Close on the heels of the terror alarm sounded by National Security Adviser MK Narayanan comes another scare, this time from Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
Shivraj Patil’s remarks at a police function put the government in a spot for the second time in two days
NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of the terror alarm sounded by National Security Adviser MK Narayanan comes another scare, this time from Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
In a sweeping statement at a function to mark the 60th Raising Day of the Delhi police on Friday, Patil said, “Terrorists are sneaking into big cities and operating clandestinely. They have been making their plans by hiding in the cities and will continue to do it.”
Patil’s bombshell put the government in a spot for the second time in two days. On Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was under fire from the BJP for his “inadequate” response to Narayanan’s warning that terrorists were manipulating the stock market.
He had to control the damage with an assurance that his government had taken “adequate precautionary measures” to protect the market.
Fortunately for the government, the market was unaffected by the fear factor and remained buoyant on Thursday. But the political temperature shot up again on Friday, thanks to Patil’s remark.
“The government seems to have given up on its promise to protect national security,” said BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy. “First it was the NSA, now it’s the home minister. They should be instilling confidence in the people, not spreading fear.”
Security experts slammed the inexplicable rise in terror warnings from top government officials. Former Intelligence Bureau director Ajit Doval said such generalised statements reduce a government’s credibility.
“These are serious allegations,” Doval told DNA. “They have to be followed up by effective counteraction and such action has to be transparent.”
Ajai Sahni of the Institute of Conflict Management pointed out that the government seemed to be speaking in different voices, with the NSA and the home minister contradicting the PM’s assurance of strict vigil on the security front.
“Terrorists have been operating from cities from years,” he said. “If the home minister chooses to talk about it now, he should enlighten us if there has been any change. Without any basis, such statements are alarmist.”
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