Blast after blast has been shaking the nation for quite some time but the State machinery, particularly the police and investigating agencies, seems to be groping in the dark. There is a definite pattern not only in the string of terror attacks aimed at Muslim places of worship and shrine but in the response of police and investigating agencies to these blasts. In the event of each and every terror attack, the nation is told in a stereotype manner that it is the handiwork of ‘Muslim terrorists’. And, most brazenly, the attack hits the target and this revelation is made without waiting for the report of the investigation. There is a definite pattern in it as well.
The October 11 attack on the reverred shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, which has claimed three innocent lives so far and rendered nearly 20 others injured, is no exception. Our Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that the bomb blast at Ajmer shrine appeared to have “links across the border”. And this he said without naming any group or country.
This groping in the dark is going on despite the palpable involvement of Hindutva activists coming into light and despite the demads from the various quarters to include the Sangh Parivar activists also within the ambit of investigation into these terror blasts. In the April 6, 2006 blast in the residence of a retired irrigation department engineer and RSS worker, Lakshman Rajkondawar, in Nanded, the house owner’s son Naresh Lakshman Rajkondawar and one Himanshu Venkatesh Panse were killed and three others Yogesh Ravindra Deshpande Vidholkar, Maroti Kishore Wagh and Gururaj Jayaram Tuptewar were seriously injured. It was a very powerful blast but the matter was hushed up saying they were making crackers while the narcoanalysis tests of these injured persons have recorded their confessions of the guilt. In this blast the discovery of fake beards and sets of shalwar-kameez, which Muslims usually wear, tells a very pathetic story of the conspiracy to defame Muslims.
Relate this conspiracy story of Nanded to the Malegaon blast. On September 8, 2006, powerful bombs burst outside a mosque soon after the Friday prayers in Malegaon, claiming several innocent lives. While the volunteers were uploading the dead bodies onto a jeep, one of them, to his utter chagrin, saw the ‘beard’ tugged to the face of the dead body slipping. This on-record event confirms the definite pattern in the forces working behind these blasts. But the irony of ironies is that the Congress-led government in Maharashtra as well as at the Centre and the entire police and investigating machinery under it do not take seriously these proofs of the involvement of Hindutva elements that are hell bent upon spoiling the peace and stability in the country.
The terror attacks like those in Jalna, Purna, Nanded and Malegaon in Maharashtra and Makkah Masjid Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, Jama Masjid in Delhi, Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi have preceded the October 11 attack in Ajmer. The fact remains that terrorists are terrorists. Whether they are Muslims, Hindus or Christians, they must be brought to justice. It is the duty of the State machinery to probe these terror blasts in a just, fair and impartial manner. The authorities should not make any preconceived statement, and every step should be taken to maintain peace and safeguard the lives and properties of citizens as well as the places of worship.