The Pioneer stands out as a differing voice from among the vast muck of the Indian secular media, which has mostly prostituted itself to the Congress party.

Here’s the Pioneer editorial that offers a different perspective on the Bangalore violence.

Obscene ‘grief’

The Pioneer Edit Desk

Targeting Hindus to mourn Saddam

Had it not been for the violence it spawned, last Friday’s rally by Muslims in Bangalore against the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could have been laughed away as nothing more than yet another pathetic attempt to manufacture rage over an issue that has nothing to do with India. But, as past experience tells us, such rallies invariably turn ugly with protesters running amok and targeting Hindu lives and property. In recent times we have seen it happen in Hyderabad where Muslims, after Friday noon prayers, ran riot to protest against the lampooning of Prophet Mohammed by a Danish newspaper, Jyllands Posten, of whose existence nobody was aware of till then. Since they could not respond to the chilling call from the pulpit by setting upon the cartoonists, they decided to unleash their manufactured rage on hapless Hindus - Hindus on the streets were attacked, Hindu-owned shops ransacked and looted, Hindus were dragged out of cars and bonfires made of their vehicles. Within months, similar violence was witnessed in Lucknow when Muslims, egged on by the Samajwadi Party, took to the streets after noon prayers on another Friday to protest against US President George Bush’s visit to India. This nasty mindset is not of recent vintage. There was a time when Mohammedan Sporting supporters would indulge in arson and worse every time the team lost a match. When the shrine at Mecca was briefly taken over by Islamist terrorists in November 1979, violence erupted in India’s streets. Hence, it is not surprising that Saddam Hussein’s richly deserved exit from this world should have been seized upon by myopic Muslim leaders and their collaborators in the clergy to whip up some frothy communal rage. After tourists being set upon in Agra by thugs of the ‘I love Saddam’ gang, it was the turn of Hindu residents of somnolent north Bangalore to face the ire of those who deal in manufacturing Muslim rage over alien issues.

Congress leader and former Union Minister CK Jaffer Sharief, who organised last Friday’s rally three weeks after Saddam Hussein’s execution with the explicit purpose of ensuring that it coincides with MS Golwalkar’s birth centenary celebrations over the weekend, is clearly guilty of instigating the violence. No less is the guilt of former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh, Karnataka Congress president Mallikarjuna Karge and other party stalwarts who participated in the rally at Shivaji Nagar, unmindful of the fact that the participants were armed with swords and other assorted weapons. It remains to be seen whether the arson, loot and mayhem indulged in by those grieving for Saddam Hussein will resuscitate Mr Sharief’s political career which has been in a limbo ever since he was humbled by the BJP’s HT Sangliana in the 2004 general election. There is, however, no doubt over the fact that by attacking unsuspecting Hindus and destroying their property, Mr Sharief’s goons have demonstrated that there is a pattern to the surge in communal violence in Karnataka. Last year we saw similar violence erupt in Dakshin Kannada after a Muslim butcher in Mangalore dared Hindus to stop him from slaughtering cows. Before that, an idol went missing from a temple in Mysore, triggering clashes. It is entirely possible that a conspiracy is afoot to discredit the ruling JD(S)-BJP alliance. But let us not lose sight of the big picture: Islamists are increasingly targeting India.