A Burkha Barkha Dutt presumptuously asks
The day of the blasts, I got a call from a member of the Muslim Personal Law Board, scared and worried about a ‘backlash’, wanting to condemn the blasts on national television so that nobody misunderstood its response. The subtext is clear. Fifty-nine years after India was born, in a country where there are more Muslims than there are in Pakistan, we are still asking Muslims to wear their nationalism like an identity card. We are still asking for proof of loyalty.
This is not their failure. It is ours.
To which a Kanchan Gupta convincingly replies:
Made in India Islamism
Kanchan Gupta
Indian Muslims, we are told, are a “bewildered, angry and hurt” lot. “They can’t understand the sharp reactions to the largescale protests they took part in during the past weeks,” a report in a weekly news magazine says.
The magazine goes on to quote sociologist Imtiaz Ahmed: “There are clear double standards here. On the one hand, you keep telling Muslims to come into the mainstream. When they believe they have a stake in the country and the right to protest, then why are you upset?”
The question, in a sense, explains why Muslims, or at least those to whom the magazine refers to in its report, are “bewildered, angry and hurt”. What it does not elaborate on, however, are the reasons behind the “sharp reactions”.
Mobilising tens of thousands of Muslims, most of them from madarsas that preach the pre-eminence of Islam and the unique right of the ummah to disregard the sensitivities of others, as the Jamait-e-Ulema-e-Hind did in Delhi on the eve of US President George Bush’s visit, does not reflect any desire whatsoever to “come into the mainstream”.
Nor does the mobilising of Islamists who believe that the cartoonists whose caricatures of Prophet Mohammad were published in the little-known Danish daily Jyllands-Posten should be murdered for committing “blasphemy” amount to Muslims declaring their intention to “come into the mainstream”.
If raucous and riotous assertion of support for pan-Islamist causes - the war in Iraq, the cartoon controversy - are to be interpreted as Muslims coming into the mainstream of Indian public life, then we might as well give up all pretensions to being a secular society and accept the socio-political hegemony of a tyrannical minority.
The “sharp reactions” were as much against the mass mobilisation of Islamists across the country on issues that have no bearing at all on India’s national interests as against the loathsome manner in which Muslim rage manifested itself.
In Hyderabad, after burning the Danish national flag that was earlier used as a foot mat by believers entering the city’s main mosque for Friday’s noon prayer, Muslims protesting against the Jyllands-Posten cartoons went on a rampage, beating up Hindu shopkeepers and looting their shops.
A fortnight later, Muslims in Lucknow did a repeat performance. The only difference was that while in Hyderabad there was no loss of lives, in Lucknow innocent persons, including a 14-year-old Hindu boy, were killed. In Hyderabad, the Islamists’ ran amok to register their protest against the Danish cartoonists; in Lucknow they rioted to register their disapproval of Mr George Bush’s visit.
In between, we were witness to the Uttar Pradesh Minister for Minority Welfare, Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, addressing a mammoth gathering of Islamists in Meerut where he declared a bounty of Rs 51 crore for any believer who kills the Danish cartoonists. Those who are given to thumping the Constitution of India have remained remarkably silent after this call for murder by a Minister who holds office by virtue of the fact that he has sworn to abide by the Constitution.
We were also witness to Islamists chanting slogans in praise of Osama bin Laden, heaping abuse on the US, calling for the death of Americans and waving banners eulogising jihad and jihadis - in Delhi, Mumbai, Meerut, Lucknow, Hyderabad and numerous other cities and towns.
Mainstream India was understandably staggered, stunned and shocked by this outpouring of hate. The last time we witnessed such rage was when Muslims took to the streets to protest against the Supreme Court’s judgement favouring Shah Bano, an indigent Muslim woman thrown out of her marital home, in 1985, and the violent endorsement of Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie for daring to pen The Satanic Verses in 1988.
If memories of Islamist rage and hate had dulled during the intervening years after Syed Shahabuddin’s outrageous call to Muslims to boycott Republic Day celebrations, they have surfaced following the ummah’s recent public belligerent demonstration of allegiance to causes and issues that lie beyond the boundaries of India.
What has also alarmed mainstream India is the ease with which such mobilisation can be done. It is not a very calming site, the gathering of tens of thousands of Islamists united by a common enemy: Anybody who dares defy their perverse worldview.
Imtiaz Ahmed senses “clear double standards” in this response. But there are no double standards - the only standard against which popular repudiation of Islamist rage can be measured is that of revulsion generated by the manifestation of Muslim rage on issues for which mainstream India does not care a toss.
There is also the other aspect, that of the sudden upsurge of minorityism, which has come to define the UPA Government’s policies. From education to quotas, disbursement of development funds to meek acceptance of fatwa (remember Gudiya and Imrana?) that are antipodean to the law of the land, from sneakily conducting a Muslim headcount of the armed forces to mollycoddling minority educational institutions, and, from repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act to subverting the Supreme Court’s verdict against the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, the Congress and its allies in the UPA and the Left are perceived as bending over backwards to appease the Islamists and cravenly succumbing to their basest demands.
Yes, there were terror attacks when the BJP-led NDA Government was in power, and some of them were astonishingly daring. There was an assault on the Jammu & Kashmir legislature, terrorists struck Parliament House complex, jihadis assaulted Akshardham Temple.
But there was tough retaliatory action, too. Even the most cursory glance through the anti-terrorism record of the NDA regime will show that there was a certain resolve of the Government of India to fight this scourge. That resolve, tragically, has been severely diluted by the UPA regime.
It is, therefore, not surprising that the rash of terror attacks that have taken place after the return of the Congress and its cheerleaders to power should have been carried out by jihadis among us; they may have been inspired by foreign role models and Pakistani masters, but they were born in India.
The impact of the UPA Government’s shameless pandering to fanaticism disguised as minority assertion is there for all to see. If the fidayeen attack on the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya last July and the subsequent serial bombings in Delhi on the eve of Diwali were fierce expressions of incipient Islamism, the bombings at Sankat Mochan Temple and the railway station in Varanasi on the eve of Holi, preceded by the public demonstrations of jihadi might, mark the coming of age of that which all of India must unanimously deplore - homegrown militant Islam.
Mainstream India should be worried. Very, very worried.
Indeed, Burkha Barkha Dutt is right–it is our failure: to let things to come to this pass that the victim, like most rape victims should begin to think that he/she “invited it in the first place.”
On 03.16.06 Guruprasad says:
From Barka Dutt’s article,
>>The day of the blasts, I got a call from a member of the Muslim Personal Law Board, scared and worried about a ‘backlash’, wanting to condemn the blasts on national television so that nobody misunderstood its response>>
The member of AIMPLB is worried about the backlash to the blasts and not the blasts themselves and does not have any remorse for this heinous act or its effects. Essentially, he is trying to issue a statement on tv to save the miserable lives of himself and his fellow cave cult followers
guru
On 03.17.06 Prasanna says:
Hi Sandeep
I have been a silent admirer of your excellent blog.For the first time i am commenting
Barkha Dutt represents the typical upper-class,well-connected,elitist NDTV journo (they are recruited by that pseudo-commie Prannoy becasue these “Star Kids” help him pull strings and manipulate the system to further his televsion empire.He gets aided in this endeavour by his buffoon brother-in law Karat and incessantly barking sister-in law Brinda Karat.Prannoy is basically a cronie capitalist in the guise of commie)
The Secular media projects her as a desi version of Christaine Amanpour(such a insult to the competent CNN Journalist)
Her interview with Sonia gandhiwas ample proof of journalistic integrity
I still remember her covering the Delhi Bomb Blast.The deliberate attempt to project the attack as one on Id Shoppers was shocking
i read some blog on India televison -Bitcy insight in to the dirty world of India Television Media
Looks like even her fellow professionals consider her arrogant,haughty ,unprofessional and unethical journo
Keep your great blog going
On 03.19.06 ac says:
Very short memory indeed sandeep.
You conveniently forget the terrorist attack that happened during BJP regime. Parliament attack, Amarnath, Taking jailed terrorists to Kandahar, Kargil lapse. If the terrorist attacks that are happeniing now are result of minority appeasement policies, then BJP during it’s brief stint must have done quite a bit of minority appeasement to generate so much terrorist activities during it’s time.
Come on buddy grow up.
If you study secessionist movements around the word you will realize
that most these movements have more to do with with culture, history and
asserting separate identity and less to do with religion. Except for two
nations Israel and Pakistan, I can’t think any other nation which was
created on the principle of nations for people of a specific religious
faith. And it is not surprising that one can not talk about terrorism
without mentioning these two nations - one calls it a victim of
terrorism while using violent means of oppression amounting to state
terror. Of course Israel and the world has forgotten how groups like
Irgun started terrorism in the Middle East in the 1940’s prior to
creation of Israel. The other is a our beloved neighbor which practices
terrorism for a living, for it’s own existence and as a means to get
even with us for creating Bangladesh.
