AN IDEA OF INDIA TO REMOVE STAIN ON WHITE COATS

The alleged role of medicos in the Delhi blast tells us regular schooling isn’t enough to stop negativism turning into radicalism. India’s pluralist traditions must be inculcated among the youth

- VINAY SAHASRABUDDHE

ITH the recent blasts near Delhi’s Red Fort, the ugly head of terrorism once again became visible. The news reminded me of what former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said in 2002 at a gathering in Goa, immediately after the BJP’s national executive meeting. Without mincing the words, he shared that when he had discussed the menace of terrorism with his Singaporean counterpart, the latter told him to make a correction and describe it as “Islamic terrorism”.

Vajpayee, as reported by the media, elaborated later stating that there are two “faces” of Islam: one “pious and peaceful”, and the other “fundamentalist and militant”.

Vajpayee was neither the first nor the only. Well-known reformer Hamid Dalwai of the Muslim Satyashodhak Samaj had elaborately reflected on fundamentalist tendencies among Muslims. In a 2011 column, historian Ramchandra Guha quoted Dalwai to have said, “Unless a Muslim liberal intellectual class emerges, Indian Muslims will continue to cling to obscurantist medievalism, communalism, and will eventually perish both socially and culturally.”

A deeper analysis and elaborate thinking about Dalwai’s observations has become relevant today as we see the emergence of ‘white-coat terrorism’. Highly-educated persons falling for obscurantist ideas and religious fundamentalism, and ending up becoming extremists in their thinking and actions, is appalling to say the least. However, it is fairly established now that education cannot be looked at as an antidote to terrorist tendencies. What is required, in fact, is a structured academic programme aimed at enhancing the understanding of the idea of India, so as to ensure an enduring mindset change.