The Indian Mujahideen – the Answer to Bjp’s Pseudo-secularist Fascism or a New Method to Spread Unrest?

How many more lives will be lost?


The recent blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad have brought into focus the very potent terror network that exists in India unbeknownst to Indian intelligence agencies and the government.

The responsibility of the blasts was claimed by a group which goes by the name The Indian Mujahideen (The Indian Holy Warriors of Islam). They have not only claimed responsibility for the bombings but had also sent a warning e-mail about the attacks to various news and media houses (referring specifically to the Ahmedabad bombings). As usual the Indian Intelligence or police have no clue who is responsible so the press is inundated with unconfirmed sources and reports in the Intelligence Bureau about suspecting a foreign hand, Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HUJI) from Bangladesh, LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba, also the all time favourites apart from Kashmir where the Hizb-ul Mujahideen are always responsible) and of course the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). When will they get to actual investigation and not media play God also does not know.

According to the e-mails the Hindu fundamentalist groups of India namely the RSS (Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh or the Sangh Parivar) and the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishat) are being punished for their activities of conspiring to kill Indian muslims. Now there are few doubts about these organisations being the backbone of the Hindu nationalist (feels slightly odd not referring to them as fundamentalist party also but democracy is being given a chance) party the BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party). So it is little wonder that two BJP led states faced the bombings. One, the newly elected BJP government in Karnataka, and the other Gujrat, where Narendra Modi and the Gujrat riots are way too fresh in the people’s minds, something meant for Narendra Modi and L.K Advani killed another set of mostly innocent bystanders (the people affected were included Hindu’s and Muslims). Bangalore is also the IT capital of India and Ahmedabad (and Gujrat) has the most affluent set of businessmen the country has produced (diamonds, oil, stock market most of the hard cash around India is routed from here).

The BJP is probably the epitome of pseudo-secularism in the garb of democracy (while actively promoting Hindu fascism), and that is probably has many members (especially Muslims of India and abroad) agitated, the list does not end at one religion though. The Bajrang Dal (the youth wing of the BJP) is responsible for instigating violence among many localities with mixed religions across the country with the intention of causing harm and promoting an air of mistrust among Hindus and Muslims, before I forget Christians (the murder of Graham Staines being a good example).

Unfortunately for many poor, young Hindu youth in Gujrat growing up in the propaganda of the VHP, RSS with the blessings of the BJP government have created a good base for state sponsored fascism with an active supply of youth. Most of the youth working as party cadres are unemployed youth picked up by other members to do something constructive, like stop the Hindu religion from being ambushed by the Christians and the Muslims (which the Bajrang Dal claims has been a historical occurrence from the Muslim king to British Imperialism). Most of the youth are given a stipend to carry out party activities (basically genterating hatred towards Muslims everywhere using propaganda about everything from the burning of the Sabarmati Express to Ayodhya, even 9/11 with a sprinkle of Pakistan and Islamic terrorism is thrown in for good measure). All these efforts culminated towards the two most heinous crimes against the people of India (most of who were unfortunately Muslims) with the Babri Masjid demolition and the Godhra riots in Gujrat. These may also be seen to serve a greater purpose other than just mindless violence as these are very conscious efforts to ghettoise the Muslim population in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat and Maharashtra. In a sense they have greatly succeeded in polarising the Muslim community in these states and forcing them to adopt a different culture and abandoning the indigenous culture which has been created with centuries of linving together in the same place.

