Perhaps for the first time, the face of Hindu terror, Pragya Singh Thakur, a Sadhvi from Gujarat and her two accomplices, Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu and Shivnarayan Singh, have been formally arrested on charges of carrying out the blasts in Malegaon in September, which had killed five people. They have been charged with murder and sent to police custody till November 3. They belong to an Indore-based Hindutva outfit, Hindu Jagran Manch.
Hindu terror groups carrying out strikes in Malegaon and Modasa confirm one of the worst fears. It opens up a whole new front in the fight against terror. Now that Maharashtra’s Anti Terror Squad has definitively named and arrested a group of what it calls Hindu extremists, it may not be possible for the government to live in denial anymore, despite the political risks. So the question is: will the government show political will in dealing with this new face of terror?
Md Ziyaullah Khan
Pune, Maharashtra