I've been following this news story for a couple of days and finally found a good article in the Independent about it (see link below). A recent confession by Swami Aseemanand claims that senior BJP members (the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist party in India) were involved in a series of attacks between 2006 and 2008 that targeted Muslims in India. Swami Aseemanand links the BJP and the RSS (the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh- Gandhi's assassin in 1948 was a member of the RSS) together yet again. The four attacks he confessed to killed 121 people, including an attack on a shrine in Ajmer (which I've visited).
Thankfully the BJP is not running the government in India anymore, but Hindu nationalism is, unfortunately, still alive and kicking. I'm interested in the 42-page confession Swami Aseemanand submitted (that seems like an awfully long confession with a great deal of detail) and the circumstances that surrounded his confession. But I'm more even interested in the motives of the BJP (and the RSS). Obviously they're trying to stir up communal tensions. But what exactly are they seeking to gain? At at one point does a nationalist party (which is a minute distinction away from a fundamentalist party) become a terrorist party? And is there such a thing as a terrorist party? We usually call them terrorist organizations, but in this case the BJP is a recognized political party in India.
Link to The Independent Article
Thankfully the BJP is not running the government in India anymore, but Hindu nationalism is, unfortunately, still alive and kicking. I'm interested in the 42-page confession Swami Aseemanand submitted (that seems like an awfully long confession with a great deal of detail) and the circumstances that surrounded his confession. But I'm more even interested in the motives of the BJP (and the RSS). Obviously they're trying to stir up communal tensions. But what exactly are they seeking to gain? At at one point does a nationalist party (which is a minute distinction away from a fundamentalist party) become a terrorist party? And is there such a thing as a terrorist party? We usually call them terrorist organizations, but in this case the BJP is a recognized political party in India.
Link to The Independent Article
