This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
A series of bombings occurs in three cities in Uttar Pradesh state. Those who carried it off demonstrate the strength of their organisation and the extent of their capabilities. Not only do the attacks fit a pattern that suggests the hand of Muslim groups, the targets—local courts—suggest that the perpetrators could be avenging the treatment meted out to alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives. And a group called ‘Indian mujahideen’ accepts responsibility for carrying out the attack. [Update: More about these local boys]
And Communist party leaders blame this on intelligence failure, demand stern punishment for the perpetrators and warn that “the investigation in all these three incidents should not be ‘one-track’”!
The Communists are completing what the terrorists started: for what was the purpose of using an English name which explicitly uses the term adjective ‘Indian’ if not to drive home the point that it was a local job. The Communists might be trying to portray themselves again as protectors of the Muslim community after the reality of Nandigram laid bare the hollowness their previous claims. But they are neither helping nor fooling anyone by attempting to muddy the waters.
The Uttar Pradesh police were basking in the glow of their having foiled a conspiracy to kidnap Rahul Gandhi. The terrorists pooped their party and reminded everyone that India’s counter-terrorism efforts are merely scratching the surface.
If the UPA government’s pussyfooting on counter-terrorism was due to electoral calculations with an eye on the Muslim vote bank, here’s something for Congress Party strategists to think about: terrorist attacks across India are making security an aam aadmi electoral issue. Muslims are not likely to relish a situation where bombs go off every now and then putting them on the defensive. Conspiracy theories too are subject to diminishing returns; and one attack too many—as we have seen in the last couple of years—could cause a secular demand for security.
Update: Another one-track!
And what is the BJP’s response? Well, to call a bandh of course! As if disrupting normal life was not something the terrorists would have wanted. Every party is into the terrorists’ hands.
Update 2: A more positive response by the BJP
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