Bodh Gaya:
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar for its failure in preventing the Bodh Gaya terror attack, the party seemed to soften its stand on its former ally. BJP president Rajnath Singh, who today toured the Mahabodhi temple with party leader Arun Jaitley, said,"No state can act against terror by itself, the Centre must help."
The BJP president slammed the UPA government for "not showing enough will to fight terror". "The Congress has pitted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Security agencies should not be misused for politics. They need to coordinate with each other to fight challenges like terrorism," he added.
"The whole matter should be investigated; we are not politicising the issue... Comprehensive action plan should be prepared so we are prepared to meet such terrorist acts in future - whether it's a cyber-attack, biological attack or an economic attack" said the BJP president.
"We urge the central government to take immediate steps to secure this temple site... Security agencies should not be misused for politics - they need to coordinate with each other to fight challenges like terrorism," he added.
Yesterday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who dumped the BJP last month, had accused his former ally of politicising the terror attack in collusion with his arch rival in Bihar, the RJD's Lalu Prasad. Both the BJP and the RJD had called for a bandh in the Magadh region of Bihar where the temple is located, to protest against the government's failure to protect the Buddhist temple.
"The government is not weak on any account... The BJP and RJD have joined hands. The unity of BJP and RJD is visible. Our one step (snapping ties with the BJP) has exposed everybody. They can go to any extent in their desperation for power " reacted Mr Kumar to the opposition's protests.
The Congress, which sees in the BJP-JD(U) divorce a chance to kindle new alliances, has been circumspect. Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh did not make much of the Bihar government's obvious slip in providing inadequate security at the temple, but chose to train his gun on the BJP instead, for its political attack on Mr Kumar.
"The opposition party was politicising the terror attack by slamming the Nitish Kumar government of which it was a part just a month ago," said Digvijaya Singh.
Very early on Sunday morning, there were ten synchronised blasts in different parts of the temple. Two monks were injured. Investigators later found three unexploded boms, one even placed 20 feet high on a Buddha statue.
Investigators have not found any concrete leads yet, and are analysing CCTV footage. A man has been detained and he is being questioned. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is investigating the blast.
The temple complex reopened last evening and special prayers were held under the Mahabodhi tree, near which one of the bombs was planted.