Ajmer : attack on composite culture but with a communal tinge

The bomb blast at the shrine of Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer is the most sinister and diabolic event to have happened. It is clear targeting of the Muslim community. This is borne out by similar attacks on Jama Masjid of Delhi, Mecca mosque of Hyderbad, Malegaon Hamidia mosque and several mosques of Purna, Parbhani and other places of Marathwada region in the past. Of the most holy nights this last lailatulkader, the powerful night of prayer is revered by all sections of the community. The only other night is the shab-be-barat that precedes Ramzan by a fortnight. Both these holy occasions were chosen to kill and maim Muslims in India. Shab-be-barat here in Malegaon on September 8, 2006 saw the mosque and cemetery, biggest in India, bombed. More than fifty Muslim boys and men were blown up and killed, more than two hundred injured. This evening of October 11, 2007 is the onset of the last of the lailatulkader of Ramzan. The place is Ajmer, the sanctum sanctorum of Sufism:Moinuddin Chisti’s gave side. Three have died in the bomb blast and seventeen injured, five of them are serious. One of them is Abdul Rehman from Nasik. It will shock the members of Muslim minority everywhere in the country as well as Hindus.

At this early hour it is difficult to say who might have carried it out. But ominous signs are there. It is crystal clear that this is an attack on our composite culture of which the shrine is a symbol. Hindus, if not more, equally revere the shrine, like their Muslim brethren. Thousands of them pay respect and wish for their well being there. Scores of film stars, candidates in election, business men and ordinary people go there seeking blessings and praying for prospects in profession, business and family.

All visiting heads of states and governments who come to India invariably visit the shrine and pay tributes. Those who carried out the bombing did not like the worldwide obeisance and the composite culture. The dargah was the mark of the secular foundation of the Indian polity and a popular place of national unity.

A third reason is propaganda. Every act, as this one is the latest, of terrorism is an exercise in propaganda. Someone is trying to destroy the secular and constitutional foundations of the country and this is their message. The hour is iftar or breaking fast, no other moment would be so peak hour for publicity as well as for crowding as this one! What do they want to propagate?

It is irony of ironies that government minister Shri Prakash Jaipal had visited the shrine ten days ago and warned that it was on the target of the terrorists. That is what exactly happened. It again underscores the universal failure of the intelligence agencies and indifference of the police. The top intelligence agency RAW is entirely made up of Hindus. They have barred Muslims and Sikhs from entering the agency. Currently they are preoccupied with corruption to the tunes of crores of rupees. Is that the work they deem necessary and hence bar others from sharing? Intelligence gathering requires people of all castes and communities who can merge with the crowd and infiltrate organizations to find out vital clues. The official stance is highly discriminatory against the minorities like the Muslim and the Sikh. It also smacks of lack of trust in fellow countrymen.

In most of the bomb blasts cases there seems to be no tab kept on the Hindu organizations like the RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP, whether such organizations have any thing up their sleeves or not. This lack of intelligence has been pointed out by no other than a former police commissioner of Mumbai, Julio Ribero. It is also the syllogism of the Nanded bomb blasts in which RSS and Bajrang Dal activists in collusion with VHP were actively making bombs. Such a one exploded before it could be used before the targeted mosque in Aurangabad. The narco test analysis of one of the injured shows this to be the case. To hold this mighty country together it is necessary to involve all. The dargah at Ajmer teaches a lesson to the agencies of the government. The Hindus who have been injured there bear witness to this fact.

Once officials readily and facilely blame the ‘terrorists’ our attention is diverted from the fact that there are others who also believe in violence and practice it for their sectarian interest what if they come from the majority?

The other angle is that Islam is blamed for what the so-called jihadi terrorism is doing around the world. But there is a catch here. There is no credible evidence that Muslims themselves are hell bent on destroying their own mosques and shrines so that they alone would be held responsible and bear the ignominy. Dividing the community between the Wahabis and the Sufis, or Sunnis or Shias or Salafis does not render any help. All of them hold the occasions of lailatulkader and shab-be-barat in high respect and do works of piety and devote hours in praying for individual and group salvation and forgiveness. They may not practice each tenet in the same way. But to attribute terrorism to them at such times would be rather far-fetched if not unrealistic.

Another angle is the agent provocateurs from across the border. In every bomb blasts in the country the Pakistani agent is involved but he is never caught. Is he the mythical wandering Jew? Why? And the Paki foreign spokesperson asks us to do our homework first before raising accusing finger.

Checking and frisking fifteen to twenty thousand people is worth detecting the tiffin box, or school bag that contains the RDX. Already the place was teeming with security personnel. What are they there for?