Social Fragmentation after Black Tuesday

An important contribution of Black Tuesday to social thinking has been the dramatic shift it brought to the perception of political violence across the world. For a long time, political violence has been justified in the name of freedom movements. If political violence had a nationalist sub nationalist cause, then it could be justified. Later, violent strikes, petty brick batting, stone pelting, picketing developed into organised terrorism. Techniques of political violence changed. Organised processions, marches, and distributing leaflets faded out over a period of time. We saw how Arafat’s group used plane hijacking, hostage holding to bargain with Israelis and their supporters. Peaceful processions and marches evolved into complete militia and liberation armies. The misfortune of mankind has been that all this was justified in the name of a right cause. It is even more unfortunate that political causes were swiftly and cleverly converted into religious causes. Every demand for a separate State was linked with religion. All Islamic movements are basically political movements but they were turned into Jihad. We have ideologists, propagandists brainwashing kids into human bombs. All this in the name of religion. The political objectives of such movements are camouflaged under a religious cover that gives it a universal appeal making recruitment easy. Black Tuesday has changed it to a large extent. We cannot justify violence (leave alone terrorism) in the name of religion. The sympathy these movements enjoyed among people outside as well as within their Klan has thinned.

However, Black Tuesday has strengthened another social polarisation. It is the fragmentation of multireligious societies like India. Following America’s declaration of war against Islamic terrorism, Muslims are perceived targets of a global reaction. It’s a strange situation. While others perceive Muslims as a threat to peace, law and order, Muslims think that they are being unduly victimised, targeted and may be persecuted. Their overall image has taken a beating. This phenomenon is gradually leading to an increased unrest in multireligious societies like India. Muslims feel insecure. They want political support to protect not only their identity but also their image as peace loving normal people. As businessmen would call it, their brand name has suffered a set back. In India, the percentage of Muslim population to total Indian population comes to 11.67 percent. We have about 95620000 Muslims according to the 1991 census. They are equal citizens. They make use of their universal adult franchise and participate duly in our social and political process. Nevertheless, events following the Black Tuesday have increased their sense of insecurity. Not only that, they are feeling confused. Imam Abdullah Bukhari, the chief priest of Jama Masjid in Delhi, has declared that if America attacks Afghanistan without providing concrete evidence of Osama’s involvement, Indian Muslims will treat it as an attack on Islam and be with Afghanistan. What was the wisdom behind such a provocative and aggressive statement when he knows that it will only help in spoiling their image further. Indian Muslims are Indian citizens. Government of India is engaged in a prolonged battle against terrorism not from September 12 but for a long time. We have decided to assist America if the superpower needs our help at all in its battle against terrorism because we feel that we are common victims of this mischief. Why should Bukhari call upon the Muslims of India to get together against their own government and perpetuate unrest? These fanatic remarks will invite equally fanatic remarks from militant Hindu organisations like Bajrang Dal and shiva Sena. The overall environment will get spoilt and become explosive. Are you Osama’s associates or do you view yourself as Indian citizens?

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