Social media was abuzz on Monday when poet Hussain Haidry tweeted about ‘Hindu Terrorists’. He did not say much apart from ‘Hindu Terrorists’ but merely repeated the same two words eleven times. He said using these two words is important. Along expected lines, the tweet garnered much outrage and since then, it appears he has deleted his account.
Hussain Haidry, a poet and writer who is also working with Bollywood Director Karan Johar in his new period drama ‘Takht’, is a rabid Islamist who fantasizes about violence. In the past, he has made several tweets that hinted towards his desire to kill people. More recently, Haidry incited violence and urged people to beat up Upper Caste Hindus with slippers.
Hussain Haidry has been making such problematic tweets ever since the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act. In the aftermath of the violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) between two groups of students, Haidry deemed it to be an instance of ‘state-sponsored Hindu terrorism’ and ‘Hindu-sponsored state terrorism’.
Apart from such cases, Hussain Haidry has also ranted about ‘Brahminism’ and ‘Brahminical Hegemony’. It is just a convenient ruse invented by Hinduphobic bigots to target Hinduism under the cloak of targeting one particular caste. It also provides them with the opportunity to weaken Hinduism by fomenting tensions between different castes.
Hussain Haidry is one of those individuals who appear to have lost their good senses following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Since then, such people have justified the harassment people have suffered due to the said protests and whitewashed the massive damage to public property these protests have caused. And one phenomenon that is observable from the surface is the fact that people whitewashing the violence and justifying the harassment are all well educated or come from financially sound backgrounds. And it does say a lot about the nature of Islamist movements.
For quite some time, it has been clear that the leaders of terrorist outfits and radicalized individuals are, more often than not, well educated and come from well-to-do families. From Osama bin Laden to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the higher ranks of terrorist outfits have always been filled by highly educated individuals.
Closer home, we have Sharjeel Imam, a student of Modern Indian History who is highly radicalized and wishes to turn India into an Islamic country. He masterminded the anti-CAA Shaheen Bagh protests and wished to cut off North East India from the rest of the country. Now he is rotting in prison. However, Sharjeel Imam is not the only such person.
The two-nation theory that formed the basis for the creation of Pakistan and the partition of India was propounded by the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University. Muhammad Ali Jinnah himself was a barrister, Muhammad Iqbal, another proponent of the two-nation theory, was a philosopher and a barrister, in addition to being a poet. The Radical Islamic Movement for the creation of Pakistan was led by well educated Muslims and the genocide and civil war that ensued was a consequence of their actions.
Even in present times, Asaduddin Owaisi, the leader of the AIMIM, is an extremely well-educated man. Owaisi may trot around as a secular individual but a man is known by the company he keeps. His brother Akbaruddin issued the now infamous 15-minute threat and a senior leader of his party, Waris Pathan, recently gave the 15 crores Musalman threat. Thus, this is a recurring phenomenon.
Apart from politicians, there are well-to-do Muslims in other avenues who struggle hard for the victory of the Ummah. There are journalists such as Rana Ayyub and Arfa Khanum Sherwani who engage in propaganda to rationalize and justify and whitewash the mob violence committed by the people from the Muslim community in pursuit of Radical Islamist objectives. Rana Ayyub, in particular, has somehow managed to gain significant prominence in western circles. One can safely speculate that the American Deep State had a major role to play in her sudden rise to fame.
In addition to all of this, there are numerous students’ organizations that work towards the success of the Ummah. The Students Islamic Organization (SIO) played a prominent role to play in the recent anti-CAA riots that were unleashed all across the country. The investigative agencies are also looking into the links between Sharjeel Imam and the Islamic Youth Federation (IYF), another Islamist organization that believes ‘la ilaha illallah’ means there is no sovereign apart from Allah. It is a hint towards the organization’s belief that India is not a sovereign country and Allah is paramount.
Such developments are in contravention of established Marxist notions regarding the cause of terrorism. The materialist view of the world posits that terrorism is motivated by economic deprivation in most parts and economic empowerment of the deprived sections of society would go a long way in curbing the menace of terrorism. Another closely related theory proposes that social marginalization also prompts the youth to join the ranks of terrorist organizations. However, such theories are at odds with observable reality.
A casual glance at the nature of terrorist outfits makes it clear that the higher ranks are almost always occupied by highly educated individuals from well-to-do families. It is only the footsoldiers who are, most often, from the unwashed masses. This contradicts the materialistic view of the world that does not accord enough credit to the ideological motivations of terrorism.
