SUMMARY
While India as a country has experienced ethnic tension between different religious communities, the southern state of Tamil Nadu – which is where al-Umma was mainly active – was for a long time relatively free from communal violence and religious fundamentalism. Nevertheless, there have been considerable communal disharmony and violence between the Hindus (India) and Muslims (India) communities in South India more generally, and by the 1980s this also became true for the Tamil Nadu State more specifically. The victimization of minorities during these violent events resulted, in part, in the rise of Islamist fundamentalist groups in Tamil Nadu State during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This fundamentalist mobilization has often been directed towards countering the activities of Hindu fundamentalist groups and the Islamic fundamentalist groups have not been characterized as having an independent vision.
It was in this context that al-Umma (al-Ummah; al Ummah) was formed and thrived. With the demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque in Uttar Pradesh State in 1992, groups like al-Umma became even more influential as a result of the outrage the demolition sparked in the wider Muslim community. Al-Umma gained further attention when Muslims (India) attacked the Hindus (India) fundamentalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organization’s building in 1993, which further aggravated tension between the two communities (for more information, see the Hindus (India) – Muslims (India) conflict). Al-Umma mostly directed its violence towards the Hindu community, and the group was driven by an ideological motivation to promote a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The group also sought to protect Muslim interests and punish those who spoke against Islam.
On 14 February 1998, 13 bombs detonated at 11 different places in and around Coimbatore city, in Tamil Nadu State. The coordinated attack resulted in the deaths of 58 civilians, as well as over 200 injured. The bombings preceded a Hindu nationalist election rally in the city, and was among the worst outbreaks of election violence the country has ever seen since gaining independence in 1947. The attack was believed to have been in retaliation for the communal riots that took place in Coimbatore city in November-December 1997. These riots resulted in at least 18 deaths, mostly civilians from the Muslim community, as well as a wide-spread targeting and destruction of Muslim-owned businesses.
The bombings coincided with the visit of L. K. Advani, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who was at the forefront of the campaign that destroyed the Babri Masjid mosque, and was in general sense viewed as a Hindu nationalist party with an anti-Muslim attitude. Several bombs were placed inside cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and bags, and targeted the election meeting venue where Advani was scheduled to appear, election offices, and the Coimbatore Medical College, among other places.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the Coimbatore bombings. Nevertheless, a couple of Islamic fundamentalist groups, including al-Umma, were banned by the Indian government only hours after the attack. Early on, police ascribed the bombings as the work of al-Umma, and two days after the attack another bomb blast occurred as police raided the hideout of suspected group members the police believed were responsible for the attack. Six al-Umma members subsequently blew themselves up when being surrounded by the police. An extensive trial followed the Coimbatore bombings which concluded, based on comprehensive evidence, that one of the founders of al-Umma, S. A. Basha, was the mastermind behind the attack and he was subsequently convicted.
There was some speculation whether al-Umma was single-handedly responsible for the attack, or if they were supported by another group. This was based on arguments that the attack was very sophisticated in relation to the small size and relative inexperience of al-Umma. Allegedly, al-Umma had ties to the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and possibly received support from the student group. Al-Umma also organized members of the Islamic Youth Association to attack and harass Hindus. Moreover, following the 1998 bombings, many prominent leaders of the group opposed the violent radicalization and left the group, and Indian authorities arrested many of the group’s members. It is possible that the remaining fragments of al-Umma joined the Indian Mujahedeen during the 2000s and 2010s.
Al-Umma first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1998, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 14 February that year when a series of bomb blasts in Coimbatore city of Tamil Nadu State resulted in 58 deaths.
