Jamia and Shaheen Bagh shootings: It's deeply worrying that the word 'terrorist' is absent from popular discourse

The absence of the word ’terrorist’ in the Jamia shooter’s story isn’t because there ought to be any confusion about the term Editor’s note: This piece, originally published after the Jamia shooting, is being re-posted following Saturday’s firing at Shaheen Bagh. “Koi Hindu media nahi hain yahaan,” wrote the shooter on his Facebook page in the minutes before he opened fire on protesters at Jamia Millia Islamia on Thursday. Then, there’s the announcement of imminent martyrdom: “Mere antim yatra par… mujhe bhagwa mein le jaye… aur jai Shri Ram ke nare ho ”. This isn’t because there ought to be any confusion about the term: The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act lucidly defines a terrorist as someone who acts “with intent to strike terror, or likely to strike terror in the people, or any section of the people in India”. The Left has, of course, been complicit in building this culture denial: Claims that there was a deep, dark plot behind the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s attack on Parliament House, popularised by Arundhati Roy, haven’t stilled despite the lack of evidence to stand them up on; Batla House conspiracy theories have become something of a cottage industry; the Congress leader Digvijay Singh endorsed a book alleging, with a conspicuous lack of evidence, that the attacks of 26 November, 2008 were part of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh plot.