New Delhi:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other opposition parties today accused the Centre and the Bihar government of failing to take steps to avert the terror strike at the Mahabodhi temple despite specific warnings of intelligence agencies.
"It is a serious issue that central agencies had warned about this attack and given specific inputs that Bodhgaya would be attacked and still no proper arrangements were made (by the state government). The central government must also take responsibility to avoid such attacks," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
"The central intelligence agencies had conveyed that in view of whatever was happening in Myanmar, terrorists would attempt something in Bodhgaya temple. Despite that no steps were taken to improve security," he said.
The BJP leader said it was a serious issue that the terrorists have chosen to attack the temple of Buddha who gave the world the message of peace.
"BJP condemns the terror attacks in Bodhgaya. We demand that the Centre and the state governments should take steps so that such incidents should not be repeated," Mr Javadekar said, adding that adequate steps should be taken by the authorities at other Buddhist circuit shrines.
Attacking the Nitish Kumar government, LJP supremo Ramvilas Paswan said the blasts reflect the failure of the state government to have acted in time to avert the strike.
"The blasts took place even after alerts were given by the Government of India. The responsibility lies with the Chief Minister and the state and this has damaged Bihar's image internationally," he said.
RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav condemned the attack and said that if Intelligence Bureau had issued prior warnings of possible attack on the temple, then the onus lay with the state government.
"They will have to take responsibility for this. Let the investigation happen and truth come out in the open and the elements responsible should be thoroughly investigated," he said.
Mr Yadav said the incident had brought disrepute to the state on the global stage as internationally people would feel "the temple has not been adequately protected. It is a matter which warrants a probe. The central government and agencies should look into the matter and find out what report Intelligence Bureau had given and what action had been taken."
He sought to know from the Chief Minister as to what security arrangements had been made for the temple.
"The incident is a black spot on Bihar's reputation. In fifteen years of RJD's rule, such an incident never took place. We strongly condemn it. A wrong message will go that we are incapable of protecting Buddhist temples. People will get scared about coming to this place. Let Nitish Kumar state if he has not received an IB report on this," the RJD chief said.
BJP MP from Gaya Hari Manjhi said the government machinery in the area had failed to take steps on the intelligence warnings and reports in this regard.