Does the first known case of Islamic lone wolf terror in India date back to December 23 1926

With the murder of several Hindus in India, the issue of lone wolf terror attacks are being discussed. However one has to dig deeper into history to find out if this is a new phenomenon or has always existed when the Hindus have spoken out for their religion

New Delhi, Dec 23: The chargesheet filed by the National Investigation (NIA) in connection with the murder of Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli, clearly indicates the rise in what is being called lone wolf terrorism.

Lone wolf terrorism if defined in common terms suggests that an Islamic radical has carried out an attack on his own without the backing of any terrorist organisation. It would also mean that their actions are inspired or influenced by some ideology of a specific terrorist organisation.

Lone wolf terror:

In this context we need to revisit the killing of 'Swami Shraddhanand Kaksha.' He was assassinated at the hands of Abdul Rashid on December 23 1926. The fact that he wanted to protect the Hindu society from the onslaught of Christianity and Islam's forced conversion did not go down well with many. The Arya Samaaj represented by him started the Shuddhi (purification) movement to reconvert the Hindu fold of Christianity and Islam.

This has led to the increasing communalisation of social life during the 1920s and snowballed into communal issues. The issue of the mission recovering Malkana Rajputs did not go down well with M K Gandhi. He criticised Sharaddhanand in an article titled 'Hindu-Muslim-Tensions: Causes and Resistance'. He wrote in the article Swami Shraddhanand has also become a character of disbelief. I know that his speeches are often provocative. Just as most Muslims think, that every non-Muslim will one day convert to Islam, Shraddhanand also believes that, every Muslim can be initiated into the Aryan.

The murder of of Swami Lakshmanananda:

On August 23 2008 of Swami Lakshmanananda was killed. He was 84 years old. After killing him the terrorists also cut his body by chisel. While the government held the naxalites responsible for the incident, the Sangh Parivar blamed it on the Christian missionaries.

The Swami was protesting against the large scale conversions in Odisha. The very fact that the naxalites claimed responsibility for the attacks is a clear sign how the missionaries have infiltrated the system.

Swami Lakshmanananda had close ties with the RSS and had been spreading awareness about Hinduism among the tribal society for 35 years. He had set up an ashram in Chakapad and opened the 'Gurukul Sanskriti Vidyalaya', through which education was imparted until graduation. He was vocal about Christian missionaries and their conversions and this was not liked by the ones who had come to convert. He had become an obstacle for those who wanted to convert and hence they decided to kill him. Just to remind, the Swami was running a movement against the slaughter of cows.

Abhinav Pandya, a Cornell University graduate in public affairs who has also written for the Vivekananda International Foundation, India's premier think-tank tells OneIndia that when one speaks of lone-wolf terror attacks you should bear in mind the kind of eco-system that they are part of. He says that there is an auxiliary system which exists in their society which always indulges in informal conversions which leads to such kinds of attacks.

The clearly does not suggest that these attacks are not pre-planned, Pandya also says. They may not have structured connections, but it is always in the name of their religion or an organisation, he explains. Be it attacks by the missionaries or the radical Islamists, the end result is always target India and those who speak up in favour of the Hindu community, Abhinav Pandya says.