mumbai (Bombay) with leprosy and AIDS patients made an international call to stop this discrimination. Christians of Orissa requested President Obama to discuss the issue of religious intolerance, violence of Hindu extremist groups and discrimination suffered by them and untouchables in India with Indian political leadership and top government officials during his recent visit to IndiaPakistan has been the victim of terrorism for so long and involvement of foreign hand is pointed out in all terror incidents. India also passes the buck to Pakistan in order to gain political mileage and satisfy domestic audience. This hate and blame game is going on for long. Indian police blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) for Samjhota Express attack and other terrorist activities elsewhere in India as it saves them from meticulous investigations. Muslims youth is rounded up in India to show results instead of nabbing real culprits. Express India reported that JeM had threatened railway ministry to target Delhi railway station. Officials of Home Ministry said that government is not ruling the involvement of Kashmiri separatist group. US also asserted that the Islamic outfit Harkat- Ul_Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) was actually behind the attack.

All these baseless accusations result in shifting focus of investigative agencies to a very narrow prism, Indian political leadership has to detach itself from philosophy and teachings of extremist parties for saving the democratic and secular norms of Indian history. BJP has to withdraw the political arm it provides to communal outfit, especially RSS and try to strengthen Indian democratic system instead of uplifting Hindutva ideology which is a ticking time bomb with regard to militancy and terrorism. Swami Assemanand confession has exposed the religious terror network which is spreading at international level but remains concealed from the world. Indian Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) generate funds to distribute amongst extremist organizations. Hindu Student Council of America should also be banned as they are also collecting funds for Hindu militant outfits under the garb of charity as disclosed by WikiLeaks. There is a pressing need to expose Hindu terrorism and take necessary measures to curb its rise before it threatens regional and global peace.

Reference

  • Wikileaks cables, Daily News.com/Pakistan National.com
  • 2007 Samjhota Express bombing Wikipedia.
  • Tehelka Magazine Vol 8 Issue 2 dated January 15, 2011.
  • India blame Jaish, Lashkar in train blasts, The News February 30, 2000
  • JEM had sent threat Letters’ Express India February 22, 2007.
  • What is Hindutva by Nita, June 24, 2009 wordpress.com
  • Christian lebgraph.com issue 3360 ‘Spanish nun recall horor of anti-Christian in India.
  • What is Hindutva ‘hindutva.wikidot.com
  • Sardar Patel to Shyama Parsad Mookerjee in a letter dated July 18, 1948.
  • BBC,Wikileaks,Rahul Gandhi Feared Hindu Extremist Threat,15 December 2010
    By: Brig Syed Ghazanfar Ali (retd)

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