PRESS STATEMENT BY SHRI RAJNATH SINGH
BJP, National Presidnet

“National Resolve, Strategic Planning and Decisive Action are
needed to conclusively crush Terrorism”

Mumbai – 23 September 2008

India is today passing through critical times. The sudden spurt in terrorist incidents has become a matter of serious concern. The situation in the country is now perilously close to being described as a state of crisis. Since 2004, there have been at least a dozen major incidents of serial bomb blasts across the country in which over 550 people have been killed and a few thousand injured. During the last five months alone, four major cities of the country, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi have been targeted in which close to 150 people have lost their lives and hundreds have been injured.

In addition to the increased incidents of terrorism, the situation of Bangladeshi infiltration is only complicating matters further. So critical is the state of affairs that even the Supreme Court has in exasperation stated that the quantum of influx of illegal immigrants amounts to “external aggression.”

No longer can the nation afford to ignore the stark reality of threats that are mocking and challenging our patience and will to respond. Given the gravity of the situation, there is an urgent need for building a national resolve to conclusively demolish the nefarious designs of the enemies of the our country. The bombs of terrorists do not differentiate while causing terror. The blood of innocents spills irrespective of their religion, caste, creed, language, political affiliation or economic status.

National Resolve, Strategic Planning and Decisive Action, are the need of the hour to conclusively crush the menace of terrorism. Our plurality and diversity of culture cannot be used as an excuse to create diversity in our approach to deal with the problem at hand. Nor can our plurality of culture be used as an excuse to create diversity in our legal framework to punish the perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity. If Maharashtra has a set of laws like MCOCA that enable effective administration of justice against the guilty, why should other states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh be denied similar provisions to tighten the legal sanctions against the guilty? For terror knows no boundaries and acknowledges no humanity.

The resolve and action to demolish terrorism from its very roots has to be cross country, regional and even international. How can one deny that the collective inputs and cross-country efforts of the police forces of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan were critical in enabling the Delhi Police to track down the guilty behind the recent Delhi serial bomb blasts? Today the flow of information was in one direction, tomorrow it might be in the opposite. But what matters most is that in the larger national good, we all collectively move in the right direction.

At this critical juncture, the Prime Minister of India has left for what might be an extremely important international visit to the USA, where talks are expected to take place with the new civilian President of Pakistan, Mr Asif Ali Zardari. India’s desire for good neighborly relations with Pakistan should not be construed as an excuse to ignore harsh facts related to Pakistan’s role in perpetrating the terror mechanism against India. While one cannot live in the past, neither is it prudent to ignore historical realities. On the subject of cross border terrorism, Pakistan has a history of duplicity between its words and deeds. While we sympathize with the people of Pakistan for the acts of terrorist violence that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people in the recent past, neither should we ignore that they are now facing the wrath of the very monster that Pakistan has carefully nurtured and bred over decades to inflict pain to India. The primary onus of building goodwill and amity between our two nations actually lies with Pakistan whose words must be backed up with action.

The entire country is waiting to see what specific steps the UPA government and its leadership will take to build a National Resolve, Strategic Plan and Decisive Action, both domestically and internationally, to conclusively crush terrorism and ensure that the people of India are once again able to freely live their lives in an environment of peace and security.

For this, the onus lies with the government to initiate honest discussions about the current crisis with all political parties and other stake holders, so that a national consensus can emerge about how to conclusively defeat the menace of terrorism once and for all.

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