Blaming both central and Bihar governments for 'collectively failing' to prevent the terror attack in Bodh Gaya despite the IB and Delhi police alerts, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi hit out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar calling his visit to the Buddhist pilgrim town after Sunday's blast as mere 'eyewash'.
Modi, former deputy chief minister who is sitting on a 24-hour fast in Patna in protest against the terror attack, said that the serial blasts could have been averted had adequate security arrangements been put in place at Mahabodhi temple and adjoining areas after the alerts.
"The required security measures were not in place at the temple and adjoining areas even after Delhi police publicly exposed an Indian Mujahideen module's plans to carry out a terror attack in the temple town in October last year and IB tipped about the same subsequently," he said. "There was simply a lack of coordination between the centre and state government," he said adding the central government and its agencies were informed of the terror attack early morning on Sunday but the NIA and NSG teams took 12 hours to reach Bodh Gaya for the probe.
"This speaks volumes about the Centre's callous approach ... Precious evidences were allowed to get damaged or washed away in the heavy shower that took place at Bodh Gaya on Sunday afternoon," said Modi, who is also protesting against the Bagaha firing and Bihar government's insensitivity towards stranded pilgrims from the state in Uttarakhand.
The Centre should explain the delay in the arrival of NIA/NSG teams, he demanded and added Kumar could have averted the first terrorist attack in the state by throwing a state police security blanket at the temple town after the intelligence warnings. Hitting out at the former ally, Modi said Kumar's visit to Bodh Gaya as an 'eyewash' as he had appeared unperturbed about the attack and had in mind political agendas of fighting BJP and its poll campaign chief Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Kumar held a strategic meeting with JD(U) leaders soon after his return from Bodh Gaya. "Any other chief minister would have cancelled all political engagements and focussed on addressing issues related to terror attack," he said. Modi demanded that Kumar, who also holds the home portfolio, should own moral responsibility as the security of the world famous Mahabodhi Temple rests with Bihar government and Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC).
The BTMC, which is headed by the Gaya district magistrate in ex-officio capacity, had let private security guards with neither arms nor equipment to handle the temple's internal security, he alleged. On the chief minister defending the security measures at the temple and giving clean chit to the state police by saying that every incident is a learning experience, he said Kumar was perhaps waiting for more terror attacks before putting in place adequate security measures.
He also slammed the state government for its failure to set up anti-terror police station despite a cabinet decision in this regard last year. On Kumar's charge of BJP and RJD joining forces against his government and that the two may even go for an alliance, Modi said the CM appears to have 'lost his usual cool' and got rattled by the sequence of events which has exposed claims of good governance and law and order in Bihar.
He ruled out an alliance between BJP and RJD in his 'life time' and claimed that it was BJP which had worked tirelessly to end the 'jungle raj' (RJD regime) before other forces joined it. "If an alliance is forged, it will be between JD(U) and RJD as Kumar is surviving in power with the help of Congress, of which RJD has been an ally for more than a decade," Modi said adding it may also happen that JD(U) and RJD will together prop up the JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand.
He asked the chief minister to concentrate on governance and improvement of law and order instead of politicking and ensure survival of his minority government. Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said the party's national president Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and the party's central in-charge for Bihar, Dharmendra Prasad will visit Bodh Gaya on Tuesday to take stock of the attack on the temple town before arriving in Patna by noon to break Modi's fast.
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