Situationer: The unusual allies of Hindutva.

Byline: Jawed Naqvi

THERE are Muslims in every Indian party; there are Muslims in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and there are Muslims who are overtly opposed to Hindutva, but help its cause with their mindless message of fighting Hindu fanaticism with their own brand of fanaticism.

This last category has the propensity to undo the good that joint campaigns involving every Indian community can do to fortify Indian democracy and society against powerful enemies.

The two Muslim men who allegedly murdered a defenceless Hindu tailor and flashed the gory deed through a video clip could end up doing untold harm to the cause they claimed to espouse: defence of their religion against insult or abuse.

Prof Shamsul Islam has been teaching political science at the Delhi University. His work on the history of Hindu fascism in India is peerless.

In a horrified reaction to the killing of Kanaiya Lal in Udaipur on Tuesday, he wrote that the extreme elements on the Muslim side 'are not letting any opportunity go waste to pour oil on the fire of religious hatred ignited by the Hindutva bigots.'

'The Hindutva gang, including the RSS-BJP rulers of India, has been dreaming of a civil war between Hindus and Muslims for more than a century. These rulers are pushing India into such a horrendous situation methodically.'

Prof Islam said he was not surprised that extremist criminals had joined in what he termed 'an evil conspiracy' and urged that society must rise up against it.

Indeed, in the larger picture of advancing Hindutva control of the country, the gruesome killing of the tailor, allegedly by self-styled saviours of Islam, is a handy tool to drive another nail in the coffin of Indian democracy.

Look at the big picture: Rajasthan, where the crime occurred, is a rare state where the main opposition Congress party is in power. The other day, the BJP made a strong advance...

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