Open Letters: To the 'Indian Mujahideen'

Mainak Dhar is an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad whose career in the corporate sector has spanned almost a dozen years across Mumbai, Bangkok and now Singapore. Cubicle dweller by day and writer by night, he has written six books, including the bestselling novel, The Funda of Mix-ology. Learn more about it at www.getthefunda.com.

In this new series, Mainak writes open letters to people in the news, commenting on the state of affairs in the world today. Today's column is an open letter to the Indian Mujahideen, which has claimed responsibility for the Jaipur serial blasts .

To
The Indian Mujahideen

It is strange writing to people whose identities I do not know. Indeed, many intelligence sources are suggesting that your group is a fictional cover for other existing terror groups. However, since my intent is to react to the message you sent after the Jaipur bombings , it is perhaps appropriate that I address you by your own chosen nom de guerre. In your message, you revealed your group’s name, outlined your key objectives and gave a hint as to your future tactics, so I will take them up one at a time.

First off, I suggest you choose a new name, as Indian Mujahideen is a totally inappropriate one for you. Let’s take it one at a time. India, like any other country, is imperfect, simply because the people who make it up are imperfect and fallible human beings. So through our history, we’ve had our fair share of intolerance, biases and injustices. However, what makes us quintessentially ‘Indian’ is the ability to take these in our stride, to form a synthesis of the good and bad, and to keep bouncing back. That tolerance, resilience and that inherent unity in the face of so many divisive factors is what makes India and Indians tick. So despite a long history dotted with invasions, famines, tyrants, colonialism and communalism, India keeps ticking along – in fact, more than ticking along, with a booming economy and unprecedented progress in so many spheres. So, you most certainly don’t deserve to call yourselves ‘Indian’ – with your action in Jaipur, you demonstrated that the very basics of ‘Indianness’, tolerance and the ability to synthesise opposing points of view are something you are incapable of.

Special: Jaipur serial blasts | Full coverage

Now, let’s get to the Mujahideen bit. I’m sure you must have felt really good about your self-image as ‘holy warriors’, striking bravely at ‘infidels’. Here’s a reality check for you – there’s nothing holy about slaughtering innocent civilians including children, and its not even as if you struck a blow for Islam, as many of the dead included Muslims. The blood of your Hindu and Muslim victims mixing together was perhaps the best rebuttal to your pretensions of representing any one community. So, if virgins in the afterlife like your handlers promised is what you’re seeking, you’re probably going to be a bit disappointed – I hear nubile nymphets are in short supply in Hell. The ‘warrior’ bit is also pure delusion – it doesn’t take a brave warrior to plant bombs in crowded marketplaces and kill civilians. But then of course, that’s an easier and safer course of action than risking being at the business end of an Indian Army rifle.

Now, coming to your objectives and motivations, other than repeating the same babble about atrocities on Muslims, what do you really want as an end point? Do you really believe that transforming India into another tinpot state like Pakistan is a legitimate or realistic goal? Or is that something your handlers from across the border neglected to tell you when they were doling out money and explosives? Yes, we are an imperfect society, but the solution to social and economic ills and inequalities lies in removing the root causes – poverty, lack of education and assimilation, not in lashing out with blind violence. Your actions probably just make things worse, by risking further division along communal lines and further marginalisation of the community you claim to represent.

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I really can’t blame your ‘trigger men’, since they are likely young men, frustrated at their lack of employability and only too happy to believe the delusion that they are left behind because of injustices against their religion, only too happy to play the victim rather than take accountability for where they are. It’s your leaders that I think are the ones really to blame. With their education, relatively better economic position and above all, influence in your community, they could have chosen to make a much more positive impact – by trying to enhance the way these young men are educated and assimilated. But they have let them, and all of us, down by taking the easier route of violence, relying on our friendly neighbourhood terrorist states for help.

I have no doubt my words will have no impact on you, and I have no doubt that you will strike again. People will die, you will have your short-lived moments of glory, but India and we Indians of all religions will keep bouncing back and moving forward. Your lack of regard for human life, your indiscriminate violence against those least able to defend themselves and your lack of any real agenda for the community you pretend to represent, will ensure that you remain nothing more than a criminal fringe. History will not remember you as the fearless holy warriors you fancy yourselves to be, but as termites who tried to gnaw away at the mosaic that is our society, and like all such infestations, were one day exterminated.

Best regards,

Mainak Dhar

Learn more about Mainak and contact him at www.mainakdhar.com

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