Serial bomb
blasts shattered the serene atmosphere of the Mahabodhi shrine in Bodh Gaya in
the north Indian state of Bihar in the early
hours today. In all there were nine blasts inside and outside of the holiest of
holy Buddhist pilgrimage site that left two monks injured. Fortunately all the
blasts were low intensity and could not damage the main temple. Bodh Gaya is
the historic place where Lord Buddha got his enlightenment and pilgrims from
across the globe visit the Mahabodhi shrine here regularly. The blasts were
carried out in a well coordinated manner within half an hour between 5.50 and
6am. The Indian Home ministry had confirmed the strike as a terrorist attack,
though no terrorist group has claimed responsibility so far. In the background
of the large-scale ethnic classes between Rohingya Muslims and the Buddhists in
Myanmar
the Government of India has taken the attack in all seriousness and has issued
advisory to all Indian states to ensure security for all Buddhist shrines and Tibetan
settlements. This could very well be the first instance of issuance of advisory
for possible violence in view of the Myanmar clashes.
The President,
the Vice President and the Prime Minister of India have condemned this cowardly
attack on a religious place vouching for a policy of zero tolerance against
terrorism. But the ugly head of terror keeps on appearing again and again
concentrating nowadays on soft targets while trying to demonstrate the fact
that it can choose and strike place anywhere at its will. Recently it had
returned to America too and
the targets in India
seem to be growing by the day.
Thee are reports
of intelligence alerts issued by the central agencies to Bihar government over
a period of at least six months and apparently these were either ignored or not
taken seriously. These lapses have drawn public attention and a national debate
has already begun. The opposition parties got another opportunity to indulge in
politics of terror and attack the Government. Interestingly, the national
opposition BJP blamed the Bihar government
squarely for the intelligence lapse forgetting conveniently that they were also
part of the government till last month when the split between BJP and JD-U
happened following the Modi factor. Let us propagate zero tolerance for
politics too!
