BJP Councilor in Jammu and Kashmir, Rakesh Pandita, was shot dead by Islamic terrorists on Wednesday. Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba’s front organisations have claimed responsibility for the murder.
While the region has been plagued by Islamic terrorism for decades, the language that the terrorists have used to justify the terror attack this time around is quite remarkable. The statement and the name of the Islamic terrorist group that has claimed responsibility provides a unique glimpse into the damage that Congress party and the opposition parties have inflicted on the politics of the country.
The statement was issued by an Islamic terrorist group that calls itself “People’s Anti-Fascist Front”. In the statement, they have described Rakesh Pandita as a ‘fascist Hindu’ and they have also ranted against ‘Hindutva thugs’. Pandita was a peace-loving citizen of this country who participated in the politics of this country, a right guaranteed to every citizen of this country by the Constitution of India.
But opposition political parties embraced dehumanizing rhetoric against the BJP that has landed them in a situation where their language is indistinguishable from that used by Islamic terrorists. Not merely that, terrorists have realised that rhetoric adopted by opposition parties can be used as a convenient justification for violence against BJP politicians and workers.
It is important to mention here that the murder of Rakesh Pandita had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with his religion. He was murdered because he was Hindu. The Congress party and other opposition leaders by accusing the BJP of being ‘fascist’ have provided terrorists with a convenient excuse to indulge in terrorism.
Only days ago, ‘liberals’ online were having a serious debate on whether they should help BJP supporters combat the Covid-19 crisis. Such discussion was based on the assumption that all BJP supporters are fascists.
When every Hindu who supports BJP is labeled a fascist, the consequence was bound to be terrible. Now, we have Islamic terrorists feeling emboldened enough to murder BJP politicians and justify their actions with claims that they are murdering fascists.
Islamic terrorists call themselves ‘Antifa’
It’s not just liberals in India that the statement is geared towards, it is also designed to appeal to western liberals. Western liberals claim that anyone who is not a fascist is Antifa. That is how they have justified political violence against Conservatives in the United States of America and whitewashed the intense spell of rioting by Antifa in cities across the country.
Now, we are in a situation where Islamic terrorists have started calling themselves ‘Antifa’. The irony of the situation is enough to make heads explode in disbelief. Islamic terrorists in Kashmir wish to appeal to western liberals by the usage of the term and since, those in the latter camp are predisposed to consider every Hindutvavadi a Nazi, terrorists might even succeed in finding takers for their extremist ideology among liberals in the West.
There has been great political violence against BJP workers in West Bengal following Trinamool Congress’ victory in the assembly elections. That has not received the condemnation it deserves and TMC senior leaders have managed to deny that political violence ever occurred because they know fully well that liberals in country and most influential media houses truly believe that BJP workers are fascists against whom violence is justified.
It was only a matter of time before Kashmiri terrorists came to the same realisation. When the rhetoric of terrorists are indistinguishable from those adopted by mainstream opposition politicians, it is well past time that opposition leaders engage in proper introspection.
Dehumanising rhetoric has terrible consequences
Rahul Gandhi himself has accused the BJP and RSS of furthering a ‘fascist ideology’. His allies have done the same as well. They have normalised the use of such dehumanising rhetoric to such an extent that even terrorists feel safe in assuming that their crimes against humanity will be pardoned if they use the same.
The murder of Rakesh Pandita is a consequence of the genocidal hatred that Kashmiri terrorists bear against the Hindu community. It has already led to one genocide before and if Indian security forces suffer a lapse for even one single moment, which can happen under such stressful circumstances, we have no reason to doubt that it will happen again.
It is not the first instance that liberal rhetoric has been found to be in perfect sync with terrorists in Kashmir. For instance, the ‘gaumutra’ jibe, which is so popular among liberals in the country, was used by the Pulwama terrorist in a pre-recorded video justifying his suicide bombing.
Dehumanising rhetoric against political opponents has extremely devastating consequences for the health of the polity in the country. Opposition parties need to wake up to the damage they are causing, otherwise genocidal rhetoric will continue to find credence and once genocidal rhetoric is normalised, it is only a matter of time before an apocalyptic catastrophe.
