Sewed Lips on Hindu Terrorism In India.

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BBC.
Hindu terrorism' debate grips India

By Zubair Ahmed
BBC News, Nasik, western India


It's argued that Hinduism and terrorism are incompatible


A new and highly controversial phrase has entered the sometimes cliche-riddled Indian press: "Hindu terrorism".

As with the term "Islamic terrorism" and "Christian fundamentalism", this latest addition to the media lexicon is highly emotive.

It was in the aftermath of the 29 September bomb blast in the predominantly Muslim town of Malegaon in the western state of Maharashtra that the term "Hindu terrorism" or "saffron terrorism" came to be used widely.

That was because the state police's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested 10 Hindus following the blasts and has said that it wants to arrest several more.

Little-known

One of those detained was a female priest, Sadhwi Pragya Singh Thakur, aged 38, who has been accused by the ATS of being involved in the Malegaon blast. Her detention shocked members of the faith.

So too did the arrest of a serving Indian army officer, Lt-Col Prasad Srikant Purohit, who the ATS says is the prime accused in the case.

Police said the Malegaon attacks were the work of 'terrorists'


Police are investigating whether some of those arrested are members of a little-known Hindu outfit called Abhinav Bharat (Young India).

At least three of those held have some links with a prestigious college in the city of Nasik, the Bhonsala Military Academy.

ATS investigators have questioned two of the academy's former office bearers several times.

One of them was Col Raikar, who retired from the Indian army some months ago.

Both he and Col Purohit served in the same unit of the army and became friends.

The ATS claims the meeting in which the plan for the bomb blast was hatched was held in the Bhonsala school.

Another retired army officer, Maj Prabhakar Kulkarni, is also under arrest. He too was an office bearer at the school.

In addition, the ATS says that at least one of the 10 suspects received military training here.

Sadhwi Pragya Singh Thakur, Col Purohit, Maj Kulkarni and Col Raikar have denied any connection with terrorism, as has the Bhonsala Military Academy and its parent organisation, the Central Hindu Military Education Society (CHMES).

Founded in 1937, the sprawling Bhonsala campus is run by the CHMES, an organisation established in the 1930s by Dr BS Moonje, a former president of the militant Hindu Mahasabha (Hindu Assembly) organisation.

His vision was to militarise India to fight the British Raj.

Military-style training

As the name suggests, this is not an ordinary college.

Its aim, as its website claims, is to "encourage students to take up careers in the armed forces of the country".

Many Hindus are bemused at claims their faith is linked to terrorism


Military training involves teaching students how to fire guns.

The students are prepared for the National Defence Academy, the central government's premier military college.

The branch of the academy in the city of Nasik has many impressive buildings.

One of them is used to impart military-style training to students, aged 10-16 years.

Its secretary, Divakar Kulkarni, laments the fact that his school is getting a bad press these days.

He says that besides military training, students are taught Hindu philosophy and scriptures.

Mr Kulkarni accepts it's primarily a school for Hindus, but he adds that there are two or three Muslim and Christian children in every class of 45 students.

'Tea and biscuits'

"Even Muslim students study the Bhagwat Gita and the Ramayana [Hindu scriptures]," he says proudly.

So how does he respond to the ATS allegation that the bomb plot was hatched at a meeting in the academy?

Mr Kulkarni concedes his school has recently had 'bad press'


"Col Raikar let out a hall to Abhinav Bharat for a meeting for two hours, but we don't know what transpired in the meeting," Mr Kulkarni said.

The ATS believes Col Raikar was also present in the meeting. But according to Mr Kulkarni he went there just for a few minutes "to ask if they wanted tea and biscuits".

The ATS says that it has also found the aims and objectives of Abhinav Bharat downloaded on the computers of the two men.

Mr Kulkarni insisted that there was a perfectly innocent explanation for this: "They downloaded the outfit's aims and objectives without knowing much about its work," he said.

Meanwhile, most Hindu organisations believe India's Congress party-led government is playing politics by defaming Hindus.

They argue that the very term "Hindu terrorist" is not only a creation of the media but also a contradiction in terms - because the faith explicitly renounces violence.

"The government, with an eye on the general election next year, is trying to woo Muslims by maligning Hindus," says Datta Gaikward, chief of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party in Nasik.

Hindu political parties are also staunchly defending Sadhwi Pragya Singh Thakur, the arrested female priest.

They have hired lawyers to represent her and at every legal hearing in Nasik supporters of right-wing parties gather outside the court and shout anti-government slogans.

All eyes will be now be on the court proceedings - whenever they start in earnest - to find out whether "Hindu terrorism" really has taken root or not.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Hindu terrorism' debate grips India

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RAW sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.

