Opinion Express View on Bengaluru blast: Follow the facts
State and central agencies have their task cut out. Parties should let the probe take its course free of politics
Rameshwaram Café is located at a junction close to Bengaluru’s technology hub that houses top IT companies like IBM, SAP and Accenture as well as several startups. 
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Initial investigations into Friday’s blast at Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Café have revealed that an unidentified man kept a bag at the popular eatery minutes before the explosion. The police are scanning CCTV footage to pick up leads on the suspect who may have left behind an improvised explosive device in the bag.
Eight teams have been set up to crack the case and Karnataka’s Deputy CM, DK Shivakumar, has promised them a free hand and said that the incident “should not be politicised”. Restraint has, however, not always marked the responses of the state’s political outfits, especially those of Karnataka’s main opposition party, the BJP.
The party has rightly called out the government for the law-and-order failure. But some of its members have stepped outside the boundaries of legitimate criticism and appeared to let their prejudices do the loose talking. Senior BJP leader and former CM Basavaraj Bommai has said that “taking this incident lightly would be like encouraging terrorists”. He has linked the blast to pro-Pakistan slogans raised in the Karnataka Assembly last week and insinuated that a “sleeper cell” was behind it.
The ruling Congress, too, has contributed to raising the heat. Deputy CM Shivakumar, also the state Congress chief, has referred to the blast in the same breath as the 2022 Mangalore explosion on the watch of the BJP government in the state. By all accounts, the investigating teams are probing several angles. All parties should let the probe take its due course and follow where the facts lead.
Rameshwaram Café is located at a junction close to Bengaluru’s technology hub that houses top IT companies like IBM, SAP and Accenture as well as several startups. Celebrated for its culinary offerings, the café is a popular haunt for professionals of these firms. The blast happened around 1 pm on Friday when many of them were having lunch, including a 45-year-old accountant from a multinational semiconductor firm who bore the brunt of the explosion. Among the injured are blue-collar migrant workers. The lunch-hour blast has understandably shaken the entrepreneurial community and there are concerns that the incident could hurt investor sentiment.
Bengaluru’s restaurant sector has also recognised the need to step up vigil, including training its staff to recognise suspicious behaviour and developing standard operating procedures to evacuate customers during an emergency. The city’s hotel association has reportedly said that it will chalk out a plan to improve the security system at eateries across the city. It is planning to hold a meeting between its members and police officials this week. The political class, too, must participate in these conversations to make Bengaluru more secure, instead of fishing in troubled waters in an election year.
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