Thirteen years ago, on November 26, 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)-trained jihadis attacked prominent Mumbai locations: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, Nariman House business and residential complex, Cama Hospital, Leopold Cafe, the Oberoi-Trident Hotel, and Taj Hotel and Tower. One of the most heinous, horrendous, and gruesome acts of jihad ever perpetrated against us in contemporary times.
While the military forces eliminated nine terrorists in a four-day operation, the lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, was apprehended alive and condemned to death at Pune’s Yerwada Central Jail in 2012. But the “grand old party,” which believes that Bharat’s “Tryst With Destiny” began “at the stroke of midnight” on the eve of August 15, 1947, devised a plan to cease the opportunity to gain support and empathy from the Indian Muslim community, hoping to foster that support in the upcoming national elections, according to a confidential memo written by then US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, and addressed to the State Department on December 23, 2008, as “What’s more, even after its recent emboldening state election victory, the party made the cynical political calculation to lend credence to the conspiracy.” Mulford said in his cable that “the party chose to cater to Muslims’ worries, providing encouragement for those in the Muslim community who will continue to play up the conspiracy notion.” Thus, the canard of ‘Hindutva Terror or Saffron Terror’ swayed the minds of then crass political minds (to appease Muslims), marking the beginning of the ‘Hindu Terror’ bogey—one of the most shrewd scams to wallop, demonise, smear, and shame an entire civilisation, while whitewashing the Islamists for their heinous act of waging a war on Bharat.
In his book Let Me Say It Now, published in 2020, Rakesh Maria, former Mumbai Police Commissioner, says that the Lashkar-e-Taiba sought to portray the 26/11 terror attack as an instance of “Hindu terror”. “If everything had gone according to plan, he [Kasab] would have died wearing a scarlet ribbon around his wrist like a Hindu. We would have discovered an identity card with a false name on his person: Samir Dinesh Chaudhari, student of Arunodaya Degree and P.G. College, Vedre Complex, Dilkhushnagar, Hyderabad, 500060, resident of 254, Teachers’ Colony, Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru, 500060,” Maria writes.
During US President Barack Obama’s visit to India in 2010, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his concerns to him, which are mentioned in detail in his book, A Promised Land (released in 2020). He was concerned that rising anti-Muslim sentiment has bolstered the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s primary opposition party. “The lure of religious and ethnic cooperation can be intoxicating in uncertain times, Mr. President,” the prime minister remarked. “It’s not difficult for politicians in India or elsewhere to take advantage of this,” Obama writes in his memoir.
According to RVS Mani, a former Indian government administrator, “Congress and ISI are behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror assault.” The former bureaucrat also opens a Pandora’s box in terms of police corruption in Mumbai. He claims that an Indiabulls agent approached him and encouraged him not to pursue legal action against a senior police officer because he was told that Rs 500 million was up for grabs to ensure that a senior officer was appointed Mumbai Police Commissioner. Surprisingly, the wife of the controversial Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh is a director on the Indiabulls board of directors.
Many people tried to present a completely different picture of the 26/11 attacks back then, according to Saroj Kumar Rath, a professor at Delhi University and author of Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks. Abdul Samad Yaqoob, an official spokesperson for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), admitted as recently as September 2021 that Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and other terrorists who carried out the Mumbai terror attacks were Pakistani. Even before the launch of his book (scheduled for December 1, 2021) 10 Flashpoints; 20 Years, senior Congress leader, MP and national spokesperson Manish Tewari has accused the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh of teetering and faltering and that the government at that time did not act decisively against Pakistan. He writes, “For a state that has no compunctions about brutally slaughtering hundreds of innocent people, restraint is not a sign of strength; it is perceived as a symbol of weakness,” he writes.
In short, after November 26 attacks, no action was taken. We were lacking in political will. The IAF had even stated that it was prepared to strike Pakistan after November 26. The forces are not the ones who make the decisions. Our personnel are on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can react in a fraction of a second. There was a lack of guidance from the political establishment. Even after India’s surgical strikes, former NSA M.K. Narayanan stated that they had choices available at the time but chose not to use them. Such actions necessitate bravery. India was considering the Western reaction as well as the risk of a war if we struck. But then politicians and the government under the command of ‘The First Family’ were busy conniving and propagating the bogey of Hindu terror, thus smearing, slandering and vilifying one of the oldest living civilisations on the planet with the most tolerant and benevolent history. While giving a clean chit to Islamic jihad, culminating in macabre terrorism that not only shook India but the entire world.
One should recall the launch of a book in 2010 by Digvijaya Singh named 26/11: RSS ki Saazish. One should also recall when Digvijaya Singh, the former CM of Madhya Pradesh, claimed that he was continuously in touch with slain cop Hemant Karkare. Does this claim connote something that is germane to Sadhvi Pragya and Colonel Purohit? Looking at the series of events that unfolded during the UPA era, it is explicitly evident that there was certainly an intriguing conspiracy supported by an insider in power (high command) at the time. If this doesn’t ring bells and warrant scrutiny, then I wonder what does.
Yuvraj Pokharna is a Surat-based educator, columnist, and social activist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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