On a muggy August afternoon in Mumbai in 2003, after clocking in an eight-hour reporting shift, I was about to head home from the television newsroom where I worked. As I picked up my bag to leave, the phone rang. A panicked caller said a blast had been heard in a crowded market called Zaveri Bazaar. Before we could grab the camera to head to spot, word came of another explosion – this time, near the Gateway of India. Minutes later, I was on air and the anchor was asking me questions, one of which left me paralysed: “Does the police believe this is a terror attack and has any organisation taken responsibility for it?”

On Monday evening, when news broke of a car explosion near Red Fort in Delhi, memories of the 2003 twin blasts – which killed 54 people – came flooding in. No point jumping the gun, I thought. Let’s wait. Even television channels, uncharacteristically, waited. Eventually, the country had to wait two days to find out if the government considered the car explosion an act of terror.

In 2003, within hours of the blasts, then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani had told reporters that the government suspected the hand of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. A week later, Mumbai Police arrested three slum residents claiming they had assembled and planted the bombs at the behest of the terror group.

The reverse happened this time. Seven people were arrested before the car explosion took place. The Jammu and Kashmir Police even released a press note on Monday morning saying it had busted an “inter-state and transnational terror module” linked with the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and the homegrown Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind. Anonymous police briefings and CCTV footage revealed the investigators were closing in on the man who they believe drove the car that exploded.

And yet, the Modi government chose to stay silent for 48 hours. When it finally released a note on Wednesday evening – a resolution adopted by the Cabinet – it did not say much. It called the explosion “a heinous terror incident, perpetrated by anti-national forces”. No group was named. No country was named.

It is good to exercise caution. Even more so in a year when the Modi government’s lack of it pushed the country into war.

In April, when masked gunmen swooped down on a meadow full of tourists in Kashmir and killed 26, it showed the limits of the Modi government’s – or for that matter, any government’s – ability to scotch every single terror plot.

But instead of quietly reckoning with the security lapse, the Modi government decided to play to the gallery. Supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party whipped up nationalistic frenzy through “jan aakrosh” (or people’s outrage) rallies. The military action that followed – retaliatory strikes deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir – was emotively labelled “Operation Sindoor”. The media cheered on.

The triumphant national mood, however, did not last long. Pakistan responded and for days, the two nuclear-armed countries were locked in an escalating conflict – until United States President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire.

The conflict exposed India’s vulnerabilities in the face of a China-Pakistan military alliance. And as many security experts pointed out then, it hardly established any deterrence against future terrorist attacks.

It has taken only six months for this to be proven true.

Worse, this time it was not trained gunmen from across the border, acting with little local support, carrying out an attack in Kashmir. Instead, a slow-moving car exploded right in the heart of the national capital. If the investigators are to be believed, the man behind the wheel was a highly-qualified Kashmiri doctor, who was acting in concert with other doctors – a “white-collar” terror plot.

This is a moment that calls for a measured response. By holding down rhetoric and not ratcheting up public sentiment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi might finally be showing the restraint that he mocked his predecessor for.

Here is a summary of last week’s top stories.

NDA retains power. The National Democratic Alliance defeated the Opposition Mahagathbandhan bloc in the Bihar Assembly elections. The alliance won 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 89 seats and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) 85. The Lok Janshakti Party clinched 19 seats.

In the Opposition alliance, Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal won 25 seats and the Congress won six.

Political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party failed to win any seats on its electoral debut.

Anant Gupta lists five reasons why Biharis are not done with Nitish Kumar yet.

Toxic air. The Commission for Air Quality Management imposed Stage 3 restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan to control pollution in the National Capital Region. This came after the air quality in Delhi plummeted to the “severe” level.

Stage 3 measures of the plan include a ban on non-essential construction work and the closure of stone crushers and mining activities. They also include the shifting of primary school up to Class 5 to hybrid mode. Parents and students have the option to choose between offline and online classes wherever available.

The Air Quality Index in Delhi was in the “severe” category from Tuesday to Friday.

Vaishnavi Rathore writes: Delhi’s failure to act against the biggest source of its air pollution – vehicles.

POCSO case against a former CM. The Karnataka High Court refused to quash a case against former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa pertaining to the alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl. However, it directed the special court not to insist on the appearance of the BJP leader during the trial unless “his presence is essential”.

It also clarified that he is free to seek discharge before the trial court.

The case against Yediyurappa was registered in March 2024 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for allegedly assaulting a minor girl, who is a rape survivor in a separate case from 2015. The 82-year-old leader is accused of having assaulted the girl in February 2024 when she and her mother met him to seek help in the 2015 rape case.

Also on Scroll last week

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