Westminster Bridge was attacked. Four persons were killed, forty injured and the UK’s parliament ceased operations. It is not the first time that such an attack has terrorized European cities. Trucks were used with deadly effect last year in Berlin and Nice. The Islamic State is gradually losing its venom in Iraq and Syria with US President Donald Trump glaring at it. But globalisation is becoming obsolete as IS terror is getting to be an international menace. What should be India’s response to the challenge? The national defence against terror has to be beefed up. Security should be more alert and intelligence more on the job. The London attack did not call for the acquisition of weapons and explosives. But teams of militants are growing on Indian soil, however minor. All this is a great threat to the country’s future security. Even individual action can be spontaneous. To prevent or minimize such attacks in future, India should ensure that some groups are not socially alienated and isolated.
True, the IS has little attraction yet for Indian Muslims. In the past few years, they have been peaceful and quiescent. But the BJP sweep in the recent elections may cause the standard of Hindutva to be raised threateningly. India may under BJP indoctrination turn into a kind of Hindu Pakistan with its minorities relegated to second class status. Uttar Pradesh may turn into a home of religious fanaticism. The stress on the creation of a Ram Mandir may revive the Babri Mosque dispute. Admittedly, India is still untainted by religious intolerance with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi upholding the cause of unity. But it does not reduce the IS threat which is already suspected to have caused a train disaster.
