In the name of What ?

The jihadi mind is very creative and innovative and that is why it is able to rock and shock the world again and again . To launch attacks by land, by air and finally also by sea belies a romantic bent of mind (as opposed to a political one) . Such megalomania cannot grow from rational or analytical thought. It has to be nurtured with romance. Whatever be the acts of few of its aberrant followers, Islam is undoubtedly a faith that is romantic at heart. Every other emotion, including hate, revenge and even respect are considered subservient to love, orMohabbat. The relationship between a murid and his pir is more about love than anything else. If you read few of the Sufi rubaiyyats or listen to a few qawwalis, that love will resonate within your heart as well. Verses like छाप तिलक सब छीनी रे मोसे नैना मिलाइके illustrate this in good measure.

But this love is a double-edged sword. While on the one hand it buttresses the magnetism of Islam and draws millions to Ajmer and Nizamuddin daily, on the other hand it requires the followers of Islam to be blind followers. Questioning the dogmas is anathema in all religions. But in Islam there is no need for a moral police to make people dogmatic. Since the base is love, people willingly accepts fatwas and jihads as opportunities to prove their love for Allah. Such internalization of dogmatism is unique to Islam and might explain why it is able to drive people to fidayeen attacks time and again.

Elected heads of state are not so imaginative it seems; which is why they are having shoes hurled at them publicly. If Osama sells jihad to fidayeens to fight his war, Bush and other American leaders sell the fiction of America and the American Dream to convince civilians to go to war. Only difference is that Osama's appeal is stronger than Bush' s and so his soldiers go to war in full knowledge that they will die while Bush's men start whining when the "toll in Iraq" starts increasing.
Most of the people that vote for BJP today are voting for the posturings of Advani and Modi. Are they any different from Osama and Bush ? They are also trying to sell the romatic idea of Hindu Rashtra to the millions. In fact Hitler and Mussolini were also trying to sell their ideas to make people fight their wars.
It all comes down to the strength of the sales pitch, the efficiency of operations and the timing of delivery. Jihadis are getting it right. They are selling well, they are organized well and they are timing well. Elected heads of state are not doing any of these things right. In the name of democracy and pluralism political heads become uncategorical and impotent. All statements are served with beaureaucratic garnishings and end up making no sense at all. They are forever on the defensive, protecting their fragile regimes and trying to accomodate everyone.
Eventually those fighting the war against terror would need a dose of the romantic like the fidayeens to keep them motivated. They would need leaders who can move them beyond petty concerns so that they may once again feel compelled to throw their clothes into the fire and march barefoot to ocean shores. While violent and exclusivist ideologies have always been easy to dress up and sell, they only end up replacing one dictator with another. We need someone who can romanticize peace and non-violence, someone who can talk to Osama in his camp and make him feel ashamed of himself, someone who will make Kasab cry for his sins by going to his village and sympathising with his father.
There was such a man once who walked this earth. There was such a man once behind whom our grandfathers paraded barefooted. We shot him then. May he be reborn among one of us the next time jihadis open fire on innocents and may the rest of us have the strength to stand by such a man when he is reborn.