In recent times the country has witnessed a long list of acts of insanity, attack on Sabarmati train, Parliament, Kashmir assembly and Akshardham. Since this violence is supposedly being perpetrated by the International terrorism, which derives its legitimacy from Islam, all the Muslims have become suspects and the slogan goes that all terrorists are Muslims. It is in this backdrop that Bal Thackeray's magic solution to solve terrorist problem is dished out for the benefit of the nation. First get rid of Four crore Bangladeshis who have infiltrated, the pro-Pakistan Muslims should leave the country and Hindu suicide squads should be formed. With this  triad of solution coming from Hindu Hridaya Samrat (Emperor of Hindu Hearts), as some of his followers call him, the Nation will be rid of the menace of terrorism and this Hindu Rashtra can relive the great glories, says Mr. Thackeray!
 
His prescription that Hindu suicide squads are the answer to the Islamic terrorism is not only flawed but it also labels the acts of political motives as having their roots in a particular religion only. It totally betrays the basic unwillingness to understand the causes of violence, terrorism etc. One can add that it is not only an unwillingness to understand the basic causes but also it is a deliberate ploy to instigate the aggressive sentiments, to provoke the violence in the society. One knows that the ilk of Thackeray have political motives in ensuring that communal violence continues. It is only on the chariot of communal hatred that the parties like BJP, Shiv Sena are able to gain electoral mileage. Be it the case of Mumbai riots in 92-93 or be it the Gujarat violence, the basic agenda of Thackeray-Modi combine is the same. 
 
During post independent India the riot victims, the unfortunate lot, have mostly been from the poor community. This statement has to be qualified by the addition that this was so prior to Gujarat 2002. In Gujarat the earlier observation that it is only poor who are victims of communal violence has been upturned and now even the affluent can be the recipient of the wrath of the bloodthirsty politics. Again in the similar vein one will add that though the percentage of Muslims in the population is around 13, the same percentage amongst riot victims is 80%, and that too is per the Pre-Gujarat statistics. That the observations in Gujarat will change this for the worse, is sure. This violence derives its legitimacy from the stray acts, which are either provoked or occur due to insecurity of the community under the battering ram of the violence. The agenda of majoritarian politics projects the battered minority as the threat to the majority and in order to protect the majority the pre-emptive strikes are undertaken. And thats how the butchers and violators are accorded, or get  themselves accorded, the prefix Emperors of Hindu Hearts. One notes here that Thackeray was accorded this prefix in the aftermath of Mumbai riots and Modi is being accorded this in the aftermath of Gujarat carnage!
 
To add to the good fortune of Thackeray-Modi, George Bush has provided the international ideological support. Now the equation of Osama Bin Laden-International terrorism-Pakistan and Indian Muslims being together in their mission to attack the virtuosity of Western civilization globally and the glorious Indian traditions here has been put together into a single combination pack. Why and how the likes of Osama and Kashmiri terrorist came up, what is the role of American Imperialism in promoting the same is forgotten in the process. When and who trained the Osama group into Jihad techniques, why only in oil rich zone, the terrorism originates and prevails is also forgotten. It is also forgotten that the most initial act, which prompted the terrorism to come up on the big scale in the Middle East was violation of International norms by Israel, fully backed up by the mighty US. The suppression of democratic aspiration in this region, starting from overthrowing the Mossadegh regime by the US, the previous aggression of US on Iraq and the forthcoming aggression on Iraq by US are again understated.
 
The merry alliance of Sheikhs and despots with Uncle Sam, who is crushing democracy in a ruthless manner wherever possible, is a matter of deep concern for all the conscientious citizens of the World, be it Vietnam where America unsuccessfully tried to crush the Vietnamese Nationalism or be it Chile where a democratic Govt was overthrown and a butcher of the status of Pinochet was installed by US, all has been forgotten from the public memory. As a matter of fact the self-proclaimed upholder of Freedom is the biggest suppressor of democracy all over the world. And this of course is done to pursue its Imperialist designs. In a way Palestanian militancy was a reaction to Israels highhandedness, Osama, himself a product of CIA training, turned against its mentors for their dominating presence and intervention in the Middle East once the Russian army was thrown out from Afghanistan. What is the cause and what is the effect? The popular perceptions, thanks to the Manufacturing consent by the dominating states and the doctoring of mass consciousness by the dominating social groups, ensures that the likes of Thackeray and Modi can merrily conduct programs to support their political agenda favoring social status quo. One can undertake an exercise of seeing the parallel between the agenda of Uncle Sam and Hindutvavadis. One recalls that during McArthy era when communists were being hunted down our own M.S. Golwalkar, the ideologue of RSS, was writing to the Indian Govt. offering all his support to eliminate the menace of Communism from Indian Nation. Five decades later when Uncle Sam has unleashed a crusade against Islamic Terrorism the inheritors of the legacy of Golwalkar are busy actually wiping out the Islamic Terrorists.
 
Closer home, post Babri demolition, the anger of Muslim youth can be used as a pretext to unleash the pogrom. Similarly the acts, which have no religious motive, like murder of Mathadi workers or the burning of Bane family (Mumbai) can be projected to be the attack of Muslims (since the victims were Hindus) to annihilate the Hindus and so the mini fuehrer can take over the streets and his minions can supply arms to the marauding mobs to do their job. In this background the polarization of communities keeps going on and the electoral chickens hatch soon enough for the leaders of the pogroms. Thanks to the painstaking work of Shrikrishna commission one can confidently state this a decade down the line. But damage has been done. Popular perception has no time for such commissions, they can well be fed with the soup that Muslims attack first and so we have to... That the violence is not spontaneous, neither non-avoidable has been more that proven by a comparison of projected Post Godhra carnage and
post Akshardham calm.
 
But here again the popular perception has no time to introspect. One, people have enough problems on hand and two, the doctors of mass consciousness are working overtime to ensure to enforce the message that Godhra has links with international terrorism, Osama Bin Laden, Pervez Musharrf and the Muslim next door. By the time the reports of inquiry commission will bring out the truth, the ilk of Chote Sardar, the newly anointed Emperor of Hindu Hearts, will en-cash the resulting polarization in to the electoral arena. By the time the inquiry commission report comes out, if at all in this case, the graves of those who perished in the carnage will be submerged deep down.
 
The suicide squads in a way already exist. The impoverished poor unemployed mainly Adivasis and Dalits, who can be made handmaiden of the communal agenda, are already willing to risk their lives for a price. And this is the new acquisition of the perpetrators of the cult of politics in the name of religion. The march of the present policies are already creating fertile ground for the squads, who for mere biological survival will be coming in handy to be used as foot soldiers of Hindutva sponsored violence. The trick involved is that the attack is projected as the self-defense and the victim is projected as the culprit.
 
Is Mr. Thackerays concerned about eliminating terrorism? No way. This terrorism is his best support. So he wants to see that the terrorism flourishes, and so he gives the call for suicide squad. The proposed
squads can be the best incitement to the feeling of insecurity, which promotes terrorist acts. Surely Balasaheb is on the right tract for his political agenda.
 
(The writer works for EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai)