Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Ayodhya attacked

Yesterday's attack on Ayodhya came as a shock\scare to everybody in India. Some reasons for this are -
1. India Pak peace talks had gained momentum recently.
2. Ayodhya is arguably the most controversial religious site of India. Ayodya is a matter of pride for many people.
3. This is a heavily protected site...there is a huge reserve police camp inside the temple campus.
4. Ayodhya is not in the Indo Pak border, it is almost in the center of India. If terrorists can reach this place, then every major temple is accessible for them.

What could be the implications?
This could in someway derail the talk process between India and Pakistan. Though I feel that the impact would be less as the attack failed. Had the terrorists were successful in blasting the temple, India would have said enough of Pakistan terrorists and broke off all the relations with them.
In the internal political circles, this attack has lot of significance. After the Jinnah comment, the rift between the RSS, VHP and BJP had widened. I feel that this incident will unite them so that some of their differences could get buried. BJP has got Ram given chance to get back to their hardcore Hindutva policy. We could also expect a yatra by the yatra loving BJP guys. Mulayam's govt has lot of opposition from their supporters, Congress. Yesterday the union home secretary already pushed the buck on the state government, stating that state govts were warned of some possible terrorist attacks. If Mulayam's govt falls (I hope it doesn't force another election), then BJP and Mayawati could join forces. This could somehow boost BJP's agenda as currently they have very less states under their control. This could also prove crucial during the Bihar elections.

What I don’t understand is the demand of some parties asking for the resignation of the governments are the center and state. When the Akshardham incident happened, BJP's governments existed both in Gujarat and in the center. Then there was no action by both these governments. But now BJP and other friend parties of BJP have to show that they are still on the Hindutva path and hence without any sense, they have asked the governments to resign.
But the government intelligent agencies have a lot of questions to answer. Why couldn’t they predict such an attack? How could the terrorists get so many ammunitions in Ayodya? If center had given a warning, why dint the state govt take any action?

Achievement
What saved the temple? It was the bravery and the number of police who immediately came into action. A jeep loaded with explosives rams into the compound wall of the temple and within 2 hrs of gun battle all the terrorists are killed. None of them could enter the shrine. They were shot 70 mtrs away from the shrine. This is really good on part of the security personnel. Hats off to them!! Narendra Modi, Gujarat CM has declared a reward of Rs 10 lakhs for the people who fought the terrorists. Hope it is not just a publicity stunt.
The other great achievement is the reaction of the Indian public. We are peacefully protesting the attack. So communal harmony is maintained. This has completely defeated the motives of creating unrest in the country.

It's high time India takes action on the terrorist activities in the country.

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