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The tragedy of Mumbai 26/11 was one
of the worst terror attacks in recent history in more ways than
one. Apart from many other aspects of the tragedy one accompanying
fact was the death of Hemant Karkare, who was investigating into
Malegaon bomb blast. His death was preceded by many a threats to
his life from various quarters, Maharashtra Government had the
reports about these threats. Since then the death of this upright
police officer has become a contentious issue. Anybody raising
questions about it is outright dubbed anti Hindu, anti-national,
pro-Pakistan, a convenient decoy for those trying to hide the
mountain of truth behind this tragedy.
That’s precisely what happened when Congress General Secretary
Digvijay Singh stated that Karkare was under tremendous pressure
from Hindu right wing groups and that Singh had a talk with
Karkare on the evening prior to Karkare’s death (December 2010).
With this statement of his a hell broke loose and section of media
tried to project as if Digvijay Singh’s statement is not true as
Karkare was busy in such and such meetings. Now that does not cut
much ice in today’s times when people are eared to the mobiles,
and few minutes of conversation between meetings or during
meetings is not a big deal.
Mr Singh also gave the Bhopal BSNL the number from which he had
talked to Karkare but since the conversation took place over two
years earlier, the record could not be traced as BSNL does not
keep records beyond one year. Mr. Singh also showed the cuttings
of papers which had carried this news at some time ago.
But is it the first time that we are coming to know that Karkare
was under immense pressure from the people who were being
investigated? Apart from Mr. Singh’s statement there had been
media reports about leaders of Shiv Sena and BJP raising doubts
about his integrity. The Shiv Sena’s Saamana had launched a sort
of character assassination of this officer, it went to the extent
of saying that they spit on Karkar’s face. Narendra Modi called
him deshdrohi. The hypocrisy of both streams became clear after
the murder of Karkare. Karkare was called a martyr by these
communal parties and Narebdra Modi even offered Rs 1 crore to the
widow of the slain Karkare, which she refused to accept.
None other than Lal Krishna Advani went to the Prime Minister to
complain about the torture of Pragya Singh Thakur and demanded for
investigation of Thakur’s torture. This was a direct insinuation
into the work of Karkare, who was so intimidated by this gang that
he sought solace and advice from the senior police officer of the
stature and integrity of Julio Reibeiro. Reibiero in his obituary
(Times of India28th Nov 2010) confirmed that Karkare was being
harassed and intimidated by the associates of Advani-Modi.
Reibeiro advised the junior colleague to carry on with his work
irrespective of the pressures. "He came to me because he was
looking for someone to hold his hand," Ribeiro told IANS on phone
from Mumbai while stressing that Karkare was not a man to be
politically influenced.
"He… was more bothered about the BJP, which had well-oiled
propaganda machinery and was running a concerted campaign against
him that he had filed false cases against Pragnya Thakur and
others" said Reibeiro.
By now many a skeletons have tumbled out of the secrecy of Sangh
Parivar and starting from Pragya Singh Thakur to the top leaders
Indresh Kumar and Swami Assemanand’s role in Ajmer, Mecca masjid
blast and many other blasts is being investigated. One recalls
that the large section of media has been quiet on this issue and
starting form Nanded April 2006 blast in the house of a RSS worker
Rajkondawar, these news items are either ignored or underplayed.
We have seen banner headlines after some blasts proclaiming so
called Jehadi groups to be behind the blasts. As the matters turn
other barring the 26/11 case where Pakistan based Al Qaeda
offshoot is involved, most of the cases which took place were the
handiwork of the likes of Thakur, Indresh Kumar and Swami
Assemanand, which had roped in a section of military officers like
Lt. Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit.
Those activists who had been trying to raise these uncomfortable
questions were bypassed, ignored or the convenient label of being
pro-Pakistan was put on them. Even the Indian National Congress as
a whole does not seem to be ready to stand up to the truth and has
distanced itself from the statements of Mr. Singh now and earlier
with Mr. Antulay in the aftermath of 26/11. Antulay had also
pointed out that there may be a terrorism plus something else due
to which Karkare got killed.
It seems the common perceptions in society have been so cultivated
that to dub a SIMI or some Al Qaeda outfit finds easy acceptance
and some scapegoats have been created, around which the social
perceptions and police attitude and political opinions are based.
There are infinite examples globally and locally where the
manufactured perceptions dominate and rule the attitude of the
state authorities. The case of Kennedy murder, now the 9/11 2001
and in our case the blasts like Mecca Masjid, Malegaon, Ajmer and
even Samjhauta express are there for us to introspect. What is
needed is a forthright investigation and punishing the guilty
irrespective of their religion. Dubbing those raising the
questions as pro-Pakistan, defy all the logic. True there are
terror groups based on the soil of Pakistan, terror groups which
were the product of US policy of fighting Russian army through the
indoctrinated Muslim youth under the leadership of Osama bin
Laden, himself a product of US policies. But that does not absolve
the likes of Pragya Singh Thakur, Swami Aseemanand and company
from their black deeds.
The other major propaganda has been that if you criticize these
Hindutva terrorists, you are against Hindus and Hinduism. This is
a deliberate projection to create a wall of confusion to hide the
real culprits. While criticizing these terrorists nobody is
criticizing Hindus or Hinduism. Such formulations have been
manufactured to protect the guilty and those creating these
formulations need to introspect rather than beating their breasts
to hide the truth. Mr Digvijay Singh is right when he says, “If I
point out that Karkare was under threat from Hindu fundamentalist
organizations, I am accused of being anti-national and
pro-Pakistan. However, if a former Union home minister and the
shadow prime minister doubts the integrity of a police officer
like Karkare, and demands a judicial probe into the ATS action
against Pragya Thakur, he is a nationalist!”
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