Terrorism, in this respect, is similar to all mass movements. Every movement needs leaders who have the necessary credentials to lead a movement. The masses will not follow just about anyone, it is important that the masses believe that the leaders of the movement are capable of delivering them success. And through the ages, wealth and education have been two prominent attributes through which the masses judge the capability of the leaders. It’s only natural because wealth and education are two of the biggest indicators of success in life and hence, the capability of the individual concerned.
Read: Into the Islamist’s mind: The role of educated Muslims in Sharjeel Imam’s ‘Plan of Action’
All the biggest movements in the history of humanity have been led by people from the nobility or those who are generally wealthy. There might have been a few leaders who do not conform to this theory but they are the exceptions and not the rule. The Indian Independence Movement was led by educated individuals, the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement was led by educated individuals and India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, if we can call it such, was led by educated individuals from well-to-do families.
In the United States, the populist revolt against the mainstream political establishment of both parties is being led by extremely rich individuals. The revolt against the Republican Establishment was led by the billionaire Donald Trump and that against the Democratic Establishment is led by a millionaire socialist Bernie Sanders. People might claim that Narendra Modi, due to his background as a Chaiwallah, does not conform to this rule. However, when he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he was no longer a Chaiwallah. He was a crucial member of one of the biggest national parties in India.
Similarly, the Radical Islamic anti-CAA protests have been led by educated Muslims and those from well-to-do families. The PFI has played an important role in these protests. The Jamia Milia Islamic University and the Aligarh Muslim University are prominent institutions where violence has been witnessed. It is also pertinent to mention that the violence at the national capital broke out only days after Ladeeda Sakhaloon, one of Barkha Dutt’s ‘sheroes’ from Jamia, gave a call for Jihad. Sakhaloon also glorified genocidal maniacs who were responsible for the massacre of Hindus during the Moplah massacres. The Shaheen Bagh protests, the biggest anti-CAA effort, was masterminded by Sharjeel Imam, another highly educated individual.
The foremost responsibility of the leaders of any movement is to keep the masses united. Without capable leaders, the masses will bicker among themselves and will lose every single time. It is the leader who forges a unity between the masses and convinces them towards achieving a common goal. Without capable leaders, a movement is destined to fail. In this respect, terrorism is not much different from other movements.
It is precisely for this reason that people like Sharjeel Imam and Asaduddin Owaisi and Hussain Haidry are far bigger threats to the Indian Union and the Hindu Civilization than the neighbourhood Islamist who fixes people’s punctured tires. The neighbourhood Islamist will never be capable of leading any organized effort towards establishing an Islamic Caliphate. Those efforts could only ever be led by educated people or people from well-to-do families such as the ones mentioned above.
It is the educated Islamists who feed the unwashed masses with relentless propaganda and recruit them for the success of the Ummah. It is the educated Islamist who indoctrinate them with supremacist notions such as ‘We ruled over you for 800 years’, something that is preposterous and obviously not true, and indoctrinates them into a cult of victimhood so as to turn them into footsoldiers for their nefarious agenda.
Sharjeel Imam is an IIT-graduate studying in JNU, Hussain Haidry studied in IIM-Indore. Terrorism, when the multiple layers shrouding it in a cloak of mystery are removed, is War. And wars are led and won by generals and commanders, not the ‘puncturewaala’. It is not elitism but an observable fact. And it is for this very reason, the Indian Union must be wary of educates Islamists for it is them who will ensure that Radical Islamic outfits never run out of footsoldiers for their war.
The Indian Union must always be more wary of Radical Islamists of the Hussain Haidry and Sharjeel Imam variety than the average ‘puncturewaala’. In ordinary discourse, ‘puncturewaala’ is obviously a pejorative insult and ought to be avoided but this is essentially used to ensure that Islamists who have a superiority complex and claim that they ‘ruled you for 800 years’, it might be the only cure. It is not literally the next shop puncturewala that has this mentality, but the Imams and Haidrys, who may not say so openly, but their mentality, as evidenced several times is supremacist and dangerous.
The “puncturewala” jibe is essentially to shut the Islamist supremacists up who claim their superiority over Hindus when they say they ruled for 800 years and is essentially used to tell them that they are no rulers.
The educated Islamists goad the ‘puncturewaalas’ into committing violence by constantly feeding them a toxic mix of perpetual victimhood and Islamic supremacy. While an honest investigation into history shows that ‘We ruled you for 800 years’ is complete bollocks, it is only helpful with people willing to learn. For the average ‘puncturewaala’ who is driven by supremacist indoctrination, a reminded of his current fortunes could help in getting rid of his delusions, as it is too much optimism to expect Islamic supremacists to be willing to learn authentic Indian history.