For all these hapless youth who are lured towards a life of fascist hatred in the name of serving the religion there is a very misconstrued sense of history created by saying that the Muslims and Christians have damaged the Hindu religion and the land of the Hindus. I wonder what they are talking about. Is this the Dravidian land of the Hindus or the Indo-Aryan Hindu land of Hindus? When these fundamentalist Hindu forces neither refuse to acknowledge Hindus ate beef as a regular meal nor prove that theory wrong, the claim for the Hindu land is a little far fetched. For all the Muslim bashing Praveen Togadia (General Secretary of the VHP a.k.a Fascist Number 1) has indulged in against the fundamentalist propaganda and religious conversions propagated by those Muslims (VHP and RSS often refer to other religions as them, like referring to a dreaded disease or the taxman) these very organisations use the same methods in different ways and get them validated by using the BJP to make it seem like a quasi –government authority. What is being practiced is the philosophy of hatred in the name of God at both campaigns against the people. I mean for all the efforts put in by these leaders, may it be Hindu or Muslim, the casualties are people on the street (who probably care more from where the next meal in going to come rather than which religious ideology to subscribe to). The result of all this though is that the Hindus and Muslims do not trust each other in spite of sharing a cultural background (forced or otherwise) during the near 900 years of Muslim rule over India.

The Indian Muslim (and our many Pakistani counterparts) have a unique identity (though many will disagree) and a rich heritage which has contributed generously the arts, architecture and societal functions in general across the subcontinent. Near nine centuries of living together has created many platforms for debate and has had a significant effect on the way religion is perceived in these vast and diverse lands. Though in the midst of all of this the cultural effect of the subcontinent on the various religions practiced here is explained as the non-Islamic and non-Hindu influences on the religion. As the Catholic Church and Pope in the Dark ages led to the birth of Protestantism so did the rise of Buddhism over the casteist Hindu high priests of that time, such events also had a cultural effect on the way Hinduism was understood. Not to forget the Bhakti movement which saw some of the greatest minds of both religions come together to practice Sufism and a common place of worship in the form of Dargahs (a new religion born out of the conglomeration of different cultures). Ruskhan writing couplets in praise of Krishna or Kabir propagating religious harmony through spirituality are some examples of that time (this is attributed more to the un-Islamic influence of the Hindus of Hindustan than the mix of cultures).

Nonetheless even this difference is unacceptable to the builders of the Hindu Rashtra and the subscribers to the Manusmriti (which ironically propagates the superiority of the caste system and is misogynist to say the least). There in lies the problem with the extreme right wing policies and right wing activists being practiced by these organisations in India, creating a hatred for Muslims and desecrating the culture (a generous mix of many) and grinding it to a pulp. Unfortunately these happen to be in the name of God, Hindus are second class citizens in Pakistan and there is no room for pseudo-secularism which makes the stand of the official state clear. This is not the case in India as Muslims have equal rights (and even a personal law board to adhere to religious sentiments) though this has seldom happened in matters related to Muslims versus the BJP government. So in order to survive in India a Muslim also has to be pseudo-secularist like the BJP members often are (how does one expect a impartial outlook towards any religion when indoctrinated with fascist beliefs as a part of religion all through life).

No wonder the Indian Mujahideen is operating in India against the RSS, VHP and the BJP’s fascist forces. The situation in India is akin to that of Nazi Germany as many a scholar has remarked when faced with the prospect of BJP led governments. What is happening in this fight though, is that the obvious culprits Narendra Modi (and the followers and propagators of his policy) along with L.K Advani get Z-Plus category security cover and unsurpassed political mileage to spread their philosophy of hatred along with their fascist policies but the people who suffer are the people of a nation who are paying dearly for all the mistrust. To quote Omar Abdullah in the Indian Parliament “The problem is poverty, lack of food and employment.”


Let the BJP first prove they care about anything other than hatred before propagating stricter laws against terrorism (read Muslim harassment legislation's). This is not the United States or Christian Europe where slogans like “All Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims” will work like a charm as the cultures are too intertwined to separate that easily on the name of religion. Though a partial amount of success has been achieved as there are forced cultural differences being created (like Urdu for the Muslims and Hindi for the Hindus, when Hindi as a pure language did not exist more than 70 years ago, it was all Hindustani a mix of Urdu, Hindi and Persian) lo and behold fascism has arrived. The choice is simple either the fascism is stopped or better bomb squads patrol and defuse bombs in every inhabitable inch.

ProVFX Visual Effects and Editing School has been written by Pranay Rupani who is a Freelance Writer