After Hindu pilgrim places now blasts in the city of Buddha

Anil Narendra

One of the world heritage sites, the Mahabodhi Temple of Bodh Gaya in Bihar shook with the serial blasts in the Sunday morning. Though there was no significant damage as a result of these blasts, but these did give a message, which was quite disturbing. The most unfortunate aspect of this episode is the fact that the Delhi Police had informed the Bihar Government in its report about the intentions of Indian Mujahideen to target Mahabodhi Temple. But, the Nitish Government did not take this warning seriously. The Delhi Police learned from the interrogation of IM terrorists arrested in October in connection with the Pune blasts about the conspiracy of blasts at Bodh Gaya. These terrorists had also told about the recce of the Mahabodhi Temple being carried out for two weeks, but no firm security arrangements could be placed at this internationally known important place of worship. Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister has accepted that there was serious security lapse. These bomb blasts, however, caused no serious damage to the historical Mahbodhi Temple and the Bodhi Tree. The 80 feet statue of Lord Budha is completely safe. The Mahabodhi Temple is the most important centre of Buddhists’ faith. It was here; beneath this Bodhi Tree that Lord Budha attained enlightenment during 566-486 BC. The Temple was built by Emperor Ashoka in 260 BC. The UNESCO included this temple in World Heritage sites in June 2002. Call it a coincidence or the compassion of the enlightenment spot of Mahatma Buddha, there were few people in the temple complex at the time of blasts. It was 5.30 in the morning and preparations for the daily worship were undergoing. It is clear from the way these terrorists had access to the various sections of the complex, that had these blasts taken place at a busy hour of the devotees, then it would have been a different scenario. Four blasts were triggered at the four corners of the temple complex. In a way, the terrorists had access to whole of the complex. Just at the back of the temple, there are foot prints of Lord Budha and at this very place the Bodhi Tree is worshipped. It is not possible to reach this place without the permission of the security personnel. No person without the dress of a Buddhist monk can reach this place easily in such an early morning hour, as this is not the time for tourists to visit the temple. It appears that the person who planted bombs in the temple complex must have been wearing such a dress, which might not have attracted attention of others. Though ten cameras have been installed in the complex to keep an eye on the visitors, but futility of these can well be gauged by the fact that the CCTV footage could not be preserved for more than two days. It is hard to tell at this juncture that who was behind these blasts and what was the motive, but we can only guess. The investigating agencies will take time to get to the bottom of the conspiracy of these serial blasts, but the attack on the holy Buddhist place has once again proved the failure of our security arrangements. The sudden protests over clashes between minority Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar that started last year had already warned of the impending danger. The demonstrations staged last year from Mumbai to Jamshedpur to Delhi had also raised fears about these leading to some violent disaster. There was a violent demonstration in support of Rohingya Muslims in August 2002 in Jamshedpur, which is at a few hours distance from Bodh Gaya. Three police personnel were seriously injured in the demonstration. The preliminary investigation of Bodh Gaya blasts point to the hand of Darbhanga module of the Indian Mujahideen in these blasts, because this module was also responsible for the Hyderabad blast. It may be mentioned that the Darbhanga module is a sleeper cell of the IM. In fact the Government is worried about foreign devotees from Japan, Thailand and Myanmar, who would be coming in September and it is with this in view that the Government has decided to hand over the security of the temple to CRPF and CISF. The Government is also concerned especially with the security of Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama and the Buddhist monastery at Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh. It is also sad that the sincerity in the war against terror that was witnessed in the wake of Mumbai attacks, is not being seen for last one year. Whatever was left, had been taken away by the vote bank policy of the UPA Government. The Government has lowered the morale of IB officers by engineering confrontation between IB and CBI. Terming the CBI action against Rajendra Kumar, Special Director, IB as unfortunate, RK Singh, Secretary Home Affairs said two days before his retirement that the security in such a country is in the hands of God. His apprehension has come true just within a week. Terrorists of the Indian Mujahideen are carrying out attacks one after the other and they are not afraid of the IB. When persons close to Nitish and Union Government were busy accusing Modi and officers of Gujarat Government and IB officers, terrorists were scheming attacks on Mahabodhi. Why don’t the political parties realize that the matter of integrity, identity and security of the country is above the vote bank politics? The way, some parties are playing a dirty game in the name secularism to secure Muslim votes, is a serious challenge for the integrity and sovereignty of the country. The religious places in India are being targeted for quite some time. After religious places like Akshardham, Raghunath Temple, Sankatmochan Temple of Varanasi. Ayodhya, now the terrorists have targeted Bodh Gaya. It is a matter of serious concern that these monsters have started targeting security forces after the common man and now they have turned their vicious glance at the religious sites, which are our cultural heritage. This challenge must be replied with firmness devoid of all types of political prejudices. The truth behind these attacks will definitely be revealed after investigation, but it is more important that our policy makers take a lesson from it and concentrate on strengthening the security arrangements and exhibit firm resolve to fight terrorism.