Hindu fringe groups come in sharp intelligence focus

Most recent blasts do not bear signature of Muslim terror groups

NEW DELHI: Intelligence agencies are beginning to put a quiet, but definitely sharper, scanner on Hindu fundamentalist groups, most of them owing allegiance to the Sangh Parivar, as over half-a-dozen major and several minor blasts in recent times do not bear the signature of the Indian Mujahideen or other Muslim terror groups.

Instead, sources in the security establishment said, they are now looking at the Hindu fringe groups as clinching evidence is fast emerging of them making bombs and carrying out blasts, the latest being the simultaneous blasts at Malegaon in Maharashtra and Modasa in Gujarat on September 29. The Hindu Jagran Manch, a fringe group based in Indore and affiliated to the Sangh Parivar, carried out these blasts.

Officials said these were not isolated blasts, but fit into a pattern across India in which there is clear evidence or they suspect the involvement of Hindu fundamentalist groups.

Among the blasts that do not fit into the pattern followed by Muslim groups, and which may have been the handiwork of Hindu groups, are three blasts in a day at Malegaon (2006), blasts at the dargah of Ajmer Sharief (2007), Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad (2007) and Jama Masjid in Delhi (2006).

Besides, there were minor blasts across Maharashtra, in Parbhani and Jalna a few years ago and a recent one in Thane. There have also been telling instances of right-wing members blowing up in the process of making bombs - one in Nanded in 2006 and the other, recently, in Kanpur.

“These blasts do not fit into the pattern of Muslim terror groups. And in most cases we have credible evidence to link it to Hindu groups. But the question is, how proactively are we willing to investigate,” asks one officer. Another investigator in the security establishment says there is “a hidden fear” that prevents many officers from speaking on the emerging pattern.

One officer told DNA that their investigations into the Jama Masjid blast in Delhi had led them to a Sangh Parivar sympathiser, but nothing has emerged in public till date. In the case of the three blasts in Malegaon in September 2006, the local police “badly messed it up”, says an intelligence officer.

Already, investigators have noticed trends in the blasts believed to be carried out by Hindu groups: Of targeting Muslims or their places of worship, creating communal tension. Also, the locally assembled bombs are planted by people who may have pretended to be Muslims on many occasions.

Analysts see a marked difference in terror by Muslim and Hindu groups. In the case of blasts by Muslim terror groups, the underworld and ISI use money and ideology as motivation whereas in the case of Hindu groups the motivation lies in a fanatic commitment to hatred for the other community.

“We don’t see much money involved in the blasts by Hindu groups,” said a senior official. But the bombs and their levels of sophistication are “nothing much,” says a technical analyst in the establishment.

Another “big difference” is that while Muslim groups carry out “multiple blasts” and issue detailed emails before the blasts, Hindu groups have “yet not graduated to that level, and are shy of owning up.”
j_josy@dnaindia.net