BJP leader Yashwant Sinha is right in demanding that the suspected terrorists caught for the Malegaon attacks not be branded ‘Hindu terrorists’. As we all know, terrorism has no religion (‘Beyond religion’, October 26), but why is it then all right to talk of ‘Islamic terrorists’? You are correct in your analysis that the boot is on the other foot now. The same BJP which was using the threat of terrorism to suggest that all Muslims are unreliable and owe their allegiance to a larger Islam instead of to India do not now know what to do. This is the same party that wants to ban the SIMI but turns a blind eye to the terror unleashed by the Bajrang Dal. What is unfortunate is that the government has not been able to gather the guts, or the evidence, to conclusively prove this organisation’s complicity — hats off to the Maharashtra police in this context.
If the BJP leadership is to emerge gracefully from this, it must formally distance itself from those arrested, arguing that they will not disrupt the course of justice. They must introspect and see, as you have said, whether they are now comfortable with laws which can force confessions from those Hindus who have been arrested and then use them in a court of law.
If the BJP is going to make political capital of this instance, or the unlikely event of the Bajrang Dal being banned, there is absolutely no difference between it and the so-called secular parties it constantly makes fun of. If the country’s ‘secular’ politicians went to Jamia Nagar to express solidarity with the families of suspected terrorists and said the death of a brave policeman was a case of ‘friendly fire’ only so that they could get Muslim votes, how is the BJP going to show it is different? This is the time for leaders like LK Advani to stand up and be counted.
Anil Jain, New Delhi
Readers should write to:
The Editor, Business Standard,
Nehru House, 4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002,
Fax: (011) 23720201;
letters@bsmail.in
