BJP slams Congress for lack of strategy to handle security threat
Monday, 8 July 2013 00:47
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India’s main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lashed at the ruling Congress for lack of any comprehensive plan to tackle internal and external security after a series of explosions occurred at Mahabodhi Temple complex in eastern Bihar state.
A series of explosions in and around Buddhism’s holiest shrine in Bihar injured two persons early on Sunday, in what the government described as a “terror” attack.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and said such attacks on religious places “will never be tolerated”. Chief of India’s main opposition BJP, Rajnath Singh said on Sunday (7 July) that if the federal government had prior information about the threat to the temple provided by the security agencies, then it has certainly failed to prevent a security lapse.
“It’s not just a question of internal security but also a matter of external security crises which is aggravating by each passing day in this country. To meet the crisis situation the government needs a comprehensive action plan but this government is yet to come up with something to tackle the situation. Every day we hear news of a bomb blast or innocent people being killed in the country,” said Singh in provincial capital city of Amritsar in northern Punjab state. The explosions, which occurred between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. (local time), injured two persons. Four blasts occurred inside the Mahabodhi Temple premises; three blasts at Tergar monastery and another near the famous 80-foot Buddha statue.
Meanwhile Harish Rawat, a leader of India’s ruling Congress party, also condemned the militant attack and said that it was an attempt by destructive elements to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the country.
“This is a big matter of concern, there are some destructive elements who want to hamper peace in India and strict action would be taken against them,” said Rawat in Haridwar city of northern Uttarakhand state.
Meenakshi Lekhi, spokesperson of India’s main opposition, BJP, slammed the provincial government saying that the authorities should have acted promptly on seeking prior information of a terror threat to the Buddhist shrine.
“It seems that a new atmosphere is building in the country where these LeT operatives and Indian Mujahideen and people belonging to similar organisation are God’s men and all the security and investigative agencies are devils. Due to this determination of people working in these agencies is being affected. Since the government is ineffective, questions that should be raised to them are being directed towards those who are actually working for the safety of the citizens. If there was any intelligence report about the explosions then the state government should have acted upon it on time,” said Lekhi in New Delhi.
