SUNDAY SENTIMENT
Patna Hunkar Rally
Modi braved
terror & opponents' threat Saved Bihar
and nation of a catastrophe
By Amba Charan Vashishth
Most counties, like USA
and UK, have succeeded in eliminating terror from their soil. India with enormous
resources of men and material at her command has failed to do so. Terror is a
national problem eating into the vitals of this country. It is crying for a
national resolution. But our politicians motivated not by considerations of
national interest, but lured by narrow political and electoral considerations, do
not wish to take a united stand against terror. They do not wish to commit
political harakari because if they stop indulging in retailing in politics of
opportunism, of 'secularism-communalism' they will, then, have to down their
shutters.
Political parties in India, particularly those claiming to
be ‘secular’, play the minority card to bloat their vote banks. Congress stands
amply exposed on this score. Spurred by communal considerations of vote bank
politics JD (U) too did not lag behind. This was amply demonstrated when Nitish
Kumar’s JD (U) government in Bihar refused to take custody of the dreaded
terrorist and Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal. That was the reason,
according to press reports, why the National Inquiry Agency (NIA) had to be
called in.
PUTTING HURDLES
There is no gainsaying the
fact that only two main political parties, JD (U) and Congress, were feeling nervous
of the BJP’s 27 September Hunkar Rally in Gandhii Maidan, Patna to be addressed
by BJP's prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Nitish
government tried its best to put every obstacle to see that the rally did not materialize.
First, it cancelled the permission for the Rally in the historic Gandhi Maidan
taking the plea that the President of India would be in town on that day for a
two-day visit and it would be difficult to provide adequate security
because Bihar police hands would be tied
up with President’s security. Refusing
to be a pawn in this political controversy, President Pranab Mukherjee curtailed
his visit to one day. Nitish government was then left with no other alternative
but to acquiesce into granting permission for the rally.
It is the moral and legal
duty of any government to provide security to both the political leaders
addressing the rally and people joining it. The Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar
Shinde is on record having claimed that his ministry had sent advance inputs
about the threat to the rally. In spite of that, the terrorists could strike at
the Patna railway station and in and around the Gandhi Maidan itself. There are
reports that although the Bihar government claimed to have sanitized the area
five times, yet bombs exploded inside the venue of the rally and a few feet
from the dais from where the national BJP leaders addressed the meeting.
GOVT CASUAL
& CALLOUS
Eulogizing the BJP leaders
of ""for their remarkable presence of mind, equanimity and
far-sightedness in underplaying the bomb blasts, in his signed editorial in
November 2013 issue of the SOUTH ASIA POLITICS the Editor Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap lamented
that "from media reports it is obvious that ….basic security drill was not
followed, intelligence inputs were ignored, necessary security measures were
not taken, there were no metal detectors or CCTVs installed, anti-bomb squads
were missing, and on the whole, the approach seemed to be casual, callous and
negligent." Bombs exploded while the rally was on.
Bihar government, for
unexplained reasons, failed to discharge its constitutional obligation to
provide security to those attending the rally. It was surprising that although 8
innocent people had died and more than 100 persons had been injured, some
seriously, yet the Bihar government had no regret and on the contrary, was found
finding fault with Mr. Narendra Modi and organizers for the tragedy.
JD (U) government claimed
that Mr. Modi was informed of the blasts when he alighted at Patna airport and
advised not to proceed to the rally site. Brushing aside the advice and the
threat Mr. Modi forged ahead for the rally. So did the other leaders — BJP
national President Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun
Jaitley and other national and State BJP leaders.
ROSE TO THE
OCCASION
Mr. Modi rose to the
occasion and displayed a rare sense of courage and foresightedness in not
abandoning the rally. He knew that his doing so would trigger instant panic and
stampede resulting in possible death of not less than a few thousand from the
crowd of more than five lakhs. That would also have painted Mr. Modi as a
coward too keen for his own safety while exposing lakhs of his supporters who had come
from far and wide to an unfortunate orgy of death and destitution. The NIA
charge-sheet against the persons accused, according to Press reports, states
that their intention was to trigger a stampede killing thousands. Had the BJP
leaders not been that prudent, they would have fallen in the trap laid by the
terrorists and had only been instrument in terrorists realising their goal.
The speakers at the rally
too did not give the slightest hint of anything being amiss. They addressed the people as if nothing
had happened. They trivialised bomb explosions as sound of cracker and tyre
bursts which needed just to be ignored. In the process, they exposed their own
life to great risk.
Five
low intensity bombs exploded in the Gandhi maidan during the Hoonkar rally of
Narendra Modi on October 27, four live bombs were recovered from the same venue
later after end of the rally. In subsequent days, five more live bombs were
found inside the maidan during search operation by Patna police and CRPF.
Everything
else is self-evident, nothing more to elaborate.
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