Who hijacked whom?

The global hunt for terrorists has spoiled a sumptuous picnic in India. Decades before America's neo-cons reheated Ronald Reagan's "war on terrorism" – then a catchphrase for targeting Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and other assorted leftists – and before President George W Bush mutated it into a war against 'Islamic fascists', airplanes were being hijacked in India as frequently as people fly kites. Even so, India's Muslims, Christians and Parsis had not then, and have not till now, been part of the procession. Everyone else has had their share of fun. That is how terrorism was seen until someone rammed commercial planes into the two tallest buildings in New York City.

On at least two occasions, the hijackers in India were Brahmins. Bhola and Devendra Pandey commandeered an Indian Airlines plane over Lucknow in 1978 to demand the withdrawal of Emergency-related cases against Sanjay Gandhi. That incident catapulted the brothers into politics, both becoming Congress MLAs in Uttar Pradesh. Another Pandey gentleman hijacked a plane simply because he wanted Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then an opposition leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to request him to come down. The demand was met and the incident ended peacefully. In 1994, Dalit Buddhists hijacked a plane to demand that Marathwada University be renamed after Dr B R Ambedkar. Sikhs have commandeered Indian planes on two or three occasions in their quest for Khalistan. Four college students in 1993 even took off on a packed plane to demand the resolution of problems plaguing the Lucknow Arts College!