Indians killing Indians. There is no other way of describing the wave of jihadi terrorist strikes spreading death and destruction across India since July, 2006, and the wave of anti-Christian violence being seen in Orissa and Karnataka since August, 2008. 

The wave of jihadi terrorist strikes has affected many states-- ruled by the Congress (I), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and others. 

Anger against certain aggressive groups of evangelists indulging in a scurrilous campaign against the Hindu religion and converting the impoverished tribals of Central India into Christianty through the allurement of money has been widespread in many states of India, but this anger has been expressed in a civilized manner in most states. Only in the BJP ruled Karnataka and in Orissa ruled by an electoral ally of the BJP has this anger taken an ugly, uncivilized turn in the form of orchestrated attacks on Christians and their places of worship and even the alleged rape of a helpless nun. Large sections of public opinion in India and abroad cannot be blamed if they attribute this to the inaction of the local governments in the face of the violence and view this as amounting to culpable complicity. 

These two waves have given rise to antagonistic reflexes which should be of concern to any Indian interested in the unity, prosperity and strength of this nation. There is a disturbing denial mode in sections of both the Muslim and the Hindu communities. Sections of the Muslim community are not prepared to accept that their co-religionists are behind this wave of jihadi terrorism. An attempt is being made by these sections, supported by sections of the so-called secular community, either to deny the involvement of some Muslims in jihadi terrorism or to rationalise their involvement through various arguments. There is a simultaneous attempt to denigrate and demonise the police and other law-enforcing agencies by debunking their version of the terrorist strikes and by coming in the way of their investigation. 

Sections of the Hindu community owing allegiance to the so-called Hindutva groups are not prepared to accept any blame on their community and tend to project the anti-Christian violence as an outcome of spontaneous tribal anger against Christian missionaries with which, according to them, the Hindutva organizations have nothing to do. The perceived inaction of the law-enforcing agencies in the face of the anti-Christian violence is sought to be rationalized and explained through various arguments such as the lack of road and other means of communications in the affected areas which rendered prompt police action difficult. 

The history of Islam is replete with thousands of instances of destruction of places of worship of other religions. The Hindus used to be proud of the fact that their religion respected the places of worship of other religions and did not damage or destroy them. But, this is no longer so since 1992 when some Hindutva elements carried out a wanton destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. 

Hopes entertained by many that this was a one-time aberration caused by historic anger over the alleged demolition of a Ram temple in the same place for the erection of a masjid have been belied by reports of wanton destruction of Christian places of worship in Karnataka and Orissa.