Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's year-long charmed existence as the home minister has apparently ended, with the tough talking minister suddenly sounding a little vulnerable and looking a little helpless.
The lull after the terror attack in Mumbai on November 2008 was broken by the blast in Pune's German Bakery, which claimed nine lives, and the Maoist attack in West Bengal that killed 24 jawans.
It may be recalled that Chidambaram had warned Pakistan that India will retaliate if there is another attack. But instead of retaliation, Chidambaram has been forced to adopt Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's policy of going ahead with the dialogue process with Pakistan, slated for February 25 between the foreign secretaries of both countries.
Sources in the home ministry admit that it's a Catch-22 situation. If India backs out from the composite dialogue, it would seem that it is buckling under the pressure of terrorist organisations, which do not want the dialogue process to resume.
If India goes ahead with the talks, it will face tremendous flak from the Opposition and it may adversely affect public opinion about the government. India's decision to go ahead with the talks might be interpreted as New Delhi bending backwards to accommodate Pakistan while terror organisations from the neighbouring country continue to strike India.
Sources say that India is trying to act tough by insisting that terror will be the first item on the bilateral agenda and Pakistan will be asked to explain the steps taken by it to tackle terrorism emanating from its soil, but most foreign relation experts think this is mere posturing by the government.
Two days after the Pune blast, a group of over 100 Maoists attacked a paramilitary camp in West Bengal and killed 24 jawans. They set the camp on fire before decamping with the weapons there.
Maoist leader Kishenji took responsibility for the attack and threatened that such attacks would continue unless Chidamabarm decided to withdraw his much-publicised Operation Green Hunt.
Kishenji's statement is a direct challenge to the home minister, who had flown to Kolkata merely a week ago to hold a meeting of the chief ministers of the four Maoist-infested states, to work out a joint action plan.
While Chidambaram has issued a stern statement against the attack, Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has demanded a central probe into the attack, insinuating that the attack might have been the handiwork of the Communist Party of India - Marxist-led government in West Bengal.
Incidentally, Banerjee had made her displeasure clear when Chidamabaram visited Kolkata recently, as she thought the Centre was cosying up with the Left leadership in the state to fight the Naxal threat.
Sources in the home ministry candidly admit that in the event of one more attack, it may be difficult to host the World Cup Hockey tournament in Delhi that begins on February 28 and ends on March 14. Grave doubts are also being expressed over the security arrangements provided for IPL, the cricketing extravaganza which starts on March 13 and
goes on till April 25.
Political pundits predict a number of challenges ahead for Chidambaram and while he has been talking tough, it remains to be seen how tough he can act against terrorism sponsored from across the border, and violent strikes from within the country by groups who claim to represent the marginalised, the deprived and the have-nots.
