Goa, regarded as the heaven of tourists, is in the grip of terror. The serene atmosphere there was disturbed by the blast of a scooter borne bomb which killed the scooterist Malgonda Patil, a member of the right-wing Hindutva organisation Sanatan Sanstha. His accomplice Yogesh Naik is seriously injured and is battling for life in a Goa hospital.
The police say that the organisation has its base in neighbouring Maharashtra and it appears that it is gradually shifting its activities to communally peaceful Goa. The Goa police swung into action, raided several persons for interrogation. The fact that there are 17 employees working at the outfit’s Margao office and no register of their names has been maintained has also raised the suspicion that they are indulging in clandestine activities. The police strongly suspects that the Sanstha as an organisation is involved in the explosion though its representative has denied its involvement. The police searched a number of doubtful locations and recovered and defused two more similar explosive devices at Margao and Sancoale.
It is significant that the blast occurred on the eve of Diwali in a crowded place full of Diwali shoppers. Mercifully only one bomb went off prematurely on the scooter itself. If it had been exploded in a crowded market and if the two other bombs also had been successfully made to explode in crowded places, it would have created havoc. The blast might have been thrown on the shoulders of usual suspects i.e. the Muslim terrorists which would have poisoned the pleasantly peaceful atmosphere of Goa.
Sanatan Sanstha, founded in June 2008, is affiliated to Hindu Jagruti Samiti which was involved in bomb blasts in two theatres of Vashi and Thane. Charge sheets in those two blasts were filed in September 2008 itself.
It is good that the Chief Minister of Goa has taken prompt action and announced formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the conspiracy and apprehend the conspirators behind it.
It is important to note that Goa police suspects that the perpetrators of this crime have strong links with Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and her group. It is imperative that those who want to destabilise communal peace should not be shown any leniency. A thorough and honest probe, preferably by CBI, should be ordered to expose the culprits.
Unfortunately the governments adopt double standards and look the other way when the culprits are in their good book. This was the case with Nanded and Kanpur blasts accused who were the members of certain communal outfits and who died while making bombs. Some policy was adopted in the case of Makkah Masjid blast. We know from reliable sources that actually the probe was clueless about the real culprits. Yet hundreds of Muslims were harassed for months and scores of Muslim youths were arrested and tortured for long periods and thrown behind bars for no crime of theirs. Finally they were released without charges.
It is very unfortunate and fraught with great dangers that our police fails to apprehend the real culprits and innocent people belonging to a particular community are harassed for no crime of theirs. In addition to that the community earns a bad name. It is the policy of calling the dog mad and killing it. This policy should be reviewed at the highest level of Union Cabinet, Prime Minister and Home Minister.