New Indian Express 2013-05-04

Fight Islamic fundamentalism

While New Delhi is mired in the fallout of the coal scam and repeated incursions by China deep into the Indian territory, the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalists looms large on the rest of the country. Ironically, the threat is most pronounced in those parts of India which are under the sway of so-called “secular” parties; and BJP in such places is virtually non-existent. This dubious line-up is headed by the Kashmir Valley, followed by Kerala and West Bengal. Eclipsed by the Ponzi scheme collapse in West Bengal and the alleged close links of the cheat scheme’s perpetrators to the ruling Trinamool Congress, the emergence of the most dangerous trend in that state has escaped national attention. A recent news item in a prominent English daily reveals a campaign spread in rural West Bengal by certain Muslim organizations to “send back” US President Obama in case he comes to Kolkata, right from the airport itself. The report is based on a paper prepared by the security agencies and submitted to the state government. It specifies the Muslim organisations that have come together to achieve this anti-national aim. It lists the number of meetings held by a federal Muslim group that is bringing many disparate community organisations under its banner. The All Bengal Minority Youth Federation had displayed its clout when early this year it prevented author Salman Rushdie from landing in Kolkata. The key to its success was the influence minoritysm holds in the ruling Trinamool Congress which succumbed to this blackmail and caved in to the demand. Earlier, the Islamic fundamentalists had successfully hounded out celebrated author Taslima Nasreen from the state. Having tasted blood, this Minority Youth Federation is now widening its reach and prey. The report from the security agency lists 12 major Muslim organisations and over 25 other units as having been brought under a single umbrella. What should cause countrywide concern are two developments: one, all these groups were behind the Trinamool Congress — earlier the ruling Left Front was wooing the Muslim groups. Two years after the TMC came to power, these groups are pressing the regime to concede more ground to them despite Mamata Banerjee declaring many sops like providing salaries to the clerics from government treasury, extension of an Aligarh Muslim University campus in Bengal and boosting madarsa education. Each of these steps will encourage a divisive mindset and promote jehadi mentality. The second area of concern is the evident link of this federal organisation with anti-India forces in the neighbourhood. This body held a large rally in Kolkata’s Shahid Minar ground only a few days ago (March 26). What was their protest about: the police action in Dhaka against Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. And what were the Bangladeshi extremists protesting against? The trial of several leaders of the military coup that killed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and imposed a military regime. Living up to its past record, the “secular” media either did not report the aggressive demonstration or heavily underplayed it. That the Bangladeshi Jamaat is anti-Indian and is linked with the India-hating Begum Zia and her BNP is well known. During the regime of Begum Zia, Dhaka changed its original Constitution and made the newly liberated country an Islamic state from a secular one. The present regime of the Awami League under Sheikh Hasina has reverted the country to a secular Constitution and firmed up democratic provisions. It has brought the perpetrators of the series of murders in 1975 that ended democracy in the country to trial. People have held huge rallies calling for death to the perpetrators. That Sheikh Hasina’s regime is the friendliest among the Bangladeshi parties to India is also evident. So when the so-called Muslim Federation in West Bengal rallies to support the Jamaat in the neighbouring country, the direction of this Muslim outfit against India is evident. That all these reports are largely true is brought out by the admission of the Trinamool leaders themselves, conceding that the outfit has become a huge pressure group faced by the regime in Kolkata. Among the many rallies this group has organised is one aimed at the American Center in the state capital to protest a private film in America that was considered anti-Islam. Over 20,000 people attended the rally, which exposes how quickly the so-called federation has grown under the patronage of both the Left Front and TMC. The Muslim federation protesting against the Bangladeshi government taking action against the country’s extremists, and the Muslim group here using the hypothetical Obama visit to garner emotional response against Kolkata and New Delhi clearly should ring the tocsin in political and government circles. Targeting the hypothetical visit of Obama to Kolkata is only symbolic. Islamic extremism is actually demanding more. These outright anti-nationals have the confidence to put forward such demands because of the encouragement they receive from the “secular” parties and a section of the media. Rushdie cannot visit his country of origin because of this extremism. Films even mildly critical of some socio-political stands cannot be exhibited. Now you cannot even invite the President of the United States without their concurrence. But that is not the only aspect. By spreading a hate US President campaign, this element serves its foreign masters perfectly well. Strong Indo-US relations are critical to India’s global destiny. India receives technology, capital from the US and that is strengthening Indian economy. Almost 80 per cent of its 60 billion US-dollar software export is to the US. Recently, there was a report from Kerala that the state police had captured an arms training camp in Kannur district where 21 young Muslims, mostly students, were being trained in use of various arms, both firearms and local weapons by the Popular Front. The front has been carrying on its activities so freely because Kerala’s two main political forces, the UDF and LDF, have been competing in bending over backwards to please Islamic extremists like Madhani who the Bangalore police finally dared to arrest. BJP, since Independence, has never got representation in the state Assembly. India’s weakness in dealing with Islamic extremism, which is global and aims at bringing the world under its Sharia rule of clerics, is that parties like Congress, the Left, SP, BSP and TMC are already genuflecting to an Islamic extremist minority.