JAMMU: Once the suave face of PDP, Tariq Hamid Karra is the latest entrant to the Hafiz Sayeed and Bagdadi Company. Same style of venom and threats he is currently hurling in the ‘cozy’ company of Abdullahs, against whom he had used choicest invectives in 2014. Utter surprising is the fact that he is doing it as a member of the once grand old political party of the country and current flag bearer of secularism -Congress.
Disgusting to the extreme, Karra’s alleged call to wage Jihad against the political system of the country makes him a fit case for PSA, which he, in all probability, will use to his advantage in the hugely radicalized environment of Kashmir, unfortunately.
One wonders as to what Rahul Gandhi had in mind when he welcomed him to the Congress fold. The memory of the people is definitely short but not as short to forget pictures of a beaming Rahul Gandhi alongside Karra. Perhaps the country is witnessing a churning of sorts in which all men of dubious and anti-India character are finally getting exposed. But should the nation’s political consciousness and its existing law and order apparatus remain oblivious of the statements of such people who once out of power turn brazenly anti-national. This is assuming a regular dimension in the extra sensitive state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Sadly Karra does not stop at this calumny but goes one more diabolical step further in asking Muslims to wage holy war. To quote him will not be out of context, “I am a Mujahid, as I want to defeat anti Muslim parties Those who have united to support the National Conference-Congress candidates are doing Jihad. When Islam is in threat, it is the duty of every Muslim to do Jihad. Stopping fascist forces from making inroads in Jammu and Kashmir is Jihad for me.”
Now the moot point is that how long Congress will wait to ask Karra to explain his position following this statement. And if it has learnt its lessons well after the recent drubbing in elections, will Rahul Gandhi expel him from his already beleaguered party. One can only wonder how the Jammu Congressmen will react to Karra’s fascinating speeches in Kashmir.
Karra’s venom has to be seen in various dimensions. First, he has shown evil temerity to instigate the Muslims of the country in general and the State in particular to raise the banner of Jihad. Without seeing to the potential consequences of his deliberate instigation he has shown scant regard to maintenance of communal harmony and good will among the various communities of the State.
Jammu and Kashmir is already reeling under a separatist movement, fomented by divisive and jihadi forces and strengthened by the so-called mainstreamists.. In Kashmir, the oldest living community of Kashmiri Pandits has been exiled by the same inimical Jihadis whom Karra asks Muslims to espouse. Does he now seek the Jihadi forces to unite and do the same in Jammu region because Jammu has voted overwhelmingly for the BJP? He has issued a direct threat to the ruling BJP-PDP combine and sought the help of Jihadi forces to defeat them.
Here the clinching point that people mean by the victory of the forces of Jihad is the whole scale murder and destruction. That is what Jihad means for those against whom it has been waged. The examples around the world are before us. Does Karra mean to teach the people of Jammu and Kashmir a lesson by subjecting them to the brutal onslaught of the Jihadi forces? It is a matter of grave concern. If a former Parliament Member who has seen the dynamism and secular character of the great Indian democracy invites Muslims to hurl Jihad against the people who are not on his side is not only reflecting a fascist but Nazi mindset . It is now for the Congress to take a call if they want to salvage any of their political prospects left in the country. One wonders how would have the great Congress leaders like Vallabhai Patel and Lal Bahadur Shastri, or for that matter Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, viewed this threat from a man who is now nothing but a Congressman. The hunch is that in all probability Congress led by Rahul Gandhi will not take note of Karra’s rants. Rahul Gandhi is now a proven non-starter who knows very little of Kashmir and does not understand the jihad well.
The good reason for the near decimation of Congress is the fact that it has failed to gauge the changing mood of the vast mass of this great nation. The threat of Karra is not something that should be taken lying down. It is an open threat to the PDP and BJP and to the millions of those who have voted for them. Karra has issued a venomous political fatwa which will have far reaching implications for the peace of the State if he is not shown the force of law under these compelling circumstances which have arisen as an aftermath of his statement.
Islam is in danger is another slogan that Karra and his new found friends are raising in run up to the bypolls. Everybody in the world knows that Kashmir is 99 percent Muslim. Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim majority State in the country. The rate of growth of population among Muslims is highest. The largest number of mosques in the world is in India. Still Karra asks people to rise and wage Jihad because Islam is in danger. In hindsight we should not also forget that Karra was once finance minister of the state under Mufti Government. Now he is out of the PDP as a result he wants to settle political scores with PDP leadership. But at what cost, is to be understood thoroughly. The truth is that if today people like Karra are not stopped in their tracks it will open a new definition of Jihad. Already the state and the country have suffered a great deal. Will PDP-BJP government rise to the occasion or create conditions for a counter backlash. And, last but least, will the Congress have audacity to call itself secular- a term most abused in India.