Malegaon (September 29, 2008) attack: Now the Hindu Rashtra in the Making

by Mustafa Khan

It is time to own our own terror rather than hide it from the world. That is more important as we in India quote “truth lives”. We boast about bidding farewell to open defecating after five years of effort. The day after the Houston jamboree, two Dalit children were lynched for attending nature’s call in the open field. What better way to assessing what the PM claimed in UNGA than by looking back. “We believe this is one of the biggest challenges not for any single country but for the entire world and humanity. The lack of unanimity amongst us on the issue of terrorism dents those very principles that are the basis of the creation of the UN.” This does not match with the reality on the ground in India, not to speak of other countries. Modi’s counterpart from Pakistan, on the other hand, took to tweeting that the very ideology of the RSS was based on terrorism.

“This is the RSS ideology that threatens not just Kashmiris or Pakistan or even just Indian Muslims, Christians and Dalits but India itself as envisaged by its Founding Fathers.” This tweet of Imran Khan shows empiricism as against our own captive ideology which threatens more disasters as it transpired on September 29, 2008 in the city of Malegaon in Maharashtra and Modasa in Gujarat. And earlier on September 8, 2006. There is fear that even the Indian Army will become a captive of the terrorism ideology. The lesson to learn is what the ATS Chief of Maharashtra, Hemant Karkare, bequeathed to his fellow Indians some hours before his martyrdom on November 25, 2008: do not play politics with terrorism.

But that was asking for the impossible because divisions were sown much before and are continuing. About seven hours after the September 8, 2006 bomb blast a Let Col of the Army, Suresh Patil, had reached the graveyard in Malegaon and saw parts of bodies of the victims sticking on the walls of the Hamidya mosque in the cemetery and on the branches of trees and graves: noses, fingers, toes, brains and other parts of bodies. The military officer interacted with the local police chief and remarked that the Muslims would not do this on their most auspicious day of Shabebarat. The police officer told him that he was mad because it was the work of Muslims whom he perceived as radical en masse. I had a telephonic talk with the military officer on my phone in 2012 when he narrated his visit. Later he assumed the post of chief of the Sambhaji Brigade.

So there are two military officers, one who was involved in the blasts in Malegaon and elsewhere and the other who actually visited the blast site on September 8, 2006. In the case of Lt Col Prasad Purohit, he had during his service in the Army created Abhinav Bharat.

The boldest attempt for the Hindu Rashtra was made by the serving military officer, Purohit. He articulated what the RSS tacitly propagated through its unwritten manifesto, also popularly called the hidden agenda. Purohit started Abhinav Bharat “with the intention of propa-gating a Hindu Rashtra with their own constitution and aims and objectives as Bharat Swaraya, Surajya Suraksha”. The fourteen and more accomplices of Purohit had taken a very daring step towards establishing the Hindu Rashtra. It was very bold in the sense that nearly a dozen Army officers were involved and many of them have not been even named in the charge-sheet of the bomb blasts case of Malegaon in 2008. “This organised crime syndicate wanted to adopt a national flag, that is, solo-themed saffron flag with a golden border. The length of the flag would be twice its breadth with an ancient golden torch (bhagwa dhwaj).” It is strange that the government did not charge them for treason against the country. Their terrorism was treason

The creation of the Hindu Rashtra overrode all other consideration and can be seen “that in fact Karkare’s assassination was plotted by people associated with the RSS to stop him from unmasking the face of the RSS-inspired terror... If Karkare had not been killed, he would have possibly unveiled the entire terror network and not just names of certain individuals, trying to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra through violence.”

The assassination of Karkare put the clock back in time because no sooner did he die than the man who succeeded him reversed the hunt back to jehadi terrorists. But there are divisions within the police and armed forces. Purohit et al. wanted a Hindu Rashtra but there are still many in the Army who are not enamoured of such an entity. There are many Dravidians from the south who would not like to be overwhelmed by the Brahmins who will surely dominate such a theocratic state. Kerala is deeply divided and cannot be swayed by the idea of the Hindu Rashtra ruling over the whole of the State

The Muslims in Dhulia were also dazed that the Hindu Jagaran Manch or Samiti would create terror in Dhulia because a bomb in Bhiku Chowk of Malegaon had blown up many Muslims killing seven and injuring hundreds on September 29, 2008. Dhulia is seventy kilometers away from Malegaon. And as a result of that the Hindutva group would initiate violent attacks six days later in Malegaon to provide safety to Hindus from the terrorist attack in Dhulia!

The infiltration of the Sangh into the Army is a serious matter because they don’t want the truth to come out. In his letter to PM Modi, Purohit writes: “Had our media not lost the habit of carrying out fair and independent investigations into the doings and mis-doings of the government and other powerful lobbies, my plea for warning against willful sabotage of India’s intelligence network would not have gone unheeded for eight long years.” He also mentions the secular brigade which is against Hindu Rashtra. This is a veiled reference to one other than the Sambhaji Brigade. In their attempt the Sangh Praivar will go to any extent. This is well illustrated in the fact that the trial in the 2008 blast is not an open trial and none other than the accused, Pragyasingh Thakur, even says no blasts had taken place in Bhiku Chowk at all. “Hemant Karkare falsely implicated me [in the Malegaon blasts] and treated me very badly. I told him your entire dynasty will be erased. He died of his karma.”

Despite this there is enough proof that soon after the attack on September 8, 2006 a letter was received by the local newspaper Dinkar with a signature of warning from the Sangh Parivar or RSS. “Do you remember the blast in Malegaon or have you forgotten? If you have forgotten then be ready for further blasts. The power of the Sangh is all over the state and the country. Remember this, India is a Hindu Rashtra and we will make it one.

“Muslims, leave the country. Jamitul Ulema of Malegaon, don’t act smart. We are sending the example with the warning.”

Two days later another bomb was found in a madrassa which was defused.

Lest there be any further denial by the MP Pragyasingh Thakur that no blast took place in Bhiku Chowk, a young friend had caught the scene on his camera and had mailed me. There was a press conference subsequent to the blast in which Police Commissioner Sinha, Home Minister R.R. Patil were present. They had said it was a gas cylinder. That made the natives upset and they protested. There was no communal disturbance then. But the police fired at the protesters who wanted justice. It was around this time that Hemant Karkare arrived in the chowk that was later named after him as Shaheed Hemant Karkare Chowk!

The most ironic part of it was that the Israelis were willing to recognise the Hindu Rashtra if Purohit would give two examples of mass casualties in return for arms supply and a place for an embassy in Tel Aviv.

Mustafa Khan, who resides in Malegaon (Maharashtra), has the following blog: http://commonalty.blogspot.com