Dadri may be used to radicalise youth: MHA

The Ministry of Home Affairs is concerned that the recent Dadri lynching incident will be used by anti-national elements to negate the MHA’s de-radicalisation strategy and radicalise Muslim youth. A worried MHA, in an advisory sent to all the states, has asked the chief secretaries to make sure that incidents like Dadri are not allowed to happen again.
“We are more worried than a section of the media which is questioning the intent of the Union government would like the people to believe. We have sent a detailed advisory asking the state governments to adopt ‘zero-tolerance’ to any such incident… Incidents like Dadri, if not stopped, will pose a serious challenge to the internal security of the country, as such incidents alienate young people, who then become prone to radicalisation by anti-national forces,” a senior MHA official said.
According to MHA officials, recruiters of Islamic State (IS) and ISI, are always on the lookout for incidents like Dadri, just like the Godhra riots and the Babri Masjid demolition, so that they can use these to radicalise vulnerable youth.
“Already, we are dealing with an increasing IS attempt to radicalise the youth. On interrogation, many domestic terrorists, trained by Pakistan’s ISI, have said that they were shown videos of the Godhra riots and Babri Masjid demolition to make them believe that the perpetrators behind these incidents had the support of the government. With the increasing spread of social media, anti-India feelings can be spread across the country within hours,” the official quoted earlier said.
In the wake of the recent arrest of educated youth joining the IS, the government has been forced to step up its efforts at counter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation on the lines of similar programmes that are being carried out by the US, UK and Saudi Arabia. “While counter-radicalisation involves reaching out to vulnerable sections through an updated educational curriculum and incentives to take away their feeling of alienation, de-radicalisation aims at disengagement of the already radicalised elements,” the official said.