Active Visitors: 172 Total Hits: 17416305 Since June, 2007
“Saffron Bandits”
Sultan M Hali
Saffron Bandits is the code name of an exercise conducted by Pakistan
Air Force in the nineties to whet, hone and test the skills and
capabilities of its fighter pilots. The name has a different connotation
today in view of the advent of terrorism being meted out by our eastern
neighbour. It is a phenomenon which would have serious consequences if
not checked firmly at this stage. The connections and events leading up
to the unearthing of what the Maharashtra police believe is a
well-ramified network of Hindutva-inspired terrorists cutting across
different states, and responsible for the September bombings in Malegaon,
could not have been more surreal. It’s as if all the authors who
originally scripted Hindutva more than 75 years ago had suddenly come
alive as the main actors in the drama being enacted today through the
shadowy institutions they established and the individuals they inspired.
‘Sadhvi’ Pragya Thakur, Sameer Kulkarni, Major Ramesh Upadhye and
Lieutenat Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit are in a sense surrogate
representations of the spirits of the founders of the Hindu Rashtra
ideology.
Indian Army officer’s deepening involvements in terrorism. It is being
further investigated that the Indian Army officer may have been involved
in the bomb blasts on board the Samjhota Express. There has been a fresh
wave of allegations of forgery and cheating against Serving Indian Army
Officer Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit. The Malegaon blast
suspect’s name came up in another independent investigation, an Indian
Website reported on Wednesday. The Mumbai police had arrested Sudhakar
Chaturvedi, an activist of Abhinav Bharat, for illegally possessing a
military ID card, a pistol and live rounds. On interrogation, he was
found to be a close associate of Purohit. Sustained questioning and
tests revealed that the military identity card he possessed was
allegedly fraudulently procured by Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Prasad
Purohit. The ID-card gave 37-year-old Chaturvedi complete access to the
army base in Deolali. His designation on the ID was that of a sepoy.
Chaturvedi reportedly confessed that his role was to keep track of
day-to-day developments in the Deolali camp. He had also reportedly
attended meetings with the Malegaon blast accused held in Bhopal, Pune
and in Gujarat. He was also reportedly present at the meeting held in
the Bhonsala Military School campus and also the one at Panchmarhi in
2008. Stamp of Hindutva. Thus, Abhinav Bharat (AB), created a century
ago by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the inventor-author of ‘Hindutva’
(1923), has been resurrected through Kulkarni and others who want to
settle scores with the Muslims who apparently continue to ‘perpetrate
atrocities’ upon Hindus — by creating an ‘armed’ India and burying Hindu
sahishnuvad (tolerance) through aggressive ethno-religious nationalism.
In Tamil Nadu, the police claimed the hands of Hindu extremist outfit
responsible for Tenkasi blast. The Modasa blast in Gujarat on September
29 was also the handiwork of Hindu extremist group. Five persons were
killed in Malegaon blast and in Modasa one person lost his life. In both
the incidents, bombs were placed on motor cycles parked in crowded
areas. The motor cycle used in Malegaon blast belonged to the Sadhvi.
Earlier two persons lost their lives while making bombs in Kanpur. It
transpired that the victims belonged to Bajrang Dal. These incidents
confirm that some members of ABVP, VHP and Bajrang Dal have turned
extremists and they have been carrying on terrorist activities.
Hindutva is not nationalism, but majoritarianism of the same kind that
inspired classical fascism. Hindutva-inspired extremists are no more
legitimate than jihadi militants. Indeed, saffron terrorism is in a way
more pernicious because it privileges prejudices within a numerically
large religious community over the Constitutional tenet of secularism.
Let us examine a few other recent cases of saffron terrorism.
Carnage of Christians at Orissa. “Secular” India has given further
evidence of its “tolerance” and “secularism” by conducting a planned and
well organized massacre of its Christian community. In a repeat of the
2002 Gujarat carnage, when more than 3,000 Muslims, also a minority at
risk in India, fell victim to the violence of Hindu extremists, this
time, the Christian society of Orissa has been targeted. The recent
bloodbath unfolded in the wake of the assassination of radical Hindu
leader Swami Laxanananda on August 23, 2008. Extremist Hindu radicals
blamed the Christian community for the murder, although the Christian
leaders denied the charge. Radical Hindus retaliated by burning the
Christian alive, raping the nuns and razing the churches.
Hindu rioters burn Muslims alive in Andhra Pradesh. Rioters in southern
India killed six members of a Muslim family by setting fire to their
home after earlier clashes between Hindus and Muslims left four others
dead and 15 injured in the same village; three children, including a
2-year-old, were among the six burned to death on October 12, 2008.
Communal upsurge in Assam. The upsurge in violence in Assam is planned
ethnic cleansing, with a plot to change the demography of the state by
conducting orchestrated genocide of the Muslims. In recent months the
violence has taken more than forty lives in bomb blasts and other
incidents of terrorism.
Fake encounters. Various cases of fake encounter have been reported in
which officials of the Indian Army have staged clashes with “militants”.
In a recent case, according to the Indian media, the people of Chilli
village in Gandoh tehsil, Doda district came out on the streets blaming
the Indian Army for killing a surrendered alleged freedom fighter in a
fake encounter. Villagers alleged that Mohammad Aslam Malik, who had
surrendered before the Rashtriya Rifles on August 4, 2008, was killed by
the Army on September 15, 2008. Following protests by the people, the
Doda police registered an FIR against a Major and Jawans of the 26
Rashtriya Rifles for killing the “surrendered militant”.
Moral turpitude. Indian Army has been involved in various scandals,
which would shame even the worst perpetrators of terrorism. Rape,
prostitution, indulging in the flesh trade have been the halmarks of the
Saffron Bandits even when serving abroad on UN Missions. In a recent
case, highlighted by the Indian media, ten Indian soldiers were found
involved in a sex-for-cash scandal during their deployment in the
Democratic Republic of Congo on UN Peacekeeping Mission.
The Indian Brigade at North Kivu has gathered evidence to prove that its
peacekeepers abused the sanctity oftheir mercy mission and used children
to hire Congolese girls for sex in Masisi. The Brigade Commander
Brigadier Bipin Rawat has stated that “initial findings confirm their
involvement.” The Saffron Brigade must be stopped in their tracks,
before they set the entire region ablaze with their lust for terror.
