The Myth of Saffron Terror

Former Kerala Addl. Chief Secretary CV Ananda Bose writes, "Searching for saffron terror in the country has proved to be as futile as searching in the dark a black cat which is not there"

Dr C V Ananda Bose





Two wrongs, even if they are mutually opposed, will never constitute one right. Whitewashing a heinous crime through ruses and stratagems will never be ethical. India has been witnessing this game of robbing Peter to pay Paul in the senseless pursuit of transient achievements in the dicey game of politics.

Terrorism has been an abhorrent word and deed all over the world. But trying to contain terrorism through surreptitious means is as much despicable as terrorism itself. Worse so when terrorism is sought to be countered with concocted tales of illusory terrorism for political expediency.

The acquittal of the prime accused in the so called saffron terror in the country by the learned Special judge, K. Ravinder Reddy of the NIA court in Hyderabad has thrown up a number of issues which should demand a critical scrutiny of right thinking men who have the interest of India at the core of their concerns. ‘Saffron terror’ has proved to be a figment of the imagination of those who try to use the hellish reality of terrorism to tarnish the image of the political opponents and gain undue mileage. This is nothing but the favourite game of fishing in troubled waters.

The horrendous face of ‘saffron terror’ in India has been projected through the ill famous Malegaon incident, Samjhauta Express incident, Ajmer dargah bomb blast and by the Mecca masjid episode in Hyderabad. In all these dastardly incidents the Hindu outfits were projected as the villain of the piece.

Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit in Malegaon blast and Swami Aseemanand in the Samjhauta Express, Aligarh dargah and Mecca masjid incidents became the ugly faces of the evil brigade. Lot of vitriol was poured over the Sangh Parivar for destroying the communal harmony of a secular nation.

Evidence after evidence, including ‘confessional statements’, by the accused became grist to the grinding mill and the press and the electronic media spared no efforts to position the saffron outfits as traitors to the nation and advocates of expropriation of the opponents. The nation was in a shock and right thinking citizens were confused. To catch a thief you set a thief, is traditional wisdom. But here is a nonexistent thief created to catch the real thief.

Searching for saffron terror in the country has proved to be as futile as searching in the dark a black cat which is not there. The judiciary has come to establish the hollowness of the so called saffron terror. In the verdict on the explosive Mecca Masjid case, the prime accused Aseemanand and all the other accused have been acquitted by the court.

This has been done after protracted trials. The court has arrived at a decision and passed its judgment after the due process of law going through the rigmarole of judicial procedure meticulously and to the satisfaction of all concerned. Here is the prime accused Aseemanand, projected as a diehard RSS man who took to terrorism to counter the avalanche of Muslim terror. Now in the light of the present judgment Aseemanand seems to be more sinned against than sinning. The court verdict has turned a media made Iago into a veritable Imogen. What a travesty of truth by the political parties who tried to create the myth of saffron terror instead of condemning the real terror. Here is a wily move to legitimise terror by projecting a countervailing terror threat which really does not exist.

There is a so called confession by Aseemanand before the magistrate. Aseemanand is said to have confessed that he was responsible for the blast in Mecca masjid which resulted in the loss of nine precious lives and wounding fifty eight persons. There was also a police firing in the aftermath of the riots which ensued the explosion, in which five innocents were killed. But the court has established beyond doubt that the so called confessional statement made by Aseemanand was made under duress.

There is also this unkindest cut of all in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The then central cabinet minister P. Chidambaram is reported to have signed the affidavit to be filed before the court that the accused the Ishrat Jahan was an agent of the Lashkar-e-Taiba of Pakistan. The Gujarat government had solid and reliable information from the Intelligence Bureau that a Lashkar- e - Taiba module was actively trying to liquidate the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. The assailants were killed in an encounter. But due to some political chicanery the original affidavit was changed. The association of Ishrat Jahan with the terrorist organisation across the border was totally blacked out and an orchestrated terrorist act was watered down by planting the story of a fake encounter.

Public memory may be short, but records still show that the United States specified Arif Qasmani, a Pakistani national to be the chief coordinator of the Samjhauta Express bombings, and declared him as an international terrorist through the United Nations. It is also relevant that the NIA has given a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in the in the Malegaon blast, Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit has been released by the Supreme Court after nine years of incarceration.

Politics may be the last refuge of a scoundrel. But even in the scoundrel’s game there should be a method in the madness. Here is a national party, which ruled this country for more than six decades, stooping to the level of a Lucifer to destroy the paradise that was offered to the secular nation by its constitution.

What a great fall it is, my countrymen. The desperate Congress gives the appearance of a pack of ill-advised individuals, a crowd, where ‘the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity’. For the short term gain of tarnishing the reputation of a popular government voted to power by a thumping majority they bring in the illusion of saffron terror. This is nothing but political and intellectual terror unleashed on a government which is of the people, by the people and certainly for the people.

Look at the horrid traditions of the Congress party. They have often tried to muzzle the constitutional institutions of the country. They did try to put the judiciary in tethers in the background of the momentous Allahabad High court judgment which disqualified Mrs. Indira Gandhi to hold the office of the Prime Minister. When the Congress found that the Indian judiciary upheld truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth they were hurt as their experiments with untruth got a beating. The judiciary’s honour was trampled upon, Constitution was defaced and we had the ghastly spectacle of the Emergency in independent India.

What for? Not for the benefit of the people, not for the welfare of the nation, but for the political aggrandizement of a power hungry descendent of a power hungry dynasty. Indira Gandhi wanted to cling to power and the Indian Constitution was thrown to winds. Of course the Constitution of India which, we the people of India gave to ourselves stood the test of time. The people’s will, shall prevail over the dastardly attacks on democratic propriety. Now, when the judiciary takes a stand which is against their narrow political interests, they try to run down the judicial process and established systems of governance.

This is a massacre of democracy. We have not inherited this country from our forefathers, we have borrowed it from our children. The Congress party forgets that their obsession of dynastic succession takes away the opportunities of the coming generation. The policies of the Congress party have ensured that this generation is a lost generation and their style of functioning points to the shocking scenario where the coming generation will be a damned generation.

Saffron terror is the new ploy they have invented for kidding with the democracy. The specter of saffron terror has been exposed by the judiciary as hollow.

It has turned out as illusory as the rabbit created by a magician from his hat. When people elect their government through democratic process it is expected that everyone respects the will of the people. We have a governance philosophy which teaches us, ‘Bahujan sukhaya, Bahujan hithaya’. We are taught ‘Sathyam vada, Dharamam chara’. If the frustrated Opposition has even an iota of trust in the Indian ethos, the Indian milieu, the great Indian heritage, if they have faith in democracy, certainly it is high time that they retrace their steps.

Yes, people get the government they deserve. They had an apology for a government which governed for a family, for a dynasty. People wanted a change. Imbued with the commitment, dedication and integrity of Narendra Modi, the nation has risen from its sleep like a giant and started shaking its invincible locks. The writing on the wall is loud and clear. Those who do not want to read it and feigns ignorance will certainly be shown their place, in the dust bin of history.