Hyderabad Blasts: What Makes Shinde look Helpless?

Was it actionable intelligence that the centre passed on to the Andhra Pradesh government? After issuing an embarrassing “regret” on saffron terror, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is clearly watching his own tongue on the subject but while replying to the “clarifications” on the Hyderabad twin blasts in Rajya Sabha, he dropped clear hints that his ministry’s latest advisory to the state Directors General of Police had some specific inputs.

Shinde is trying to impress upon whoever cares to believe him that he is not as incompetent a home minister as was being made out to be. Moreover, he would like to convey that National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid) had become operational and the input gathering and sharing was far more advanced than earlier.

“Whenever there is an intelligence input sharing from the centre to the state concerned there is a tendency to take it lightly and not do much about it. After all, these keep coming to them and at times been general in nature. But the situation has changed now. With formation of Natgrid we are getting much more substantive information. Three-four days earlier we got some information and it was passed on. Besides Hyderbabad, Mumbai, Banglore and Coimbatore are on terrorist target,” Shinde said.

But unlike his predecessor P Chidambaram, who would at least appear confident of himself on such occasions, Shinde appeared to be more helpless. Natgrid and NCTC (National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) had been Chidambaram’s two pet projects. Could Shinde have done more as home minister than merely issuing advisory to the state governments? It was one of the questions raised by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. The question becomes more pertinent in this case, as he himself suggested that Natgrid’s intelligence inputs were more advanced than the past.

While Natgrid has become partially functional, the NCTC exists only on paper. NCTC, despite an executive notification issued in February last year under Article 73 of the Constitution stating that it was to become operational from March 1, 2012 from the premises of Intelligence Bureau (IB), remains in deep freeze due to opposition from the non-Congress states. Shinde did a lip service for activation of NCTC. It didn’t come suo motu but in response to a reference made by JD(U) MP, NK Singh.

He pleaded: “We want to do NCTC but several states have written letters to the prime minister objecting to it (on grounds of supposed infringement of federal structure of Indian polity). We are ready to make amendments in the provisions of NCTC. If you don’t want to keep it in the IB we will do that. We will make other amendments also.”

Though he told Rajya Sabha that he had been busy past midnight yesterday in reviewing the post-blast situation and made the last call to Hyderabad at 12.30 am and was at the airport at 3am to take a 5am flight to Hyderabad and be on the Dilsukh Nagar spot by 7 am, he forgets that he has one of the most privileged position in the UPA dispensation. Besides, presiding over the home ministry, he holds the politically significant position of the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha. He certainly needs to do much more firefighting both in terms of internal security and political management on floor of the House in Parliament than he has displayed so far.

The problem for Shinde and his team is that unlike on previous occasions when the security and intelligence agencies would reveal names of suspected terrorist groups during preliminary investigation stage, they don’t want to take names yet. The NIA turnaround reports on Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid blasts have made them very cautious. The people at large will have to wait for long for an official position on security and investigative agency.

The interrogation report of Indian Mujahideen suspects as released by Delhi Police in October last year makes it amply clear that Dilsukh Nagar in Hyderbad was terror target. A terror attempt by members of the same module was made in 2007 at the same locality but the IED had thankfully not exploded. The area has since remained most vulnerable. Though it is not clear whether Dilsukh Nagar was mentioned in the home ministry’s advisory on 16, 19 & 20 February, it would be ironical if it didn’t. More so if the state police did not think this area to be vulnerable. The reports that there was only one CCTV and even that was dysfunctional, raises even more alarming questions on internal security preparedness. Neither the chief minister nor the home minister has answered that.

After the Hyderabad blasts there is a growing perception that Shinde is more like his colleague from Maharashtra and the first occupant of the home minister’s seat in UPA I, Shivraj Patil.