What a turnaround!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By M. Waduud Sajid

(Translated from daily Inquilab 24 February 2013)

The casualties of so many human lives in Hyedrabad is an irreparable loss to the country and a great test for the two large communities, Hindus and Muslims, of the country. It is vital to bring to justice the individuals or groups who are involved in this bomb blast. But even more important in such a testing time is the need of all sections, specially Hindus and Muslims, to come together and help each other.

Lately Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, has become the epicentre of various controversies and disputes. For quite some time the city has also been witnessing the movement for a separate state, Telangana. At times this movement has taken a violent turn too. The atmosphere of this city has been tense due to the fiery speeches delivered by the leaders of two communities.

This dastardly blast has occurred exactly one day after the backtracking by the Home Minister Mr Suhhil Kumar Shinde on his remarks on Hindutva and saffron terrorism; and 20 days after VHP’s foulmouthed leader Togadia’s provocative speech in Akbarabad. About one month ago Togadia had delivered similar speech in Nander in Maharashtra. The case of causing hatred and waging war against the country was registered against Majlis-e-Ittihadul-Muslimeen’s MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi within a week. He has spent several weeks behind bars for this. On the other hand investigations are still under way on the speech of Parveen Togadia that was far more dangerous and far more provocative and he has been left free to polarise the atmosphere from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. No one knows in what phase are these investigations. Because electronic and print media had widely publicised the excerpts from Akbarduiin’s speech and the conventional media has not broadcast Togadia’s speech, a common viewer and reader cannot compare the two speeches and decide which one of these was worse.

However, does the decision of oversensitive electronic media—that does not get tired of recycling a story for weeks—not to broadcast Togadia’s speech, not prove that Parveen Togadia is far more dangerous than Owaisi and that nabbing him urgently is extremely vital? Neither the Andhra Pradeshs Government nor the Maharashtra Government and nor our Home Minister Suhil Kimar Shinde can absolve themselves of their responsibilities in this regard. Having raised maximum hue and cry national and electronic media have gone silent. However, with regard to Owaisi brothers they are not yet silent and there is no demand to have Togadia arrested.

In the scenario when even the Home Minister backtracks on his Jaipur statement regarding RSS and BJP, can anyone expect that those who take pride in all of the massacres from Nellie in Assam to Gujarat, will be immediately arrested? We repeat our stand that terrorism has no religion and for this reason the usage of terminology like the Hindu terror is totally unjustified. If the Home Minister had used a term like Hindu terrorism, surely he should have apologised for this. However, feeling the pressure of BJP and to avoid possible disturbance in the budget session of the Parliament, he has gone too far saying that it was wrong to link any party or organisation with terrorism.

The question is, why on earth did you talk about RSS and BJP’s terror camps when you did not have a proof? When BJP raised hue and cry why did your Home Secretary say that your statement was based on the reports of investigative agencies? Why did Digvijay Singh and other Congress leaders support you?

Now that you have backtracked on such a clear statement, or let’s say you have issued a clean chit to the Sangh Parivar, will it not have negative impact on the moral of those agencies on the basis of whose reports you had revealed the truth of Sanghi terrorism? Will it not give a message to these agencies that they should stop chasing the Sanghi terrorists? And most important of all, after your clean chit to Sangh Parivar, what will become of innocent Muslim youths implicated in the bomb blasts of Malegaon graveyard and mosque, Mecca Masjid and Samjhota Express who have been languishing in jails? Will you now release all the Sanghis who have been detained by the agencies? Or will you deny their association and links with Sangh Parivar?

In the wake of Hyderabad blasts the manner in which suspicion is being cast on a particular community is once again raising the fear of a wide scale which hunt of Muslim youths all over the country.

Sketches of bearded suspects have been issued despite the fact that installed CCTV cameras were not working. Then on what basis are the agencies creating suspicion on a particular community? The fact that Delhi’s Special Cell had issued alert to Hyderabad police begs a basic question why no precautionary measures were taken? The Home Ministery had itself issued such alerts to ten states, including Andhra Pradesh. The state government must be asked what measures had it taken to deal with and stop such an incident? From the details of this blast being reported by some newspapers and channels it seems that this was targeted at a particular community and its place of worship that is only half at km distance from the spot where the bomb was put.

We cannot even think of approving such terrorism but we would like to stress that this blast should not destroy communal harmony. Our country cannot afford to deal with and be targeted by the terrorists and, at the same time, to have to cope with the disputes and strife between various sections and communities. Because before the electioneering this is the most favourite business of most political parties, in their investigation of the latest blasts in Hyderabad the agencies must bear this angel in their mind.