Author: Pravin Togadia
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 6, 2002
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=10737
Bill Gates made a significant statement
some years ago when he said he would shift his empire to Singapore or Bangalore
if the American Government continued to needle him.
It indicated the important position
India has acquired on the world map. While Gates knows the true potential
of Indian people, it is a pity that Indian leaders are blind to it.
One factor that is single-handedly
throttling India's growth is Islamic jehad. A leadership that meets this
challenge, which has taken the lives of 70,000 civilians and 7,000 security
personnel in a decade, forced us to maintain more than five lakh paramilitary
and security forces and spend more than Rs 60,000 crore in the last one
decade, would have automatically paved India's way to all-round development.
Islamic terrorism has travelled
from Kashmir to Coimbatore, Mumbai and now to Akshardham, and is on its
way to our homes. The present day leadership cutting across political lines
is not only blind to this challenge, it is also belittling those who have
raised the question of a common civil code, all in the name of secularism.
No society can realise its full
potential without a clear vision about its cultural identity. India needs
a leadership, which would have the guts to either cure these madrassas
of the concepts of Darul-Islam, kafir and jehad or ban them.
Even in the Camp David Accord, Israel
had stressed on the same demand vis-a- vis madrassa education. What we
need today is a Bush Jr or an Ariel Sharon or a Chattrapati Shivaji who
will dismantle the jehadi network, dismember its patron, Pakistan, and
realise the aspirations of the majority community in a true democratic
spirit.
