WITH the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in India reportedly set to book a Hindutva leader for involvement in the 2007 Samjhauta train blasts, evidence is mounting about the existence and growth of a saffron terror network in India, The Times of India said in its editorial. Swami Aseemanand has been identified as having played a key role in plotting the attack that killed 68 people, 60 of them Pakistani nationals. The self-styled Abhinav Bharat ideologue's name also figures in 2007's Makkah Masjid and Ajmer blasts. Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad had earlier arrested Hindutva activists like Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and others, including a serving army lieutenant colonel. It claimed the right-wing group Abhinav Bharat planned the Malegaon blast in 2008. Clearly, saffron extremism has emerged as a serious threat that must be firmly beaten back. This calls for increased surveillance and monitoring of such groups' activities and members, and locating and dismantling terror modules wherever they exist. And those guilty of crimes must be given exemplary punishment. The larger question concerns radicalisation of sections of society. The divisive and destructive potential of such a phenomenon can't be underestimated in a nation striving to fight the virus of bigotry. India cannot afford to revert to the vicious communal trap of the past. Both majority and minority communities today speak in one voice against sectarian violence. Both have rejected resort to it even in the wake of vicious terror attacks. Leaders across the political spectrum must, therefore, especially show responsibility, restraint and united purpose in handling the issue. Provocative statements by Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh and rabble-rousing by the Sangh Parivar will only vitiate the atmosphere. Terrorism needs delinking in discourse from specific faiths or communities. It's a common challenge to be tackled with beefed-up security and intelligence. Keep politics out of the anti
