Mumbai:
Senior BJP leader LK Advani, who is in Mumbai, blamed the Mumbai attacks today on "a policy failure" by the UPA government.
Home Minister P Chidambaram said this morning that the serial blasts in Mumbai last evening cannot be described as an intelligence failure. Mr Advani countered, "It is not an intelligence failure...I don't accuse the government of that...it is a policy failure."
So far, 17 people have died; 131 were injured in the three blasts that took place within twelve minutes during rush hour last evening.
The BJP leader visited the sites of the trio of blasts this morning; he also spent some time in two hospitals where those injured are being treated. He urged the government to adopt a "zero-tolerance policy on terror."
He also said that "Mumbai has become a favourite target of terrorists -whether they are from neighbouring countries or from here." Mr Advani said that there are reports that the Indian Mujahideen - an indigenous terror group - may have been responsible for the latest attacks. The Home Minister categorically said this morning that it would be irresponsible right now to speculate on who is to blame.
"Even if Indian Mujahideen caused these new blasts, they get their support from Pakistan," Mr Advani said.
"As far as India is concerned, the government must shed its ambivalence towards terrorism," he added.
"It must be categorical in declaring that total policy of India towards terrorism hereafter shall be of zero-tolerance.. we will not tolerate anything which seems to promote or condone or compromise or disregard any terrorist activity. This should be a basic premise of our relationship with Pak - that it will have to dismantle the infrastructure that it has created for terror," he said.