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| Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Image: Flickr User narendramodiofficial) |
By Ankit Panda
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn’t think so.
When Al Qaeda announced in a video earlier this month that it would create an affiliate in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), reactions focused mainly on the implications for India — a country with a large Muslim population but a low rate of extremist conversion overall. Given the country’s tradition of religious pluralism (which has admittedly not always resulted in peaceful outcomes), Islamic terror groups have traditionally faced some difficulty in recruiting homegrown jihadis. Additionally, India’s domestic intelligence and law enforcements agencies have demonstrated some competency in apprehending the leaders of groups like the Indian Mujahideen. Similarly, while young jihadis from across the region rush to join the new Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Indians remain conspicuously absent from official foreign fighter tallies. In this context, it seems unlikely that AQIS will succeed within India.
The political leadership in India seems to agree with that assertion as well. In early clips from an interview with CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria (the full version of which will be released later this weekend), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discusses the chance that Al Qaeda will gain headway in India. In answering a question about whether Al Qaeda will succeed in recruiting Indian Muslims, Modi reflexively notes, “If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune, they are delusional. Indian Muslims will live for India. They will die for India. They will not want anything bad for India.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat