With the BJP and its right wing allies still sulking over the use of ‘saffron terror’, they have yet again let off an opportunity to rid themselves of the tag of ‘communal parties’ and thus further exposed and confirmed their non-commitment to and belief in secularism. Given their history (of repeated vulnerability to a secular ideology!) one cannot expect these right wing parties to accept even the existence of saffron terror, leave alone condemn it. On the other hand, the behaviour of the Congress party is also equally distressing. Instead of extending full support to the Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, the party has distanced itself from ‘saffron terror’ remarks and has been trying to play it down and safe. All this has left many people wondering as to whether the Congress is really committed to reigning in saffron terror or is it only engaging in empty rhetoric.
Amidst this drama, where we see a coexistence of both denial to accept the existence of saffron terror (BJP and its right-wing allies) and of playing down the threat of saffron terror (Congress), one person that stands out is Mr Sharad Pawar who, I thought, at least once has spoken some sense! Though he should not to be spared of his share of criticism (for neglect of agriculture which has not been his priority even though he is the Minister for Agriculture and for the corruption in BCCI-IPL), he definitely deserves applause for saying- ‘ If ‘green terror’ is fine with them, why should ‘saffron terror’ upset them so much? Isn’t green too a colour in our national flag?
So what really is the colour of terror? Is it saffron or green or white?
It shouldn’t be forgotten that terrorism by any name is still terrorism. More importantly these colours are part of our national flag and any instance of whether saffron terror or green terror (even white terror!) amounts to tarnishing the national flag. It is really shameful that we aren’t really passionate about protecting our national flag and have allowed it to be tarnished by different terror groups.
When will we let our national flag fly more often and in many places than saffron flag or green flag or white flag?
