Author: Editorial
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: August 3, 2007
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Race_to_the_bottom/articleshow/2251888.cms
Introduction: Mainstream Parties Must Shun
Madani
Abdul Naser Madani's acquittal in the Coimbatore
serial blasts case has reportedly triggered a race between the Left Democratic
Front (LDF) and the Congress-helmed United Democratic Front (UDF) to welcome
the founder of Muslim fundamentalist People's Democratic Party (PDP) to Thiruvananthapuram.
That is nauseating. True, Madani has been found not guilty of complicity in
the blasts. But there is no doubt that his incendiary and vengeful politics
has served to sustain and reinforce radical Islamist and communal sentiments
in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The fact that such sentiments have been exploited
by militant organisations such as Al-Umma - in the instant case, to draw recruits
and other forms of support in planning and executing the blasts - cannot be
overstated. And the vigour with which the LDF and UDF have been wooing Madani,
obviously for electoral gains, has only served to confer an entirely undesirable
legitimacy on his retrograde politics. That, unfortunately, underscores the
complete bankruptcy of Left-liberal politics. Such bankruptcy could hasten
the eclipse of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a traditional UDF constituent
and the political voice of moderate Kerala Muslims. The corruption rampant
in its rank and file has already undermined its support-base quite a bit.
The ease with which Islamist terrorist groups
have carried out operations like the Coimbatore blasts - which were meant
to 'avenge' the victims of anti-Muslim riots engineered by Hindu fundamentalist
groups - must be attributed to a preponderant sentiment of mistrust among
Muslims for the secular-democratic mainstream. That is disturbing because
such steady erosion of legitimacy of our institutions is dangerous. And identity
politics has only accentuated the erosion of legitimacy. The victims of Hindu
communalism must surely be mobilised to combat its revanchist politics. Such
politics would, however, be effective only when it locates Hindu communalism
in a public culture and society fraught with traditional hierarchies of caste
and community, and seeks to transform them.