 

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'Why should Hindu terrorism be a surprise'
Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
Saturday, November 15, 2008 23:30


Tanika Sarkar is professor of history the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. She first wrote about the role of women in right-wing Hindu organisations in 1990. She has co-edited with Urvashi Butalia, Women And The Hindu Right in 1995. In an interview with Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr, Sarkar says she is not surprised either by the alleged involvement of Pragnya Thakur in the Malegaon blast or by the existence of Hindu terror groups.

Are you surprised that a woman is linked to a Hindu right-wing group accused of terror acts?
Not at all. There is a well-established precedent. Sadhvi Ritambhara's -- who has no known links with terror -- audio-cassettes of the early 1990s led to a huge wave of terror. At that time the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) were trying to instigate riots in Uttar Pradesh during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. As there was no tradition of communalism in those UP towns, there were no riots. Ritambhara's cassettes were played in temples then, which resulted in pogroms. When we think of terror, we need to take into account pogroms as well as bomb blasts.

Did anyone suspect this type of organisational ability among the Hindu groups? We should have. First of all, there is no reason why terrorism should be identified with Muslim organisations. Every single community is guilty of using terror tactics. And there is some glorification of it in all religious traditions. And even Buddhists have engaged in great violence in Sri Lanka. I don't see any reason why any particular Hindu act of terror should come as a surprise. Secondly, the amount of training is nothing new. The hurling of gas cylinders into homes of Gujarat's Muslims -- that needed training. The 'trishul diksha' in different parts of Gujarat happened six months before the carnage began. Going back to the late 1980s Bhagalpur riots, the Ramjanmabhoomi-related movement, Babri masjid demolition -- they all had who knows how many years of planning.

Have our investigative agencies failed so far?
When I speak of terror, I mean pogroms also. I do not see why Gujarat pogroms are not terror, and why bomb blasts alone are terror. Hindu terror -- pre-planned, conspired for -- has been going on in our country for at least a decade. When a bomb blast is linked with some particular Hindu organisation, we are startled. Why should that be?Hindu religious organisations -- if you call VHP a religious organisation -- had been steadfastly planning pogroms, which are also terror tactics.


You have been one of the first to write about this issue of women being drawn into the Hindu right-wing groups. What characterises the women in right-wing groups?
Women were generally excluded from public and political activities of any sort. Things have changed. Women have been participated in the nationalist movements, they have been part of the violent and non-violent movements. It is not a surprise they should be part of Hindu right-wing movements. Women have also been part of Muslim terrorist movements. The RSS has floated the Rashtra Sevika Samiti in the 1930s, which is a very old organisation, and has now fallen into the shadows. It also used to train women leaders for the VHP, which has its Matri Mandal, Mahila Vibhag, and the Bajrang Dal has its counterpart, the Durga Vahini and so on. So they have done their bit for rightwing movements. In the 1990s, for whatever reason, they thought it expedient to float certain remarkable women figures -- Vijaya Raje Scindia, Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambhara backing Advani's rath yatra. It is not quite clear why the women's voices were that important. Ritambhara's voice was absolutely crucial for a lot of bloodbath that followed Babri Masjid demolition.

Has Thakur, arrested for actively planning and taking part in the Malegaon blast, made a logical progress from inciting speeches?
She seems to be actively involved. I do not know, from incendiary speeches to action is a matter of degree. Pragya Thakur follows the Ritambhara trajectory.She reminds me very much of Ritambhara. She is supposed to have given incendiary speeches earlier. Like Uma Bharati and Ritambhara, she is celibate, she is ascetic. And she is supposed to be greatly learned in sacred scripture. Men from the sangh parivar do not have a reputation for that. It is quite curious that the women are entrusted with sacred knowledge now.I do not think thatThakur did it on her own initiative. The RSS is the apex body. It does all the planning. It is still the all-male organisation. So, at some stage, the RSS decided to use women in certain capacities, and the women were only too willing.

 

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India wonders how deep "Hindu terrorism" goes
Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:06pm IST


By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reports that Hindu militants may be involved in bomb attacks first blamed on Islamists may open a Pandora's Box for India's beleaguered security services and become a key voter issue before general elections next year.

At least 10 people, including a serving army officer and a Hindu monk and nun, have been arrested over alleged involvement in blasts in the Muslim-dominated town of Malegaon in Maharashtra that killed four people.

The same Indian army officer is being investigated over a bomb attack in February 2007 that killed 68 people on the Samjhauta Express, a train between Delhi and Lahore, police said. The attack killed mostly Pakistani passengers.

The reports have proved an embarrassment for the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it prepares to take on the Congress-led government in both state elections this year and general elections in early 2009.

The BJP has been quick to criticise the Congress-led government for being soft on terrorism when it involves Muslims or Pakistan, but critics say it has been less willing to call for a clampdown on Hindu groups in the face of the latest allegations.

