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The Saffron Terror

New breed of terror in India – Saffron terror or Hindu terror is making life difficult for the law enforcement agencies and anti-terrorism teams across the length and breadth of the biggest democratic country in the world.
During the almost 800 years of Muslim conquest and rule in India, Islamic invaders and rulers destroyed and replaced many Hindu temples with mosques. In more recent times, Hindu groups such as Vishva Hindu Parishad are attempting to reclaim some of these sites, which include some of the most sacred sites such as Ram Janmabhoomi and Krishnajanmabhoomi. This attempt to reclaim such sites has often led to tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities in India and has led to several major incidences of religious violence such as Bombay riots, 1993 Bombay bombings, Godhra Train Burning, and 2002 Gujarat violence.

In his slim yet insightful booklet, Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma writes, "Ayodhya seems to have emerged as a place of religious pilgrimage in medieval times. Although chapter 85 of the Vishnu Smriti lists as many as fifty-two places of pilgrimage, including towns, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc., it does not include Ayodhya in this list."Sharma also notes that Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas in 1574 at Ayodhya, does not mention it as a place of pilgrimage. After the demolition of Babri masjid, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma along with Historians Suraj Bhan, M.Athar Ali and Dwijendra Narayan Jha came up with the Historian's report to the nation on how the communalists were mistaken in their assumption that there was a temple at the disputed site and how it was sheer vandalism in bringing down the mosque and the book has been translated into all the Indian languages.

On December 6, 1992, members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal destroyed the 430 year old Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, allegedly built over the birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama. This action caused great anger in the Muslim community. The resulting religious riots caused at least 1200 deaths. Reprisals against Hindu minorities also occurred in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Since then the Government of India has blocked off or heavily increased security at these disputed sites while encouraging attempts to resolve these disputes through court cases and negotiations.

In the aftermatch of the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu nationalists on December 6, 1992, roiting took place between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Mumbai. 500 people died in the resulting violence of the worst civil unrest in India since the partition. Four people died in a fire in the Asalpha timber mart at Ghatkopar, five were killed in the burning of Bainganwadi; shacks along the harbor line track between Sewri and Cotton Green stations were gutted; and a couple was pulled out of a rickshaw in Asalpha village and burnt to death. The riots changed the demographics of Mumbai greatly, as Hindus moved to Hindu-majority areas and Muslims moved to Muslim-majority areas. It is estimated that almost 200,000 people moved location in the aftermath of the riots.

After the riots the 1993 Bombay bombings occurred, where a series of thirteen bomb explosions took place in Mumbai (then Bombay) on March 12, 1993. The coordinated attacks were the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian history. The single-day attacks resulted in over 250 civilian fatalities and 700 injuries. The attacks are believed to have been coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, don of the organized crime syndicate named D-Company, which had operated as a terrorist organization. It is believed that the attacks were carried out in retaliation for the destruction of Babri Mosque. There were fears that the attacks would restart the rioting, but this did not occur.
Later on 27 February 2002, the Godhra train burning incident occurred in the town of Godhra in the Indian state of Gujarat, One of the coaches (Coach #S6) of a train named the "Sabarmati Express" was set on fire right after it left the train station. The coach was occupied by Hindu religious pilgrims called Kar Sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya. 58 Hindu pilgrims (23 men, 15 women and 20 children) who were inside, were burnt alive, and the coach was completely gutted by the fire. The fire was alleged at the time to have been started during an attack by a Muslim mob following an altercation between the Hindu pilgrims and local Muslims when the train was in platform, however an investigative panel led by Justice U C Banerjee claimed that the fire was an accident, not a deliberate act.

The Godhra train burning incident led to the 2002 Gujarat riots in which mosly Muslims were killed in an obvious act of retaliation. According to the death toll given to the parliament on May 11, 2005 by the government, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, and another 2,548 injured. 223 people are missing. The report placed the number of riot widows at 919 and 606 children were declared orphaned According to human rights groups, the death tolls were up to 2000. According to the Congressional Research Service, up to 2000 people, mostly Muslim were killed in the violence. Tens of thousands were displaced from their homes because of the violence. The large-scale, collective violence has been described by some as a "massacre" and an attempted pogrom or genocide of the Muslim population. According to New York Times reporter Celia Williams Dugger, witnesses were "dismayed by the lack of intervention from local police", who often "watched the events taking place and took no action against the attacks on Muslims and their property". Sangh leaders as well as the Gujarat government maintain that the violence was rioting or inter-communal clashes - spontaneous and uncontrollable reaction to the Godhra train burning
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Saffron Terror or Hindutva terrorism is a neologism that refers to a few terrorist attacks in India suspected to have been perpetrated by extreme Hindu nationalist groups................India inside.................