On 1st April, Nigeria’s ambassador to India responded to a comment made by Union minister Giriraj Singh, who said: “If Rajiv Gandhi had married a Nigerian lady and not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have accepted her leadership?” The remark revealed the casual discrimination that is so customary in India.
Nigeria’s ambassador OB Okongor was upset enough to say Prime Minister Narendra Modi is just like a toy in the hands of extremist.
According to commentary “5 reasons why Giriraj Singh should shut up” ran by Reddiff, one of which statement is “Isn’t it true that all people caught in terrorist activities belong to one community? And the so-called secular parties silent on this?”
Presumably he refers to Muslims. He is of course not right in assuming that all people caught for terrorism are Muslims, but are Muslims really responsible for most of the terrorism in India?
According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal lists in 2014, about 976 people died in India from terrorism or extremism. Of these, the most 465 died in the North East. The second most 314 killed by a group of people called Maoists. Deaths in Jammu & Kashmir which is famed as valley of terrorist by the left wing extremists stood at 193. Outside of these conflicts, Islamist extremism claimed only four lives.
In 2013, the figure was Maoists (421), the second most for the North East (252), and the Kashmir plus Islamist violence outside the state again came third (206). In 2012, we had a similar situation: Maoists (367), followed by the North East (326), followed by Kashmir (117). The total number of victims of Islamist terrorism outside these three areas, across India, was 1. A similar proportion of terrorism seen in 2011.
If one looks outside the separatism of Kashmir, their violence and terrorism levels are among the lowest not just by the standards of the world’s Muslims but also India’s Hindus.
According to this report most terrorists in India are Hindus, the ones whom we have conveniently labeled “Maoist” instead of “Hindu”. The second largest groups of terrorists are the tribals, animists and perhaps some Christians of the North East. Muslims are the third.
So what explains Giriraj Singh’s statement, which I must confess one hears all the time in India? He said. I cannot remember the number of times I have been informed by someone at a party that “all Muslims are not terrorists but why are all terrorists Muslims?” They are not. Not even close.
OB Okongor said on a TV show after Giriraj Singh’s comment that “Modi deliberately chose such unhinged people because they say what he wanted to but could not. He agreed with every word Singh said and that is why he was rewarded with a ministry”.