Colours of terrorism: Hindu, Muslim

..... the political class and Indian society at large must now fully comprehend the fact that ‘Hindu’ terrorism is as real as the ‘Islamic’ one.

And that comprehension, if terrorism — particularly the home-grown variety, involving Indian citizens — is to be defeated, must lead to the awareness that the spread of communal hatred and polarisation is the driving force for such acts. The point isn’t that only a fringe element within communities is involved in terrorist attacks.

Rather, that there is a wider context of communal hatred and fundamentalism behind these attacks. And that jingoism and hatred is sustained by a discourse of difference, of narrow and sectarian interpretations of history, identity and nationhood.

Colours of terrorism: Hindu, Muslim
22 May 2010, 0525 hrs IST, ET Bureau