Keep politics out of Burdwan terror plot

The terror factories Burdwan seems to be home to is an extremely serious matter.

To play politics with this, as West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee often does, is unwise, especially after her government agreed to an NIA probe earlier this month.

The state government must cooperate fully in the investigation into the suspected presence of many terror modules in the region, including a possible Al Qaeda affiliate.

The question of tackling terror has little to do with the stress the Mamata government may face over the Saradha scam.

Unless the two are linked by distinct money or funding trails, they should, in theory, be seen separately, but both must be probed until we have all the answers.

Given its history and volatility, West Bengal may be a political cauldron, but that does not mean everything has to be reduced to politics.

Tackling the Burdwan situation, as the Centre is doing through agencies like NIA, IB, ED and RAW is a national security matter, and has nothing to do with adversarial political positions the Trinamul Congress and BJP are taking of late in the state, nor has it anything to do with the perennial rivalry between the Marxists and Mamata’s supporters.

To toy with national security is to invite dangers that are best not irrigated by political differences.

Security has nothing to do with the Centre versus states, or regional parties competing against the ruling party at the Centre.

Regional satraps cannot allow their power plays to go on to the extent of endangering the entire nation, nor can they hide behind looking at every issue through a political lens.

To believe that prevalent bomb-making technology and access to ingredients is tied only to strikes against Bangladesh by a proscribed foreign outfit in the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh is to underestimate the gravity of the situation.

There are reports of strikes being planned against targets in West Bengal itself, and there is also the suspicion that the tentacles of terror reach far beyond, with possible links in southern India (Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) as well as Jammu & Kashmir and Assam.

Blasts similar to those that took place in West Bengal’s Malda may have taken place in Chennai too close to the date on which accidental bombs went off in the eastern state.

Terrorism’s collateral damage has already taken many lives in different parts of the country, including those of some perpetrators, while the distribution of counterfeit currency is having an impact on the economy.

A proper probe, followed by strategic action in dismantling terror modules and counterfeit currency operations, alone can guarantee the nation’s safety from fringe groups on the run from Bangladesh, that appear to be scattered across eastern India.