Bodh Gaya blasts: Why blame Muslims, why not Modi, tweets Digvijaya

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has appealed to people to wait until investigations into the Bodh Gaya blasts before jumping to conclusions that there was Muslim involvement. But of course this could not be said without taking a dig at Narendra Modi. In a series of tweets the Congress leader, in his usual brash fashion asked why there was such a rush to blame Muslims, adding that the flip side to all that speculation was that the blasts happened at the Mahabodhi temple one day after Modi addressed BJP workers and asked them to teach Nitish a lesson. 

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  His comments clearly are in response to comments by a number of BJP leaders who have all stridently asked why repeated intelligence inputs warning of an attack on the Mahabodhi temple were ignored. [caption id=“attachment_936879” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Singh’s comments were not in good taste: PTI[/caption] But the comments are not in good taste and are sure to trigger yet another war of words between BJP and Congress leaders, which will once again, deflect from the more serious issue of the security warnings and the blasts themselves. And while Digvijaya Singh’s point that it’s more prudent to wait for the completion of investigations before jumping to conclusions is well taken, the fact is that his comments, which are meant to score political points, are completely ignoring the temor and tone of the intelligence warnings that were issued to the Indian government, that Buddhist shrines were being targeted because of Rohingya Muslim sympathies. As _Firspost_ editor Praveen Swami pointed out ,

“From January, government sources have told Firstpost, the Intelligence Bureau had issued several warnings pointing to heightened risks to Buddhist religious targets in India, as a consequence of anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar. In January, the Delhi Police said at a press conference that arrested Indian Mujahideen operatives confessed that they had conducted reconnaissance at Bodh in preparation for an attack. The information that led to those arrests came from the Intelligence Bureau, which had penetrated a cell that was planning attacks in multiple locations, including Hyderabad, where a similar bombing took place earlier this year. [embedalsosee]

And this is exactly what the problem with India’s politicians is. Instead of addressing the more serious issues of security lapses and the fact that explosions occurred despite repeated warnings, they prefer to take potshots at each other, often ignoring the facts. As a member of the ruling UPA in particular, Digvijaya needs to take some political responsibility instead of just taking political potshots.