---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kavita Krishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Just the Tip Won't Do: Expose the Whole Iceberg *
No longer can the Sangh Parivar and BJP ever disown its role in terrorism. A
former firebrand ABVP leader and so-called 'sadhvi', Pragya Singh Thakur,
has been arrested for her role in the Malegaon blasts of September 2006 as
well as in the more recent Modasa blasts. Even more ominously, two ex-Army
officers are implicated in the blasts, and it has come to light that an
institution called the 'Bhonsala Military Academy' in Nagpur has been
imparting arms training to the Bajrang Dal.
The Sangh Parivar has reacted by disclaiming its links with 'sadhvi' on the
one hand, and on the other, by suggesting that it is inconceivable that a
'sadhvi' could be a terrorist. BJP spokesperson Venkaiyya Naidu has reminded
us that according to the rule of law, the sadhvi is innocent till proven
guilty, and the BJP has objected strongly to the term 'Hindutva terrorism.'
For a minute, imagine if the story were the same – with just one detail
changed: replace the 'sadhvi' with a 'maulvi.' Then imagine the righteous
roars that would be voiced by the BJP, demanding blood. In the Jamia Nagar
blasts case, the BJP would not allow teenage boys the benefit of 'rule of
law;' they castigated the Jamia VC for arranging legal aid, and in UP, Sangh
cadre have beaten up lawyers taking up cases of blast-accused. Muslims
accused of terrorism, it seems, are guilty even if proven innocent, and are
certainly not entitled to the opportunity to prove themselves innocent!
There is ample proof that the sadhvi has campaigned for the BJP in
elections, and has appeared in public gatherings with BJP President Rajnath
Singh and MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Under POTA, as under the Chhattisgarh
Special Security Act, those who are associated with or have known the
accused can be prosecuted as 'conspirators.' Will the BJP tell us why
Rajnath and Shivraj should not be prosecuted as 'conspirators' according to
the principles espoused by the BJP itself? Surely there is more ground to
prosecute Rajnath or Shivraj of conspiring with saffron terrorists than
there is to prosecute Dr.Binayak Sen for links with Maoists?
What were Pragya Thakur's known activities? Her role in the communal pogrom
in Gujarat 2002 is indicated: in fact, she campaigned for the BJP in Surat
in 2002 and again in 2007. Her father, defending her, offers proof of some
of the noble work she was known for: "Pragya and her organisation Jai Vande
Matram would rescue girls who eloped with boys of another community,
sometimes bring them back to their parents." So, like the notorious Babu
Bajrangi, Pragya was involved in terrorising, kidnapping and coercing women
who had married of their own accord outside their community. Pragya is proof
positive of the fact that the same forces who openly indulge in communal
pogroms and obscurantism violence against women could in fact be secretly
involved in terrorism.
This said, it is also important to ask why the above facts were kept hidden
from us for the past two years. Soon after the Malegaon blasts, in nearby
Nanded, Bajrang Dal activists were accidentally killed by their own bombs,
and investigation had revealed fake beards and 'Muslim-looking' clothing in
their home. In other parts of Maharashtra and the country – Parbhani,
tenkasi, Kanpur, Faizabad – there have been leads linking saffron forces to
bomb blasts. Had these leads been pursued, is it not possible that some
subsequent terrorist incidents could have been avoided? The state and ruling
establishment is criminally guilty of ignoring these vital leads.
We are everyday asked to believe as gospel whatever is peddled as 'fact' by
the police via the media in a terror investigation: to question is to be
branded 'anti-national.' It is worth recalling that on November 26, 2007,
less than two months after the Malegaon blasts, Director General of Police P
S Pasricha had claimed to have 'solved' the case. Several Muslims were
arrested and paraded, the names SIMI and Lashkar were bandied about,
involvement of Pakistan and training received by the 'masterminds' in
Pakistan pointed to. The police over the next two years have confidently
given us detailed 'facts' about how the 8 arrested conceived of and executed
the blasts. Those arrested were also linked with the Mumbai train blasts,
according to the police. The ATS has prima facie "ruled out the involvement
of Hindu fundamentalist groups in the Malegaon blasts" claiming that "RDX is
only available to Islamic terrorist outfits." (TOI, 12 September 2006) Three
of the accused were said to have "confessed" to the crime.
Now, we are told that the motorbike used in the September 29 Malegaon bomb
blasts was registered in Pragya's name, and this led to her arrest. Are we
to believe that the police took two years to find out the registration
details of a bike involved in the blasts? The same police that just have to
take one look at a bomb site to tell us confidently the exact nationality
and organisational affiliation of the perpetrators? Is there any material at
all – including RDX – that ex-Army men cannot easily have access to? Will
the police explain to us how the 'confessions' of three Muslim men were
secured (will they admit to torture)? Who will restore freedom, and
apologise for character assassination and torture, to those who for the past
two years have been blamed for blasts they did not do? Most importantly, are
we really to believe that the Governments at State and Centre did not know
all along about the activities of the Bhonsala Military Academy, and the
fact that it was openly holding arms training camps for Bajrang Dal goons
from all over the country? Blasts aside, how come such training camps for
communal outfits were not deemed illegal and banned even as Bajrang Dal
brigades repeatedly conducted anti-Muslim and anti-Christian violence?
The recent revelations in the Malegaon blasts put every ongoing blast
investigation under a cloud and a question mark. Clearly, the police
suppressed all the trails that led to Sangh outfits and BJP leaders –
allowing these terrorists to roam free and contest and campaign in elections
– while misleading the nation by framing innocents of a minority community.
Is it not all too possible that this is happening in every single blast
investigation?
It is not just BJP leaders, however, who are linked with the terrorist
sadhvi. Pragya is a disciple of Swami Avadheshanand Giri: and her fellow
disciples include Union HRD Minister and celebrated 'secular' figure Arjun
Singh and his son Ajay. Ajay, head of the Congress campaign panel for the
upcoming state polls in MP, rushed to deny Avadheshanand's links with
Pragya.
The Congress and UPA Government is hoping to let the state machinery 'leak'
out a tiny part of the truth about the involvement of Sangh outfits in
terror, in order to get the upper hand in the elections. But we won't be
satisfied with such scraps. We demand a thoroughgoing investigation into the
involvement of Sangh outfits and so-called god-men and god-women, the Army
connection, and the BJP in terrorism. And we demand a ban on the Bajrang
Dal, VHP and other Sangh outfits against whom there is prima facie evidence
of involvement in terrorism and communal violence (including activities like
abduction ('rescue') of women who have eloped).
Kavita Krishnan
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