Varanasi Bomb Blast and its Causes

Last updated on: March 9, 2006 at 5:26 pm by Desh Kapoor

Varanasi Bomb Blast and its Causes 2006-03-09T17:26:35-06:00 Desh Kapoor

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In the aftermath of the recent Varanasi bomb blasts – I had an email exchange with a guy – who prides his “secular” values and gets livid at the “Hindu fascists” at the slightest nudge. This was his take on the reason (s) for the bomb blast:

Why did you presume I meant that if there is a bomb blast in a temple it is the Muslims who are aggreived? Also anytime something happens in India, it has to be a foreign hand? Who wants us to think like this? So far the STF is talking of Indians who have been recruited by LeT . What caused these people to be bought?

and my reply

OK, so lets understand your last statement – What “caused” these people to be bought? WHY?

There are only TWO arguments:

1. Either they are “habitually” prone to be bought and on the aisle of the “social market” where anyone can put a hand on their heart and give them money and they .. well.. stand bought!

2. Or somehow their environment was such that they could not afford ANY reasonable vocation DUE to which they were susceptible to being “bought”!

I believe second is true.

Argument 1: If you suggest that first is true then you are also presuming that Muslim youth, in general, is irresponsible – for NO ONE can argue that as far as NATIONAL RESOURCES are concerned .. they are getting an IOTA less than what a Parsi or a Sikh or an Aga Khani or a Christian youth is getting (and even Hindu Youth – but I know you would have other thoughts so let me argue from YOUR perspective only). So, in absence of such reactions from a Parsi kid or Sikh kid or a Christian kid.. if we say that Muslim kid’s “perceived level of hurt” is more than others then there is something inherently wrong with their basic values (which I dont believe is true).. because according to this argument they seem to be demonstrating a trait that is clearly unique to them.. of being BOUGHT at the slightest provocation!

Argument 2: This, to me is a more plausible argument. That the environment that the Muslim youth experience in “their” society does NOT afford them the SAME opportunities that, say, a Parsi youth or a Sikh youth gets! So, he/she is left with little choice than to be bought because his/her “Opportunity Cost” is SO LOW. Why is that so? Because for good or for bad a large proportion of Muslim societies – in India as well as abroad – have fallen victim to a fallacy that for some reason their salvation is through “traditional Islamic values” and in that scheme of things – Sciences (and Math) and Modern “Western” education (and indeed the lifestyle itself) in general are anti-thesis to basic Islamic Values. I have heard this being repeated so many times in village after village and Madrasa after madrasa in my study long back in 1995 that it became a real serious issue!.

This brings us to the question what can be done? “Outsiders” or non-believers can obviously not take much of an action in this.. it is incumbent upon the intellectuals within the Muslim society to stand up and take away the reigns from the hands of the “Traditionalists” or the same actions will be repeated year after year.

If I were an educated Muslim man with kids.. I would have been spending unending sleepless nights. Because when our kids grow up – at that time Oil will NOT have the kind of remuneration that it currently brings to the Muslim countries in the Mid East and elsewhere…and at that stage it is but a matter of time when the West will run roughshod over the Islamic world – in absence of ANY emphasis on education and growth and rule by despot rulers! What the Muslims of our generation face will seem like WAY positive on the scale of racism to fairness! If the youth and parents of today CANNOT and will NOT stand up and worry about their kids future.. then they are doing so at THEIR OWN PERIL!

I want to see what the others feel on this?

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