Click to play videoPakistan is a country at war with itself, but even as there was more evidence of Pakistan's internal incoherence on Wednesday, there was a war of words in India too over the 26/11 Mumbai attacks probe, when Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi hinted at "there was local involvement in the 26/11 attacks".
Home Minister P Chidambaram snubbed Modi by asking him how he knew this and whether he was in touch with Pakistan. Modi jumped up to clarify that all he meant was such a huge attack could not have been done without local reconnaissance.
The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was: Can a local link to 26/11 be ruled out?
To try and answer the question, on the panel of experts were Congress Spokesperson Manish Tewari; MP and BJP Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar; and IDSA Fellow, Dr Sreeradha Datta.
The initial results of the SMS poll showed that 52 per cent agreed that there could have been a local link to 26/11, while 48 per cent disagreed, insisting that it was a foreign operation.
SNUBBING MODI
Manish Tiwari got to the heart of the matter immediately saying that the Chief Minister of Gujarat was not the investigating officer of the Mumbai attacks case.
"The investigations are in progress. There is an external link to the entire attack. Evidence has been given to Pakistan and the rest of the investigation is continuing. And any politician - whether he is the Chief Minister of Gujarat or anybody else - to really jump in with both his feet into his mouth and start suggesting theories, that too into the public domain, ends up undermining the investigation," he stated.
"Mr Chidambaram is not getting antsy," Tiwari continued. "All he is pointing out is let the agencies do their work and do not suggest theories which are absolutely bizarre and if you have anything concrete to say, appear before the investigating officer and record your statement."
Prakash Javadekar strove to support Modi saying, "I have spoken to a lot of police officers who were in Mumbai on that fateful day. A lot of senior officers have confirmed what Mr Modi is saying and it is very logical that there cannot be an attack from Pakistan without any local support. No one doubts that it was a Pakistan perpetrated attack."
Tiwari interrupted saying, "The BJP is acting as the best lawyer for Pakistan. These are the statements which are being picked up by the Pakistani press and establishment and they are being quoted back to us. They say your politicians are saying that the attack was internally orchestrated. The entire effort which is being made to put Pakistan in the dock is being undermined by the BJP."
Javadekar retorted back saying, "Not us, but Antulay who is acting as Pakistan's lawyer. He created unnecessary furore and suspicion. Mr Tiwari is levelling bogus charges at us. Everyone says it is a Pakistan-sponsored, Pakistan-perpetrated attack, a conspiracy hatched in Pakistan by official agencies and carried out by Pakistan. But things don't happen in vacuum."
Tiwari responded saying that the Congress censored its own minister on the floor of the House for speaking out of turn. "We said that we did not agree with his views. Those may be his personal views but are not the views of the Government of India. The distinction out here is that the BJP is supporting Modi's views."
IDEOLOGICAL, POLITICAL GAME?
When Narendra Modi makes such statements, it seems as if he is playing the ideological card - blaming the minority community, asking who is stopping the Government from taking action and saying that the Government is engaging in votebank politics.
Javadekar responded to this saying that no one had named any community and the local support could have come from anybody. "Pseudo-secularists always have religion in mind. We have criminals in mind and we want them punished," he stated.
Manish Tiwari said that the local aspect of the investigation was being carried out. "Let the investigation conclude, let the chargesheet be presented and if there is anything which has to be said - after all it's a criminal matter - let it be said in the court of law. Let Mr Modi share any information he has with the investigating officer. But the manner in which he has tried to communalise the whole investigation and simultaneously gave a handle to Pakistan to beat us with puts his entire loyalty, integrity and patriotism to the country under suspicion."
He continued, saying that by this stretch, the BJP's patriotism was also suspect for the party has been exonerating Modi. "The General Secretary of the BJP gave him a clean chit," he said.
Dr Sreeradha Datta entered the debate at this point saying, "If you look at the proportions of the attack, it would not have been possible without some kind of logistical support from within India. These kind of actions cannot take place by people just walking into a particular state and doing what they did."
However, she added that there is a system in place, procedures are on and the way and place where Modi voiced his opinion were not right at all. "He is talking the Congress using this as votebank politics, I feel Mr Modi is playing votebank politics."
Javadekar said that this was not votebank politics. "Votebank politics is when the Prime Minister doesn't lose sleep over the condition of the victims of terror, but loses sleep over the agony of the parents of the son who blew himself up at the Glasgow airport. Congress President Sonia Gandhi says to the Hyderabad Police don't persecute one community. We want to know how can there be a quota for criminals? If you pick up a Muslim boy then you have to pick up Hindu boys, OBC and SC/ST boys too? This is bizarre."
He said that Modi had, after the Delhi blasts and Ahmedabad blasts, gone to the Prime Minister himself and told him about the confession of terrorists who were behind the blasts.
Manish Tiwari wanted to know why Modi had not followed the same style this time and why had chosen to air his views to the media in Nagpur at the BJP National Executive instead? He said such comments were undermining not just India's efforts but also the global war against terror.
"Today Pakistan has been put in the dock. For the first time they are admitting that terrorism is emnanting from their soil. You are providing them the fig leaf by harping on the local link. Mr Javadekar, the actions of the BJP and Mr Modi are anti-national," Tiwari stated heatedly.
The debate ended on a hung note as both BJP and Congress continued to blame each other over the subject.
FINAL SMS/WEB POLL: Can a local link to 26/11 be ruled out?
Yes: 47 per cent
No: 53 per cent
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