"In the wake of daily arrests of... (Hindu)... terror outfits, the BJP stood exposed," senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily told the Mail Today. "They cannot take a high moral ground."

While Islamists are suspects in many other attacks this year, the spectre of Hindu terrorist groups haunts many in India, which emerged from a traumatic partition in 1947 when hundreds of thousands were killed in religious clashes.

"Given India's diversity, a very delicate balance has been maintained," said security analyst C. Uday Bhaskar.

"If it is punctured, we will have very serious internal disturbances, aggravating the internal security of the country."

While many analysts believe this case could be isolated or limited to a small group, some believe it could signal something deeper and more sinister: a growing militant network that believes Muslims and a secular government are threatening what is basically a Hindu nation.

It is not just Muslims that are the target. In Orissa state, Hindu groups angry at reports of conversions were blamed for attacks on Christians in August and September. At least 38 people were killed.

"The Hindu terrorist ... has been formed to retaliate and they are functioning in the atmosphere of hatred politics which runs deep into the social system," said Amulya Ganguli, a political analyst.

But while an embarrassment, analysts are divided on whether any revelations about Hindu militants will hurt the BJP.

Some see it as an obsession of the chattering classes while millions worry more about inflation, an economic slowdown and a general perception that the government has struggled to bring anyone to justice for bombings, regardless of their religion.

Experts also say quick conclusions cannot be drawn by the arrests. There are reports of inconsistencies in the cases and nothing has been proved.

"This is not an open and shut case, going by the record of investigating agencies," Major General Ashok Mehta, a security analyst, said.

As elections approach, the noise is unlikely to die down.

"Terrorism is definitely on the agenda of political parties and with elections round the corner everyone will talk about it," said Bhaskar.

 

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Hindu terrorism does not end on its extremist groups but it goes beyond that even till their Military .

 

[samv]

PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE. CONTAINS IMAGES OF EXPLOSION.

 

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it was the girl who blew herself up rite?

 

[samv]

it was the girl who blew herself up rite?

Yes... it was apparently a 'bra bomb' ... that thing flying across the room after the explosion is her head.

 

[ssheppard]

There goes another India bashing thread.....backed up by youslesstube videos...created by Pakistanis.......uploaded by Pakistanis.....who want to show everyone what they see in their dreams every night.

 

[scrumpy]

All religious loonies. Why do you think Hindu extremists would be any different from Muslim extremists in thinking that their religion is the greatest and it is their duty to protect it. You will have to agree though that there is a huge difference in scale and the appeal that these groups have among the general population.

Sam, the LTTE as far as I know was never a organisation affiliated to any religious association. Weren't there a number of Christians in that group too? Are you like Black Blood rationalising the actions of his so called brothers by pointing out to atrocities done by the other side? Shouldn't Sri Lanka be working more towards reconciling the differences between people. Sad to see such video whose sole aim is to divide people and incite hatred among the country's communities being posted by a Sri Lankan.

 

[samv]

If there was no religious flavour, why did the LTTE kill Muslims and ethnically cleanse them from northern Sri Lanka when Muslims are also Tamil speaking and had lived there for generations? Why did they kill Muslims while they prayed in their mosques? Why did they attack Muslim towns like Mutur, Kinniya?

Only difference is the religion.

LTTE's Kattankudi Muslim Muslim Mosque Massacre by LTTE

ABOVE LINK NOT FOR THOSE WHO ARE SENSTIVIE - CONTAINS GORY IMAGES

BTW above video was filmed while the war was still on...

I won't mention here the attacks on Buddhist places of worship.

 

[scrumpy]

If there was no religious flavour, why did the LTTE kill Muslims and ethnically cleanse them from northern Sri Lanka when Muslims are also Tamil speaking and had lived there for generations? Why did they kill Muslims while the prayed in their mosques? Why did they attack Muslim towns like Mutur?

Because they thought the community as a whole was conspiring with the Government against them? Were these muslims targeted because of their religious views?

I hope there is no mis-understanding of my motives. I do not shed a tear for the demise of the terrorist organisation called LTTE. What I do feel sad about is that the exact same causes which lead to the creation of LTTE is being replayed after the demise of the LTTE. Your anger against the LTTE is understandable. But where do you think your attitude will lead you to. What Sri Lanka needs most at this stage is to think of their own country men as Sri Lankan first.

Remember hate begets hate.

 

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ssheppard If you cant come with counter arguments then "SHUT UP''

 

[scrumpy]

If you cant come with counter arguments then "SHUT UP''

Who rained on your parade?
I am agreeing with you. All religious nut jobs should be opposed and educated.

 

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Who rained on your parade?
I am agreeing with you. All religious nut jobs should be opposed and educated.

Not at you...he knows whom i am talking to