The Samjhauta Bombing Acquittal is Proof Of India’s “Deep State” Civil War

By Andrew Korybko
Source

Nothing proves that India stands at the cusp of fundamental change more than the Samjhauta bombing acquittal, which is also the most public evidence yet confirming that the country’s “deep state” is in the throes of civil war over whether the civilization-state should remain a secular republic or transform into a Hindu theocracy.

An Audacious Acquittal

Four Hindu extremists were just acquitted of their long-suspected role in the 2007 terrorist bombing of the Samjhauta Express. The attack killed 70 people (the majority of whom were Pakistanis) on the railway whose name symbolically means “accord” or “compromise” and which was initially supposed to be a sign of both nuclear-armed Great Powers’ willingness to overcome their geopolitical differences, at one time even representing the only rail route between their two nations for decades at the time of its establishment in 1976. The terrorist attack was connected to Hindu extremists who carried it a day prior to the planned arrival of the Pakistani Foreign Minister to India as part of both parties’ desire to continue peace talks at the time, with the suspected intent being to derail those negotiations.

“Deep State” Divisions

It should be noted that the ruling Congress party at the time immediately condemned the attack and actively sought to bring its perpetrators to justice, hence why the four Hindu extremists were brought into custody in the first place. The Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Maharashtra Police also publicly linked Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit to the incident, who claimed innocence by pleading that he had only “infiltrated” the group as part of his professional duty but ended up being the first Indian Army officer arrested on terrorism charges for his alleged involvement in the 2006 Malegaon anti-Muslim terrorist bombings. It’s beyond the scope of the present piece to delve into all the intricate details of these two terrorist cases, but it’s enough to point out that they raised very serious questions about the connection between elements of the Indian military-intelligence community (“deep state”) and terrorist-inclined Hindu extremists.

All of this is important to keep in mind as India approaches its upcoming general elections next month because the civilization-state is at the cusp of fundamental change if the BJP comes out on top. The contemporary ruling party differs from its Congress predecessors in that it espouses the fundamentalist Hindu ideology of Hindutva and is dedicated to imposing a so-called “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu religious government) on the over 1.2 billion people living in this constitutionally secular state whose founding principles Congress is dedicated to protecting. In fact, it can even be said that the whole reason why the Samjhauta suspects were rounded up in the first place and Lt. Col. Purohit’s role was publicly revealed was because Congress wanted to expose the danger that Hindutva poses to India.

Birds Of A Feather

It’s extremely unlikely that the BJP would have seriously investigated that terrorist attack had it been in power at the time, especially when considering that it pretty much ignores India’s lynching epidemic carried out by its Hindutva followers against Muslims. Looking back on it, the Samjhauta bombing was one of the most recent high-profile salvos of India’s current “deep state” civil war between secularists and fundamentalists because it represented the militant rise of religious extremists against the constitutionally secular state that directly led to the Mumbai false flag terrorist attack the year later, an ascent to power that would later be “electorally legitimized” following the manipulation of communal tensions in the run-up to the 2014 polls. No one should therefore believe it to be a mere coincidence that the BJP-led government acquitted the Samjhauta suspects despite one of them – Swami Aseemanand – previously confessing to the role of the BJP’s RSS ideological fountainhead in that attack and others.

The BJP and their Hindutva ilk aren’t just content with trying to create a “Hindu Rashtra” but also want to expand such a concept across what they regard as “Akhand Bharat”, or “Greater India”, from Afghanistan to Myanmar and Tibet down to the Maldives. This neo-imperial expansionist policy is strongly supported by the BJP’s “fellow travelers” in the “deep state” and given a wink-and-a-nod approval from Prime Minister Modi, though the ruling authorities are facing opposition to this from the geopolitically responsible elements of the military-intelligence bureaucracy who are suspected of undermining the government’s strategy of using Baloch terrorists in the Hybrid War on CPEC. It’s also facing resistance from secular political leaders like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who publicly raised serious questions about whether the authorities let the recent Pulwama attack happen in order to shore up support for Modi’s reelection.

Concluding Thoughts

The BJP is on the brink of taking its plans for a “Hindu Rashtra” across “Akhand Bharat” to the next level if it wins the upcoming elections and forms the next government, hinting that this rogue state could become not only more geopolitically dangerous, but also more internally dictatorial after the ruling party strongly implied earlier this month that dissent is treasonous. The Samjhauta acquittal is proof of the future that lays ahead for India where Hindu extremists can commit acts of terror with abandon and impunity, a scenario that few could have thought possible back in the days of Congress rule when the authorities cracked down on such terrorist organizations and sought to bring them to justice. Nevertheless, dissident elements of the “deep state” can only do so much to fight back against the impending dystopia, with it ultimately being up to the citizens themselves to decide if this is what they truly want to see happen to their civilization-state.

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