Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'When will our govt. get enlightenment?' that was published in Newsband

When will our govt. get enlightenment?

The multiple explosions at the Mahabodhi temple complex in Bodh Gaya and sites nearby have shocked the whole world. The shrine, revered by Buddhists the world over, was targeted by terrorists. Fortunately, no lives were lost in the attacks, nor has the temple, or the tree under which the Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment, been damaged.

In all, 13 bombs were planted at various locations, of which 10 exploded. The terrorists placed an explosive device at considerable height on an 80-foot Buddha statue.

Countering the terrorist threat needs the Centre and the State to work together. There should be information sharing, immediate analysis of specific threats and putting in place the men and measures to prevent threats from coming true.

Were these particular bomb blasts done to avenge recent anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar?

India’s political class lacks the capacity to understand or deal with the seriousness of the threat that terrorism poses to the country. The politicians should collectively help in tackling terrorism instead of just resorting to blaming one another.

Nobody is serious about the security of the country which is degrading day by day. The security consideration has to be revised to make it efficacious. Had there been appropriate sharing of information and co-ordination between state and centre, this incident could have been taken care off.

 If the government behaves as if it is helpless, then where will the common man look towards for safety of his life.

These serial blasts have shown the poor coordination between our national security agencies. Another thing is these blasts were followed by immature arguments by politicians for whom even terrorism is a vital vote-amassing tool. The prior information given to the state security agency regarding such terror attacks went futile due to carelessness displayed by the secret intelligence team.

Unfortunately most of our leaders who are at the helm of affairs just think of how to divide people at every step to retain their own power or their power bases. In such a circumstance, how can we expect this menace of terrorism to go away?

The United States of America could defeat terrorism. Why can’t we? Our political parties, instead of blaming one another, must work together for a common goal and that is to put a permanent end to terrorism.

Prince Siddhartha saw few horrible things like sufferings of people and few deaths. He then went and sat under the Bodh tree and got enlightenment and became Lord Buddha. When will our government get such enlightenment? 

Despite intelligence inputs, the terror attacks count not be prevented, thanks to vote bank politics. Our media too should behave secularly and not adopt double standards in reporting and commenting on terrorism related cases. They should learn to call a spade a spade.

It is indeed a shame that India continues to be vulnerable to terrorism of the sort that has been controlled quite well in Western nations.