Religion is first and easy resort of a fascist(could be state,
individual or political group) to justify systematic use of physical or
emotional violence against civilians to achieve political ends.
Unfortunately when a Muslim commits these acts, he is seen as
committing to meet his political ends but more because of the
religion he was born in(please note the difference between born in a
religion and practicing a religion). The media also plays it’s part
creating the ‘Islamic Terrorism’ brand. When an obscure mullah utters
non-sense against Sania Mirza, it makes headlines. When an obscure group
asks people to boycott Republic days it makes headlines. But when
eminent personalities like Javed Akthar makes a statement against such
utterances and take action to counter it, that hardly makes it to print
space.
Does any body relate a religion to actions of Hitler or Slobadon
Milosevic. How many of us associate a religion well known terrorist
groups like LTTE, IRA, ETA or Irgun? Islamic suicide bombers were in
diapers when LTTE was perfecting the science of suicide bombing in
Srilanka. Now was LTTE ever called Hindu terrorists? But which religion now the mainstream media and everybody else
associate suicide bombing with?
All major scriptures are against the back drop of war to smoke out
).
evidoers out and eliminate them (If I may borrow from George Bush
It is not hard to quote from any major scripture to justify dying and
killing in the cause of achieving what one ‘considers a rightful and
just cause’. Those who have read Gita will remember Krishna urging
Arjuna to fight the battle and slay the enemies and promises heaven
for him if he dies in the process. (read Chapter 2 Sankya Yoga - Yoga
of Knowledge verses 11 through 38).
Yes, I do agree with the view that in India, practice of secularism
wrong. Secularism is not denial of faith. But, faith in the faith of
the other. In my mind there is not much difference between a minority communalist and majority communalist - one asks for special right because he is a minority, the others asks for special rights because he is in majority. To me both are sides of the same coin. I feel really sad people like you should should be doing everything in your powers to counter both types of communalism complain about one and encourage the other.
Here is challenge - I calling every outfit that that has killed innocent civilians a terrorist outfit regardless of it’s religions and political leanings. Now can you call VHP, Bajrang dal and the like terrorist outfits?
On 03.22.06 KB says:
Burkha epitomises what is wrong with Bharat . She is a Indie to whom the timid Hindoos of Hindoostan can do nothing.
On 05.25.06 Mushq says:
Barkha Dutt was educated at Jamaat-e-Islammi University of Delhi. I think she was educated in a madrassa. may be , …
On 07.11.06 Boris says:
Hi,
Great-PLEASE BOMB-SHOCK AND AWE-THESE FUKKING SECULARISTS INTO SUBMISSIOn
On 03.29.07 swati says:
This is to clarify why we don’t label the LTTE, naxals, ULFA or PWG as hindu terrorists or the IRA, ETA etc as christian terrorists while we continue to club a whole range of terrosit groups as “islamofascism”
The reason is simple, Islamofascism currently is the ONLY internationally unified, religion based form of terrorist intimidation. It unites muslims all over the world for the cause of jehad. The ULFA’s don’t aim to convert biharis to assamese, the IRA does not aim to convert the whole world and our “hindu” maoists are atheists by definition.
My dear ac, this is a short reply to your l-o-n-g comment. What brings thousands of Indian muslims out protesting the hanging of Saddam thousands of miles away (who was no friend of the Arabs anyway) while only a handful protest the killing of innocent civilians and barbaric terrorist attacks in their own city?
Islamofascism surely has great unifying powers!
On 01.31.08 Manjira Das says:
I am absolutely against ur views Prasanna because u and not Barkha represent the typical backward class mentality. U clear our doubts tht till today in India we have lots of people who start finding faults in a person who has done something well in life. The more higher post one reaches , people like U start finding more faults in tht particular person. In today’s country their is no pace for al this. Barkha Dutt is just fabulous and is the best journalist ever. To send me ur opinions mail me at manjira_das@yahoo.co.in, send me ur view.
On 08.13.08 reddy says:
burka dutt, sagarika gosh, teesta salvad are *ing bitches.
On 11.30.08 chirag mitra says:
hey sir you must be a very respectable person to abuse award winning journalists of our country. this really proves how educated people of our country are.in the wake of such an event its our duty to stand together instead of bickering at people who r talking some sense.
On 12.03.08 Vijaymohan says:
Read the blog. I do share the same thoughts as you do… not just about Barkha Dutt, but also about most of the media channels in India. Been glued to the television since the 26th of November… n I’ve shared my views on my blog. Since it’s too long- can’t post the same here!
http://vijaymohanc.blogspot.com/