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When many acts of terror by people
like Pragya Singh Thakur and Dayanand Pandey etc. are coming to fore
the word ‘Hindu terrorism’ is being used by many for such acts of
terror. The investigations have shown that these groups, inspired by
the ideology of Hindu Rashtra; Hindutva, Sangh Parivar, may have
been involved in Malegaon blasts, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer, Goa and even
Samjhauta express blast. One recalls that immediately after the
blasts many Muslim youth were arrested on the ground that they have
been part of the conspiracy. The victims were mostly Muslim in these
blasts. The blasts were planned to at times when maximum
congregation of people is there, around the time of Namaz etc. The
voice of human rights activists that the reckless arrest of innocent
Muslim youth must be stopped and real culprits caught hold of, took
a long time for being heard as the bias of investigation authorities
was too gross to look the other way around.
The tide turned with the Malegaon blast investigation when Hemant
Karkare could lay his hands on impeccable evidence of involvement of
Sadhvi Pragya and Company. Incidentally Hemant Karkare was called
Deshdrohi and anti-National by Hindutva leaders. He also got killed
on the fateful night of attack on Mumbai on 26/11 2008. The
organizations like those associated with Bajrang Dal, Abhinav Bharat
and Sanatan Sanstha have been accused of being involved with these
acts of terror. At the same time the followers of Hindutva politics
are stating that these acts of terror can not be linked to Hinduism
as terrorism is the monopoly only of Abrahamic religions (Judaism,
Christianity and Islam). According to some commentators these latter
religions are associated with religious terrorism, while there is no
history of Hindu terror.
As such the common factor of Abrahamic religions is that they derive
their lineage from Abraham; believe in single God and single ‘book’.
In Abrahamic religions there is a prophet who has brought the
message of the almighty God to the human society. In contrast
Hinduism does not have such a prophet as it went on evolving over a
period of time and adding different traditions under its umbrella,
Vedic, post-Vedic, medieval and many contemporary ones. In Hinduism
the concept of supernatural power is very diverse, from Animism, to
polytheism, Monotheism to even atheism, all can come under the
spectrum of Hinduism. This also enables the interpreters to take
liberty and present their version as ‘the Hinduism’. In the complex
phenomenon of religion there are religious books, religious
institutions and religious practices, which need not be precisely
the same.
Religions have to be interpreted in the context of social situation
of the time. There is mention of peace and harmony in most of the
religions while one can also pick up the aspects related to violence
from their scriptures. This aspect of violence again depends on
interpretation. Same text is interpreted in different ways by
different commentators. The isolated examples of violence in
Abrahamic religions don’t make them preachers of violence and
terror, as terror and violence both are the products of social
situations, not religious doctrines. Many a times the rulers; kings,
cutting across different religions, have used the cover of religion
to expand their kingdoms, Crusade; Jihad and Dharmyudh. Surely the
wars unleashed by kings cannot be called as religious acts or
conforming to religions teachings in any way.
As such while on one hand Hinduism will talk of Vasudhaiv Kutumbkan,
(Whole World is a single family) on the other there is an in built
structural violence in the form of caste system, from Vedas to
Manusmriti. Many a Hindu Holy Seers defend caste system even today.
In Mahabharata Lord Krishna exhorts the hero, Arjuna, to take up
arms, commit violence, to do the ‘religious duty’; to fulfil
khstriya dharma (religiously ordained duty of a warrior) In Ramayana
Lord Ram kills Shambuk to save Hindu religion. Pushyamitra Shung
also did the massacre of Buddhists for saving Hinduism. Khap
Panchayats today are giving death fatwas for young couples, in the
name of religious-caste traditions. Girls are beaten up in Mangalore
pub again in the name of Hindu traditions. The mass violence
directed against minorities is instigated ‘to save’ the religious
communities, to save Hindu religion.
The practices of many followers of most of the religions need not be
exactly in accordance with the scriptures. In the same religion we
have people like Hitler and Nelson Mandela. In the same religion we
have people like Mahatma Gandhi and Nathuram Godse. In the same
religion we have Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and Osama bin Laden. To
think that any violence is due to religion is a totally misplaced
understanding of the religion and society.
Unfortunately in contemporary times US designs for controlling the
oil wealth has resulted in a politics which has resorted to the
cover of religion. It was in the US brainstorming centers that the
core words of Islam, Kafir and Jihad were given deliberate twist to
train the Al Qaeda for US goal of getting Russian army defeated in
Afghanistan. US media also coined and popularized the word, ‘Islamic
terrorism’ and it has become a part of the social thinking. To
associate religion and terror is surely one of the biggest crimes
against humanity. It is due to the popularization of the word
‘Islamic Terrorism’ that people started thinking of violence with
religious prefix. So naturally when one after the other terrorist
group, belonging to Hindu religion and inspired by the politics of
‘Hindu nation’ came to surface especially after the Malegaon blast,
some journalists and others started using the word Hindu terrorism,
and this also caught on.
This word is as much wrong as the word Islamic terrorism or
Christian terrorism. Christianity also talks of peace and the word
Islam stands for achieving peace by submission to Allah. One can say
that life of Gandhi has been the epitome of practiced Hindu values.
On the other hand people like Godse or Osama bin laden have
political goals and they have been presenting these political goals
in the language of religion. In the face of Sadhvi Pragya Singh
Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Swami Dayanand Pandey and
company, all those inspired by the agenda of Hindu Rashtra, the
temptation to call this terrorism as ‘Hindu terrorism’ has to be
resisted. Religion needs to be de-linked form politics and
terrorism; both.
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