Author: Swapan Dasgupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 20, 2006
For the past week, the Government and intelligentsia
of India have been wallowing in an unseemly bout of self-congratulation. The
much-feared terrorist attacks on Independence Day and Janmasthami did not
materialise; the US and British advisory to its citizens in India turned out
to be misplaced; and there was no visible backlash after the terrible Mumbai
blasts of July 11. The results of an exhaustive opinion poll, suggesting that
the support for the UPA is at an all-time high, also bolstered this enhanced
comfort level. Internationally too, India wallowed in the praise lavished
on its people by The Times (London) for being "majestic in their moderation."
At a time when security in Western airports
remain edgy over what has been quaintly described as "travelling whilst
Asian", it is great to be singled out for restraint and moderation. Ruing
the possible end of duty-free shopping, a friend still managed to look on
the bright side of life. At least, he announced loftily, pointing to a land
mass west of Amritsar, "We are not like them."
That's a truism that hardly warrants reiteration.
In 59 years, India has evolved and the others have regressed. While our neighbours
are increasingly enthralled by the certitudes of medievalism, India has engaged
with the modernity. There is an Indian identity and an Indian way of doing
things which, despite their monumental imperfections, distinguish us from
the people next door. Our avowed commitment to universalism is quite decisively
national.
For the moment we have successfully resisted
the temptation of being blown off our feet by the tsunami of hatred that has
been unleashed from the West. Despite the arrests of real and potential subversives
committed to waging jihad against the tenets of our nationhood, there is no
widespread feeling that Indian Muslims have somehow gone over to the side
of the fanatics. The belief that problems can be resolved within the parameters
of competitive democratic politics is still not entirely discredited.
Yet, there are underlying tensions which have
been wilfully skirted by the political class and the opinion-makers. We can
ignore these early warnings at our own peril.
First, the opinion polls reveal that there
is a monumental pent-up anger, in urban India at least, at our collective
inability to thrash the terrorists - whether they happen to be foreign paratroopers
or home grown deviants. That this has not manifested itself immediately in
voting preferences has more to do with the waning credibility of the Opposition
than confidence in the Government.
Second, there has been a complete erosion
of faith in the ability of the State to mete out justice to those who kill
and maim innocent Indians. Those who heard the comments of ordinary Mumbaikars
after the TADA court delayed the 1993 Mumbai blasts judgment would have been
struck by the popular exasperation with the niceties of law. The panic-stricken
response to Raj Thackeray's warning to lawyers to stay away from defending
those involved in the July 11 blasts is very revealing.
Finally, the leadership of the Muslim community
hasn't exactly endeared itself to the rest of the country by its persistent
policy of denial. By glossing over the increasing radicalisation of young
Muslims, indeed justifying the drift with pan-Islamic and anti-American invocations,
it is conveying the impression of being soft on terrorism. What, people are
beginning to ask, have the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon got to do
with us? Why, they ask, hasn't the Government shut down madarsas that serve
as the antechambers of Islamism? The belligerent protests against police interrogations,
which have resulted in some Muslim ghettos becoming no-go areas for the authorities,
are helping establish new sectarian faultlines which may end up nullifying
India's much-acclaimed majestic moderation.
The entire focus of the Government is on preventing
Muslim "alienation", a position that ignores the ideological dimensions
of Islamist terrorism. It is time to spare a thought to the mounting anger
of those who have neither panicked nor yielded to terror: The Indian who is
first and foremost an Indian.