With the Lebanon crisis resurfacing in West Asia and the Middle East, a strange phenomenon has emerged. Sunnis and Shias have converged in the cauldron called Lebanon. The US, still shell-shocked by 9/11, is caught in a Catch 22 situation. The Bush administration’s policy of democratisation by regime change - in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan - has made Islamic countries feel they are being threatened either in the name of Saddam and Taliban or Iranian nuclear power, Hamas or Hezbollah. Such a fear psychosis and insecurity among the Islamic world in Middle East and West Asia may herald turbulence for peaceful countries like India.

In India, despite diversities in religions, regions, ethnicities and identities, social unity has never been an issue. Religious conflicts - such as the Shia versus Sunni or Islam versus The Rest - never grew roots in India’s democratic psyche. But the widespread anger against the Prophet’s cartoons published by European newspapers and the conflicts of West Asia led to violent protests during Bush’s visit here. And even though seemingly symbolic, these protests reflect deep religious hurt and pain felt by the Indian minority.

Even the best ever nuclear deal between Manmohan Singh and Bush is being interpreted as a collaboration in favour of an US expansionist policy against the Islamic world! Sure, certain communal episodes, like the Babri Masjid demolition and the carnage in Gujarat, are what have provoked these sentiments. The seed of hatred was sown in many an Indian Muslim a mind in Ayodhya, what followed were acts of hatred against one another that triggered off terrorism on a high scale. This can now only be halted by returning to pre-1992 environment of secular resurgence. Or else, the bipolar mindset of Islamic versus The Rest of the World will drive the earth to annihilation.

... contd.