Rohit Chopra analyses the likely reactions from the Left:

Arguments on the Right will paint all Muslims as terrorists, Islam as a violent faith, Indian Muslims as invaders and so on. Here is a classic example of such a perspective.

In contrast, the standard argument on the Left is that economic disaffectation, global capitalism, US foreign policy, and the actions of states have led to an environment in which disenfrachised Muslims are compelled to resort to terrorism out of desperation.

His post cautions against taking unthought-out and well-worn default positions.

From a link to a previous post on Blogbharti, we find Under Dog’s post on the lessons India might draw from Sri Lanka’s long and bloody history of conflict:

To see what is happening in India today is to look in the rear view mirror of what we did wrong in Sri Lanka. When we suffered terrorist attacks, we blamed it on foreign interference, namely India. India does the same today: the Prime Minister in a televised message blamed a “group based outside the country”. Both countries have failed to realize that the root of the problem is not outside our shores; the problem lies within. Messages from the Indian public are scrolled continuously on NDTV, most of them blaming the government for inadequate security and calling for a severe crackdown on terrorism (as if they weren’t already trying all this time). Not one message asked the question: “what drove these Indians to do this to other Indians?”

At Kafila, Gautam Bhan urges us to expand our view of ‘the idea of India’:

Analysts have called the strikes on hotels and state institutions attacks on “the idea of India.” I would argue that we have to defend this “idea of India” in its most inclusive and expansive sense. An India that will not allow grief to move into blind anger, either at a national scale towards our neighbours or inside our own borders towards some of our citizens. An India that will remind itself that, in the long-run, safety, security and freedom must separate themselves from and rise above fear, suspicion, surveillance and control, which
will only build a vicious cycle towards more disaffection and more sieges. This is a call, in the end then precisely for patriotism, a protection of an idea of India that leaves us safer but also still free.