By Sushil Kutty
Parliament attack ‘mastermind’ Lalit Mohan Jha is in police custody. Four of his underlings – if he is ‘mastermind’, indeed – have been charged with terrorism under various sections of the UAPA, supposedly one of the toughest anti-terror legislations anywhere in the world. Does that mean, Neelam Devi, Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D., and Anmol Shinde, along with Lalit Mohan Jha, are deemed terrorists and “saffron terror” is god’s own truth, not the figment of some dervish imagination?
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological parent, the ‘Sangh Parivar’, has always objected to the nomenclature “saffron terror” and gone down hard on the Congress for allegedly coining the term. Naturally, the Congress was diffident. Congress stalwarts like Sushil Kumar Shinde, a Union Home Minister, were accused of forwarding the idea of “Hindu terror”, which the Sangh Parivar insisted did not exist.
Now, Jha is the “mastermind” and he leads a bunch of Hindu names. Agencies tracking perpetrators of the December 13, 2023, Parliament attack have had it easy so far. Lalit Mohan Jha could have done a Shaista Parveen – gangster Atiq Ahmed’s widow – on the investigating agencies just like Shaista Parveen has been evading Uttar Pradesh Police and could be anywhere, from Prayagraj to Nepalraj.
Jha, however, is a different kind of oddball – he, like his accomplices, is courting name and fame with arrest. He and his four accomplices have been charged under the draconian UAPA. From the outside, UAPA sounds glamourous, even chic. But Neelam Devi, Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D, Anmol Shinde and Lalit Mohan Jha haven’t heard the half of it. Also, the Delhi Police Special Cell has the reputation of pulling the innards out of a long gutted corpse. Jha and Co., must be singing like talkative canaries.
But Jha destroyed the mobile phones, and destroyed crucial evidence. That did not stop the Delhi Police from charging them under the stringent UAPA. Attacking Parliament with intent is terrorism. Running rampage inside the Lok Sabha is blatant and brazen terrorism. Triggering canister smoke bombs in closed and cloistered quarters is terrorism. Scaring the living daylights out of elected MPs is terrorism.
Jumping into the well of the Lok Sabha points to “terror training”. What if the canisters carried poison gas? What if Sagar and Manoranjan D were trained to kill with bare hands? The possibilities are endless and imagination can kill. Neelam Devi and Anmol Shinde — protested outside. Lalit Mohan Jha surrendered. In fact, he wanted to be caught; wanted to surrender, why? Will Union Home Minister Amit Shah admit in Parliament that this was “Hindu terror” based on the names of the six people identified as perpetrators of the attack on Parliament?
The Modi government cannot ignore the possibility; nothing should be discounted. If it is “Hindu terror”, so be it and address any such likelihood head-on. Like somebody in the Congress tweeted, “What if the names were Muslim?” Sure, what if the names were Muslim? The answer is, nobody would have raised an eyebrow even if Muslim names are defaults for terrorism and for nobody’s fault, too.
This is the first time UAPA has been slapped against Hindu names under the head “terror”. Of course, like always, “terror does not have a religion”. But, what the hell, this is happening at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party is spearheading a Hindu-first election campaign for ensuring a third-time in a row BJP government at the Centre. Does the Modi government even know the ramifications of charging Hindus under a terror law and then not be labelled “Hindu terror”?
Islamic terror comes easy off the lips but even the mere mention of “Hindu terror” was frowned on and the Congress almost always got bashed for doing the unthinkable. For instance, way back in 2015, then Home Minister in the first Modi government, Rajnath Singh, went ballistic on the Congress, accusing the UPA government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of coining “Hindu terrorism” and alleged that this “weakened” India’s fight against terror.
Stating that the Modi government will “never allow such a shameful situation”, Rajnath Singh had in 2015 said that “terrorism is terrorism, it does not have any caste, creed or religion.” If so, what has happened now, nine years on, why have people with clear Hindu names been charged with an act of terrorism, and why have sections of the stringent terror law UAPA been slapped against them?
How can India accept this? The opposition INDI-Alliance should forthwith reject the Modi government premise that educated but unemployed youth, for no fault of theirs but because of the Modi government’s failures, have been charged under the UAPA law and branded terrorists. The Modi government must come clean on “Hindu terror”, admit whether there’s “Hindu terror” or not there? Also, make clear why Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D, Amol Shinde, Neelam Devi have been accused of committing a terrorist act? Are they terrorists or not? If they’re terrorists, is it proof that “Hindu terror” exists? (IPA Service)
The post The Curious Case Of ‘Hindu Terrorists’ Involved In Breach Of Parliament’s Security first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.
