Kerala blasts raise questions, concerns

The accused Dominic Martin has claimed that he decided to attack the convention in protest against what he called the “anti-national” teachings of the group. According to him, he had raised the matter within the congregation, but he decided to take action as the congregation was not ready to correct its position.

Sunday’s explosions at a Christian religious congregation in Kochi in Kerala apparently did not have any links to terrorism but the incident raises some questions which need answers. Three persons, including a woman and a girl, died in the blasts, and many others have been injured. Some of them are in critical condition. A Christian religious group, Jehovah’s Witnesses, had organised the congregation which was attended by about 2,000 people. The police have confirmed that Dominic Martin, an estranged member of the group and a resident of the city, who had claimed responsibility for the attack and surrendered before the police, was the bomber. Martin has claimed that he decided to attack the convention in protest against what he called the “anti-national” teachings of the group. According to him, he had raised the matter within the congregation, but he decided to take action as the congregation was not ready to correct its position. 

The state police and other investigative agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), are probing the incident. There is need for clarity on many issues. The police have evidence that Dominic Martin planted the bomb, and he has claimed that he was acting alone. The possibility of his being a front for an organisation or a group has not been completely ruled out, though with the information and the evidence that the police now have, that may be farfetched. The ground for his action seems to be unconvincing but that has much to do with the psychological make-up of the person. It is not a normal person who decides to kill and takes pains and makes such preparations to do so, driven by the thought and motive that he said he had. The terrorist is also driven by such a mindset, though Dominic Martin may not be described as a terrorist in the conventional sense. Fringe cults often give rise to strange tendencies. That he learned bomb-making on the internet and put together his bombs in a few weeks is not comforting information. The incident also reveals the lack of security arrangements even in gatherings attended by thousands of people. 

A matter of serious concern is the attempt to give the incident a communal twist as soon as the news about the blasts became public. There were social media messages suggesting that it was a terrorist act and had linkages to the West Asian situation. Prominent BJP leaders have fuelled these suspicions. They were intended to create hatred and divisiveness in society. Such statements have come even from responsible persons. One person has been arrested for hateful propaganda. The mindset that prompted such messages is as dangerous as, or even more so, than the mindset that prompted the bomber to act.