December 13: Terror Over Democracy

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The terrorist attack on Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001 shook the psyche of the nation. The people of India thus have a right to know 'Who attacked Parliament?'

Soon after the attack, four people were arrested for their alleged role in the conspiracy, and the government, aided by the media, cited 'evidence of overwhelming credibility' that terrorists operating from Pakistan had organized the attack. This enabled the government to push the country to the brink of a nuclear war with Pakistan, and enact the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which was used in turn to attack minorities, dalits and poor people.

What was that evidence? Why did an eminent lawyer, intimately connected with the case, suggest that the police failed to crack the case hence they framed people'? Why did another eminent lawyer lament that the 'media ... published whatever the police and investigating agencies put out'? What was the truth?

NIRMALANGSHU MUKHERJI is a Professor of philosophy at Delhi University. He has lectured extensively on the philosophies of language and mind, and has been a visiting professor in several institutions in India and abroad. He is the author of The Cartesian Mind: Reflections on Language and Mu- sic, and a co-editor of Noam Chomsky's The Architecture of Language. Although he has published many political articles, this is his first political book.