The blasts were meant to cause the new home minister political embarrassment so that he may be psychologically hamstrung while he performs his duties
Welcome to the home ministry, Mr Shinde!” This is what the country’s mischief-makers appeared to be telling Sushilkumar Shinde, with the terrorist variety taking the lead, as he took charge at North Block earlier this week.
It can hardly be a matter of conjecture that the four low-intensity blasts that were heard in a small area within the space of less than an hour on Wednesday in Pune are terrorism-related. Coordination of the kind that has been seen in setting up the explosives leaves no doubt of criminal intent to injure, kill, and otherwise spread panic to disturb the law and stability equilibrium. But was any of the explosions directed at Mr Shinde personally?
This appears less likely on the basis of what we know so far. Mr Shinde was to be in Pune on Wednesday evening for a function at a venue outside which one of the blasts occurred. But the evil planners would doubtless appreciate that the home minister will be well-guarded. It would have to be heavy-duty explosives to cause intensive damage in a given area. Since that was not the case, it may be surmised that the blasts were meant to cause the new home minister severe political embarrassment, to undercut his reputation right at the beginning of his term in a difficult and high-profile assignment so that he may be psychologically hamstrung while he performs his duties.
In the circumstances, the way forward for Mr Shinde, the way to show his spurs, is to take tidy and efficient steps after the blast so that it is his message that prevails, not that of the terrorists. For this he must deploy all his political experience, and the management and technocratic experience of the investigation and
terrorism-hunting staff at his disposal, with clear purpose, dealing
with questions strictly on merits, and not be distracted by political considerations.
It is clear enough, meanwhile, that terror-mongers continue to have sufficient resources on the ground in Pune to set up at least IEDs (improvised explosive devices), a variety of blast devices known to cause the maximum damage even in a war theatre like Afghanistan. They also used digitalised detonators. We should also remain aware that intensive scrutiny brought to bear on other high-profile blasts in Pune in recent years has not dulled the appetite of terrorism planners.
In this context it was premature for the police chief of Maharashtra to dismiss terrorism as a possible cause. It only displayed his lack of acquaintance with the subject when he said the low intensity of the blasts indicated the hand of minor mischief-makers. Mr Shinde should keep this in view as his men try to decipher the identity of the terrorists.
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