Features of Radical Islamism and Extremism in Modern India

Abstract

India is among the top ten countries under terrorist threat. The problem of terrorism is closely intertwined with the existence of radical ideologies that are spread in all countries with Muslim populations, including India. Even before independence, the country had ideologies of radical Islamism, and with the partition of British India in 1947, the situation began to worsen with renewed vigour. In India, there are terrorist groups responsible for terrorist acts of various proportions, but also non-proscribed radical and extremist organizations whose members are adherents of the radical Islamist ideologies that constitute the basis for terrorism. Many of the Islamic movements of India cannot be attributed to radical and even more to extremist, however, the Deobandi and al-e-Hadith movements were founded under the influence of Wahhabism and can be considered radical. The ideology of these schools became the basis for many terrorist organizations such as the Taliban, the Lashkar-e-Jangvi, the Harakat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, etc. The Deobandi movement is also associated with the organization the TablighiJamaat, divided into adherents of traditional Islam and radical Islamism. The ideology of the al-Hadith movement became the basis for the Salafi terrorist group the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Jamaat-UD-Dawa), which called for military Jihad and created an extensive transnational network. The well-known extremist political Islamist organizations include the Popular Front of India (2003), the Social Democratic Party of India – the political wing of the People's Front of India (2009), the University Front of India – a student organization associated with the People's Front of India, as well as the Student Islamic Movement of India (1977). The reasons that usually encourage a person to take extreme measures are, first of all, social. To date, the situation in which the majority of Muslims find themselves can be called depressing that is why to eradicate radical and extremist ideologies, it is necessary to raise the standard of living of Muslims and eliminate discrimination.