Coimbatore serial bomb blasts, a 'dark' and painful day' in India’s history: Vice President C P Radhakrishnan

Chennai: The 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts were a “dark and painful” chapter in the nation’s history and left deep scars on countless families, Vice President C P Radhakrishnan said on Saturday.

Paying his “heartfelt” homage to the innocent lives lost in the tragic Coimbatore serial bomb blasts on February 14, 1998, he said it was “a dark and painful chapter in our nation’s history.” “On that fateful day, when L K Advani was visiting the city, a series of horrific explosions shook Coimbatore and left deep scars on countless families. The atmosphere of fear, grief, and uncertainty that prevailed then remains deeply etched in my memory,” he said.

“I had a narrow escape in one of those blasts,” Radhakrishnan, who hails from Coimbatore said.

“Those dreadful moments, when we struggled to save the injured and rushed the critically wounded to hospitals, remain the most painful periods of my life,” the Vice President said in a post on the social media platform ‘X.’ He expressed solidarity with the bereaved families whose loss could never be replaced.

“Let us reaffirm our collective resolve to stand united against terrorism and to uphold peace, harmony, and national integrity,” the Vice President said in his message that was posted in English and Tamil.

Paying his homage to the victims, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan described the incident as the “black day” of Coimbatore.

“Islamic terrorists targeted 11 places, aiming to disrupt the public meeting attended by the senior BJP leader Advani ji and massacred innocent civilians. This incident is observed as ‘Black Day’ every year. Today, which marks the 28th anniversary of the bomb blast, I extend my condolences to the families of the deceased and sympathies to the survivors," Murugan said on ‘X.’ BJP state chief Nainar Nagenthran said even after 28 years, the pain and scars of that horrific incident have not yet been erased from the minds of the people.

“Let us resolve that such atrocities should not be committed again due to religious hatred in India, which values and protects unity and brotherhood,” Nagenthran said in a post.

Former state president of BJP K Annamalai said, “the blasts carried out by terrorists on the same day in 1998, during the DMK regime, claimed 58 lives and left over 200 people injured. The ‘unhealed scar’ still remained in our minds.” He accused the DMK of allegedly "betraying" the innocent people who lost their lives by releasing the Coimbatore bomb blast culprits before their sentences were served. “Even today, it is calling the suicide attack near the Kottai Easwaran temple as a cylinder blast,” he said on ‘X.’ The car blast in front of the Kottai Eswaran temple in Coimbatore’s Ukkadam on October 23, 2022, on Diwali eve, claimed one life.

The case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency.