Security personnel work at the site of an explosion near the historic Red Fort in Delhi
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: The government may be shying away from using the ‘T-word’ but the explosion in a car near the iconic Red Fort hours after the seizure of a huge quantity of explosives in Delhi’s satellite town Faridabad has exposed the loopholes in the security and intelligence apparatus.
Questions will be asked on how the suspect managed to drive up to central Delhi with the explosives undetected at a time there was heightened vigil following the seizure of explosives and the investigation into a “white collar terror module” operating from the National Capital Region.
This is the second major incident in the country after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.
After the seizure of around 2,900 kg of explosives, the suspected driver of the car that exploded managed to sneak into the national capital. If investigators are to be believed, he stayed in a parking lot near Red Fort for around three hours before he took the car out, which exploded at 6:52 PM on Monday.
A doctor Umar Mohammed from Pulwama, who is part of the “white collar terror module”, had allegedly managed to evade arrest in Faridabad and is believed to have transported explosives to the national capital in panic and to evade police action against him.
None of the top government guns from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Home Minister Amit Shah has used the word “terror”, as the latter on Monday night insisted that they could speak about the nature of the explosion only after a thorough analysis and that “all possibilities” will be probed.
In Bhutan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no one responsible for the “horrific blast” in Delhi will be spared.
On Tuesday morning, it appeared that all doubts about the nature of the explosion were cleared with the Delhi Police registering a case under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosives Act. On Monday, there was restraint on the part of both the government and media on describing the incident.
The Opposition parties are sure to raise the issue in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament and will be asking questions. It had earlier demanded a special session of Parliament before the Monsoon Session but the government had not acceded to it.
The signal for the confrontation was sounded by AAP Rajya Sabha floor leader Sanjay Singh on Monday evening by linking the incident, which he called a "vile act", to Pakistan and claiming that Modi has boosted the morale of those Pakistani beasts by agreeing to a ceasefire during Operation Sindoor.
Senior Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra posted on 'X', “India needs a capable Home Minister not a full-time Hate Campaign Minister. Isn’t it Amit Shah’s duty to protect both our borders as well as our cities? Why is he failing so spectacularly on all counts?"
CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement that it was “deeply disturbing” to learn about the recovery of explosives and firearms, which have been linked to the Delhi blast and it indicates the involvement of an organised network. “It is the responsibility of the government to uncover it and bring all the perpetrators to justice,” it said.