How to deal with Zakir Naik? Not by force, but with a perception-based counter-narrative

Can a phenomenon be eliminated by force?

No. That is what the experts feel about televangelist preacher Zakir Naik, who has virtually achieved a phenomenal status. According to them, by controlling law and order and using the state machinery, the popularity gained by Naik can't be erased.

As per the confession of one of the militants involved in the Dhaka terror attack, the Mumbai-based Muslim preacher Naik, through his narratives on Islam, motivated him into terrorism

Counter-terrorism analysts believe in the need for a counter-narrative based on perception management, to eliminate the growing influence of Naik and his ilk on young minds.Way ba

ck in the nineties, stock market broker Harshad Mehta, who was known as the 'Big Bull', became a phenomenon for that generation. But once his stock manipulations and financial crimes became public knowledge, a negative perception got created against him. The phenomenon, thus, got shattered.

The key is to use perception management based on truth and facts to counter a narrative based on negative perception.

"A phenomenon can't be eliminated by kinetic force. It can be done through perception management based on truth. By counselling alone, you can't de-radicalise. Harshad Mehta is an example. It was the growing negative perception against him that punctured his status as the 'Big bull of stock market'. We should get rid of Americanised ways of de-radicalisation, which has become a catch word for them," said Brigadier (retd) Narender Kumar, senior fellow in a think tank on strategic affairs.

"Could America de-radicalise Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi even after keeping him in prison for six years or the detainees in Abu Ghraib prison? De-radicalisation can't be done in isolation or in a classroom. The exercise has to be done in a holistic manner at multiple levels - legally, intellectually and economically," Kumar said.

"Through perception management, a negative side of the person, his illicit activities need to be exposed. His false image has to be broken through a counter-narrative. Besides, we need to stop foreign funding to programmes, organisations and groups with Salafi and Wahabi ideologies spreading hatred against another religion," Kumar added..