Religion vs Terrorism- 3 hard questions to the Doves

When can we finally settle the religion vs terrorism debate? Why can’t we accept that most of the terrorist attacks in India are backed by Jihadis?

It’s good to be nice at times but if you stay nice for too long, you end up being a dead duck.

Ever seen a dove? In Hindi, it’s called ‘फाख्ता ‘ or Phakhta. I am bringing this ‘cute’ bird up in this post because of its gentle nature. It refuses to acknowledge danger even when the hungry cat is moving toward it. The bird is not blind that it cannot sense danger; it simply refuses to admit that there is peril just a few meters away.

And by the time this gentle bird tries to fly away from the hungry cat, it is too late.

The dumb Phakhta and the religion vs terrorism debate

Us Hindus too are like the Phakhta. We are too smug, too complacent in our daily lives to admit that there is a clear and present danger to our identity. Deep down we know that we are being swamped by the adversary in many ways- terrorist attacks, population explosion, love jihad, etc but we refuse to sit up and take notice. After 72 years of our existence as a free country, we still swear by secular mumbo jumbo. Sometimes, I wonder what’s happened to our thought processes. It seems our DNA has been fundamentally altered; we refuse to draw the right lessons from Partition, the Kashmiri Pandit exodus, the silent infiltration from our eastern borders and the incessant bombings that claim only one kind of victims- Hindus.

Broadly, the Hindu society can be divided into three-

1) those who are clear that terrorism and religion are interlinked

2) those who swear by secularism and renounce any connection between the two

3) and, finally those who are young and have grown up belonging in the fundamental goodness of humanity.

The last part is the Phakhtas or the doves; they believe that all the guys in this universe are ultimately good and there is a handful among them who go about shooting people and hurling bombs.

Questions, Questions and more Questions

Dear Phakhtas, here is a set of questions that you may like to ponder upon:

Partition of India- Our present-day country is a direct product of religion-inspired terrorism. You would do well to read about Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s call for Direct Action. Unless Gandhi and the rest of Congress accepted his demand for Pakistan, he would not stop his murder and mayhem.

Jinnah’s victims were unarmed Hindus who were committed to the idea of a unified India. Mind you, Jinnah wanted a country exclusively for Muslims because, according to him, they and Hindus could never live together. And this is how Pakistan came into being…after slaughtering millions of Hindus.

If this is not religion-inspired terrorism, then what else is, pray, tell me?

Also read- Two Nations-The philosophy of Muslim Nationalism

A blood-spattered Valley

We had more or less reconciled to Partition but the beast of religious terrorism would never leave us alone. Four decades and three years after we had taken birth as a bloodied nation, Hindus yet again became the victims of religion-inspired terrorism. This time, the focus of hate and violence was the Pandit community.

All the Kauls, Pandits and other Kashmiri Hindus were chased away from the valley by the adherents of the Abrahamic faith. And we all know the name of the faith. Had we addressed the religion v/s terrorism debate in 1947 itself, Kashmir would have been a happier place.

Religion and Terrorism are twins

Since the 1990s, Kashmir has become a prime example of how religion and terrorism work together as devilish partners. In 1950, that part of India became off-limits to other Indians because Kashmiris, by and large, were Muslim. No non-Kashmiri (read Hindus) could buy property in that territory. Article 370, in fact, gave legitimacy to the special status of the adherents of Islam in a particular part of the country.

Also read- A departure from history- Kashmiri Pandits( 1990-2001)

And the net result?

Also read- Muslim terrorists attack India police forces in Pulwama

Today, the Indian army is battling heavy odds while dealing with terrorism in the Valley. Every year, we lose 120+ brave hearts to stone pelters and suicide bombers in Kashmir. Now, if after reading all this you still refuse to see a religious angle to terrorism in India, then words fail me.

That a particular religion has been terrorizing India for the past several hundred years is evident after reading the history of the country.

Also read- An Islamic group carries out bomb attacks in Sri Lanka

History revisited

Where do you think have all the ancient temples gone in North India?

We are supposed to be an ancient civilization, right? So how come, there are no medieval temples in the cities of Delhi, Lahore, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Patna, etc? Did those structures simply vanish into thin air? Or were they swallowed by Mother Earth? Hope, you get the point.

I could have rambled on and on to belabor my point, but I feel that by now, you understand my position. Terrorism and religion are interconnected and there is no way you can avoid this plain and simple truth. It’s time we settled the religion vs terrorism debate once and for all.