In Saturday?s meeting of the Congress? top decision-making body, members of the Congress Working Committee launched a frontal attack on the home minister, questioning the intelligence failure that led to Mumbai?s tragedy. Such was the fury that a mere reference to the failure to protect the country?s coasts?the terrorists had taken the sea route to reach Mumbai?drew an immediate apology from defence minister AK Antony.
The tone of the meeting had been set by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. It soon became clear that accountability had to be fixed for the outrage in Mumbai at the highest levels. Home minister Shivraj Patil put in his papers a few hours later.
Not that the home minister was inclined to resign, taking moral responsibility for the worst ever terror attack in the country. At the CWC meeting, he had sought to expand the circle of responsibility, pointing out that the intelligence agencies reported to the national security advisor (NSA) MK Narayanan, who in turn reported to the PM. But there were few takers for his explanations at a time when the entire nation was outraged and impatient for some visible signs of the government taking charge. Indications are, Patil was planning to shift the debate to an action plan involving a new anti-terror law, setting up of a federal investigation agency, the hanging of Afzal.
While those proposed steps could well dominate the political discussion in days to come, there was little possibility for another reprieve for Patil. There were signals from the PM, who was said to be very ?upset? and feeling ?let down? by his colleagues. He had set up a task force, headed by the NSA, with a 100-day roadmap to tackle terror?an area under the jurisdiction of the home ministry.
Although Patil was never a popular figure in the Congress, his proximity to 10, Janpath always worked as a deterrent against any expression of dissent in public. The eruption against him at the CWC meeting was more to do with the party?s worries about the electoral fallout of the Mumbai terror attacks.
After a disappointing run in assembly elections in the past two years, the Congress was anxiously awaiting a turn of electoral fortunes. As per its internal assessment, the party looked forward to winning Delhi and Rajasthan while it expected hung assemblies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The terror attacks in Mumbai may have sharply altered this optimistic picture.
The BJP has already sought to make terror the centre of its poll campaign. Recovering from its initial stupor following revelations of alleged ?Hindu terror?, the opposition party had changed gears, adopting an aggressive campaign to counter the Congress? charges on ?Hindu terror?. The party had virtually given a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh. The issue, however, failed to evoke any public response beyond some urban pockets. Mumbai?s terror strikes could add an edge to BJP?s campaign.
After talking to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday morning, the BJP?s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani called for unity in this hour of crisis. Although he said that the Centre and the state had ?a lot to answer for?, he added that ?today is not the occasion for that.?
A few hours later, however, Advani was telling reporters in Mumbai that the Parliament attack during the NDA regime paled before the gravity of the attack on Mumbai. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was also on Ground Zero, criticising the PM?s address to the nation. Kapil Sibal and M Veerappa Moily attacked the opposition party for allegedly politicising terror and even questioned its ?national commitment?.
But if the BJP was brash about its politics of terror, issuing instant advertisements about the ?brutal terror strikes? and the ?weak government?, the Congress jumped in with a counter ad campaign comparing the latest attack with those carried out during the NDA regime. The political slugfest was happening even as soldiers were fighting terrorists in Mumbai.
Shivraj Patil?s resignation, therefore, is only one chapter in the seemingly unending saga of the politics of terror. The slugfest is likely to get murkier. As for the government?s response, confusion reigns supreme. While the Prime Minister had attributed the attacks to ?external linkages?, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee was forthright in naming Pakistan. Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, however, saw no Pakistani hand at least in the ?initial investigations?.