VARANASI, INDIA, March 8, 2006: A deathly silence descended on this holy town as temple bells fell silent and people rushed home after a series of bomb blasts on Tuesday evening left at least 20 people dead and more than a hundred injured, many of whom are battling for their lives. Seven bombs were later defused, including four that had been planted on the Gowdolia-Dasashwamedh Ghat Road near the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has rushed to Varanasi. “The situation is constantly being reviewed at the highest level. The Centre is in constant touch with the State Government for any assistance they may require,” he said. All State Governments have been alerted. The entire top brass of Varanasi police was away in Farooqabad attending the wedding of a relative of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav when the bombings took place. The deadliest attack was on the famous Sankat Mochan temple where thousands of devotees had assembled to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman around 6.15 pm.
Even before local residents and the police could come to grips with the bombing at the temple, two blasts rocked the Cantonment Railway Station in less than 10 minutes of the first explosion. A bomb exploded on Platform No. 1 from where Shiv-Ganga Express (Varanasi-New Delhi) was about to chug out of the station. Almost simultaneously, another bomb went off near the waiting room. Four persons were killed on the spot while six more died while being taken to hospital. At least 50 people were injured, many of them critically. The blasts at the railway station were so powerful that they created a one-foot deep crater and smashed windowpanes and wooden structures.
Late evening, a bomb went off on the railway tracks at Lohta, 35 km from Varanasi. Details of this bombing were not available till the time of going to press. The death toll is bound to shoot up as crowded areas were specifically targeted in an attempt to create terror in this Hindu pilgrimage city. Police have sealed the city limits and the railway station has been evacuated. People who had gathered on the ghats of Ganga for evening rituals, including the famous aarti, panicked when four bombs were found on the Gowdolia-Dasashwamedh Ghat Road. They were later defused. Going by the well-orchestrated plan in which the serial blasts were triggered, it is clearly the work of a terror organization though no group has as yet owned responsibility.
The Centre has placed 1,200 RAF and 500 CRPF personnel at the disposal of the Uttar Pradesh Government for deployment in sensitive areas to maintain law and order. Of these, 200 CRPF men will be deployed in Varanasi itself. The Army has been put on alert.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Chidanand Muni and other saints from Rishikesh have strongly condemned the serial blasts in Varanasi while urging people to keep calm. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also expressed dismay at the way the political parties are playing with the security of the people. “Today, Hindus feel completely unsafe in India. Terrorists are attacking especially the Hindu community. First it was Diwali, and now it is on the eve of Holi.”
There is a lengthy Internet “blog,” here, with many reports on the blasts.