Promoting the wrong ideas -- Shridhar Pant
Apropos Mr N Jamal Ansari’s article, “For Mumbai blame BJP” (December 18), the writer was at his best in justifying that Hindutva forces are fanning Islamism by obfuscating facts.
With the confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive in the 26/11 attacks, that he had shot down Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare and his colleagues, and with the Pakistani media and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif confirming that Kasab belongs to Faridkot in Pakistan, one cannot simply put a veil on the facts and cast redundant doubts on these evidences.
Interestingly, the day Mr Ansari’s article was published, Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay expressed his twisted version of the Mumbai attacks in Parliament. Later in the day, several Muslim organisations lent support to Mr Antulay’s ridiculous conspiracy.
With regard to Mr Ansari’s view that Hindus and Zionists are behind the Mumbai attacks, something that the Pakistani media has also been dishing out, this only further strengthens the belief that there is an international Islamic conspiracy to perpetuate terrorism in India. Also, with respect to the point about the formation of a Hindu rashtra I am at a loss to understand if there can be an Islamic rashtra in Pakistan and Bangladesh, why should Mr Ansari feel offended by a Hindu rashtra? It is well known all over the world that Islam may mean peace within the religion but hostility towards non-believers. India is secular because of its Hindu majority that embraces people from other faiths.
Will Mr Ansari answer why ethnic cleaning was carried out in Pakistan at time of partition and is in process now in Bangladesh? If the Islamist organisations are weak and negligible then how come a small 40 hectare piece of land was denied to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board while over Rs 500 crore are spent on subsidising the Haj pilgrimage? How come Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that minorities should have the first claim on the country’s resources?
In fact, it is the Hindu organisations that are weak and, therefore, neglected. It is now gradually being realised that the Hindu community is still in deep slumber. They need to be reminded of what Albert Einstein said, “the world (in present context read India) is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
Let Hindus read and re-read their Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat and stand up united to resist injustice and restore dharma.