MANGLED bodies, wounded people and fear-stricken faces—every bomb blast, anywhere, leaves this image in its wake. Recent serial blasts at Delhi were no different. What is different is that this blast confirms the existence of Islamist terrorism in India.

Unlike the past, when Pakistan was a straightaway suspect, this time the search is within the county. Still, the Indian Mujahideen, the terrorist outfit which has taken the responsibility is linked with Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the two groups said to be operating from Pakistan. Defence Minister A.K. Anthony has put the blame on Pakistan but in a general way. So is the view of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Delhi blasts have followed a familiar pattern—low-intensity bombs, timer devices and e-mails to the media for information—that has been seen in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Apparently, the group gets a malicious satisfaction in killing the innocent and selects crowded places like markets to increase the number of casualties. One thing is certain that the killers have no qualms of conscience although their functioning suggests that they are a highly educated lot. That they should indulge in mayhem in the holy month of Ramzan should not be a surprise.

What is disturbing is that the big cities from where they operate seem to have a network of people who support, shelter and guide them. True, money can buy such helpers. But the latter are like-minded and convinced about the righteousness of their task. This indicates that India has come to have a determined number of people who are willing to challenge the state which in any case remains inept and clueless.

The belief getting strengthened is that the culprits are Muslims. But they themselves want to know the identity of the killers. The BJP is exploiting the situation. But neither the party nor any of its organization has condemned the killing of Christians and the burning of their churches. After Orissa, the orgy has spread to Karnataka, a BJP-run state. This has frightened the minorities. Muslims and Christians are feeling insecure. They are increasingly getting consolidated on religious lines. The added reason for Muslims’ alienation is New Delhi’s tilt towards Washington.

Indeed, the Muslim community has got disillusioned from the ethos of secularism which the dominant opinion in India upholds. Muslims have experienced how the reality is different when it gets translated into an equal treatment. The Sachar Committee has proved the hollowness of government’s claims with facts and figures which it has collected from official sources at the centre and in the states.

Therefore, the community is tempted to go it alone. The coming polls may show some evidence of it. The Muslim vote can influence some 120 Lok Sabha seats. The feeling of going it alone is understandable, but not beneficial. It may give vent to the community’s exasperation and may divide the society further. This is not in the interest of Muslims who have the largest population in India, next to Indonesia. Even otherwise, the smouldering differences between Hindus and Muslims can catch fire, much to the glee of the BJP which is back to its Hindutva agenda with a vengeance.

However the Muslim community may be smarting under a sense of denial, it has to strengthen the pluralistic society by playing a lead role. Some Muslims leaders should take upon themselves the task of finding out the credentials of the so-called Indian Mujahideen who are trying to destroy India’s fabric of secularism and causing harm to the Muslim community.

A few days ago, some Muslims had announced that they would go into the blasts at Jaipur and Bangalore to pick up concrete evidence which the governments have failed to collect. Many Muslims believe that those who are being arrested on suspicion are nowhere connected with the blasts. The country is facing a real challenge. The majority and the minorities are going apart and government doesn’t seem to have any idea how to span the distance. Jawaharlal Nehru also envisaged such a situation. There is something in what he said: Communalism of minorities can be fought and curbed but communalism of the majority would take the shape of fascism.

Another breed of terrorists has cropped up in India. They are not necessarily fundamentalist, nor are they from the underworld. You may call them rough necks or just goondas. Yet, they have acquired muscles to dictate individuals how to lead their life. They are everywhere. But they proliferate in Maharashtra. They are often targeting creative people, film stars or artists or writers because this catches attention. It also tickles their vanity and gives them the vicarious satisfaction of pulling down the celebrities whom they can never reach in name or fame.

In Maharashtra they call themselves by the name of the Shiv Sena and in Orissa, the Bajrang Dal. Their religion should not dupe you because they are the scrum of society. Their strong point is that they either operate with the connivance of the state or with the confidence that the society has no guts to intervene to fight against them. They wish to wield political power but seldom come near it because the voters fear them, not trust them. For some time, Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackery has been quiet. Partly, age has mellowed him but partly he has come to realise that Maharashtra is part of India, not that India is part of Maharashtra. His notoriety began with the ultimatum to north Indians to leave the state but converted the sentiment into Hindutva and joined hands with the BJP.

Raj Thackery, his nephew, has come to reignite the same anti-north phobia when the uncle has preferred his son as the successor. Many poor Biharis had to leave Mumbai following attacks on them and the destruction of their scanty belongings. But film actors are still on the top of the list.

Talented Jaya Bachchan was Raj Thackery’s target because she said she did not have to necessarily stick to Marathi in Maharashtra and would speak in Hindi since she belonged to UP. Unfortunately, when public opinion was building up in her support, her husband Amitabh Bachchan offered an abject apology. Why don’t people put up fight against injustice? Amitabh Bachchan chose the least line of resistance.

Another person to surrender to goondaism is Maqbool Fida Husain, the leading painter. Artists and others fought for his right to show Bharat Mata naked. While dismissing the 3,000 cases against him, the Supreme Court said that there are many such pictures, paintings and sculptures and some of them are in temples. Husain should have come back to India but he preferred to celebrate his 93rd birthday at Dubai. It is a pity that decent people have no appetite to confront the indecent.