Seeing conspiracies

Last month,after RSS leader Indresh Kumar was included in the chargesheet by the Rajasthan ATS in the Ajmer blasts case,the BJP spotted a political conspiracy. Unfortunately,theres more than a hint of denial in the manner in which the BJP has reacted to the alleged involvement of individuals connected to fringe organisations of the Sangh Parivar. On Wednesday,for instance,Harshad Solanki was arrested by the Rajasthan ATS for his involvement in the Ajmer blasts. Solanki is also an accused in the Best Bakery case dating back to the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat. Solankis affiliations are not immediately clear,and they are not the point here. But the direction of the investigation in the Ajmer blasts reinforces the need to politically look four-square at whats loosely called Hindutva terror,or an act resulting from a perceived sense of vengeance on behalf of the majority community. Ever since Sadhvi Pragya was detained on charges of involvement in an act of terrorism,the challenge for the BJP has been to frame a response in keeping with its traditional tough line on security. Indeed,as the BJP struggles,after two successive defeats at the general elections,to revive its plank of being a party of decisive gov-ernance,many have seen the issue of Hindutva/ saffron terror as an opportunity for the party to reinvent itself. For that,the BJP must start to seriously recognise,and be seen to acknowledge,that terror perpetrated by some Hindu extre-mists could be a real phenomenon,and not necessarily a charge craftily flung at the Sangh Parivar for poli-tical reasons. And that,no matter what the identity of the accused,it behoves the BJP as the main opposition party to be framing its responses in keeping with a higher commitment to law and order.

Its obviously the job of the law enforcement agencies and the courts to establish the guilt/ innocence of the accused. But the BJP would be less than sincere to its rhetoric of security if it remained in denial about the possible roots of such acts of terror.