Sonia Gandhi's softness towards Islamic Fundamentalists runs the risk of making India an attractive destination for the Jihadis. ...Sonia Gandhi, though not officially a member of the government has the responsibility for keeping the ruling coalition afloat. Her principal coalition partners—the Communists and Islamic power brokers—are in a position to make demands, which she is not in a position to reject.

I wrote the above paragraph in article published almost a year ago. The words are truer than ever today.

Both of my contentions— Sonia Gandhi's dhimmitude, which I called 'softness towards Islamic Fundamentalists' and India becoming a destination and even a base for Jihadis were in full display following the Mumbai train blasts of 7/11 that killed more than 200 and injured 700 more. While the public was reeling from this brazen attack, Sonia Gandhi and her hand—picked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other members of the government went around trying to assure the public that Indian Muslim groups were somehow not responsible for the terror attack. The government trotted out the timeworn 'foreign hand' theory, blaming Pakistan for engineering the outrage.

The idea in all this is to assure the public that Indian Muslims are somehow not affected by the worldwide Jihadi movement. But no one is buying this theory in spite of the Sonia—Manmohan Government's strenuous propaganda through dhimmi journalists. Tavleen Singh, a leading columnist, minced no words when she wrote, 'Don't blame Pakistan, look inside':

... I am beginning to worry about whether Dr Manmohan Singh's [and Sonia's — NSR] government is capable of defending us against the ''jehad'' that is being waged against us so successfully that if it continues unchecked, it could cause a civil war and worse...

The Bombay blasts were triggered by eight separate explosions on the city's commuter train system, within minutes of one another but miles apart; it is hard to believe that it could be carried out by remote control from Pakistan without local logistical support. Ms. Singh rejected it out of hand pointing out:

'It is indigenous. It is a jehad being fought by homegrown terrorists and the sooner we come to terms with this the easier it is.'

Manmohan Singh's 'Pakistan hand' theory was only the beginning of the denial. While Sonia Gandhi maintained her customary silence over Jihadi terror, other members of her government went to the extent of exonerating known sources of terror. Shivraj Patil, the minister in charge of internal security extolled madrasa education. The Times of India reported:

Trying to dispel doubts about madrassas, often accused of being breeding ground of militancy, Union home minister Shivraj Patil on Sunday said these religious seminaries were not centres of terrorism. '...madrassas are seats of social service. They are not the centre of terrorism," Lauding the key role played by madrasas in imparting education to a vast section of people, the home minister said the government appreciated the significant contribution being made by Islamic seminaries in eradicating illiteracy and spreading the message of human values and unity in society.

Americans probably first learnt of Sonia Gandhi's Islamist appeasement when she gave what The Telegraph of London called a 'strongly pro—Muslim speech' at the bin Laden family—funded Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, that too shortly after the 9/11 attacks. This was mild compared to her overall record in India.

The silent Sonia has not always been silent when it comes to defending Islamist organizations. She defended the banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and had the ban lifted, but the Supreme Court of India ruled against her recommendation by ruling that SIMI was a terrorist outfit. Her henchman Salman Kurshid had argued for lifting the ban in the courts. SIMI has been implicated in the Bombay blasts.

The appeasement policy of her government has serious consequences for the global war on terror. As Tavleen Singh pointed out, the bombings in Mumbai (Bombay) are proof that Indians can no longer run away from the reality of a jihad indigenous to India. This means, India, far from being a bulwark in the war against terror will be a weak link as long as Sonia Gandhi's hold over the government lasts.

N.S. Rajaram is a mathematician and historian of science. He lives in Oklahoma City and Bangalore, India.