About the only thing we can be sure about is that we will never know which ‘side’ it was that planted the bombs.
The poltics of Gujurat are pretty much late 19th century Tammany Hall where all the major factions ie Congress and BJP have a system of patronage that reaches right down into the districts they ‘own’.
I don’t know where these bombs were exploded ie in urban areas or rural townships, but if it was in urban districts it is difficult to conceive how so many were planted without being detected unless someone on the inside was part of the plot.
I did see a newscast last night (beeb I think) that showed several bombs which had been intercepted before they went off so maybe they were planted by outsiders, or maybe the bombers were clumsy or maybe they were left to be discovered so that the BJP administered state security services could look good.
As I said the truth will never be known which is pretty much the attitude of most thinking Gujuratis I have spoken to. The local pols used to get up a renta-mob and arm them with sticks and torches to wreak havoc in the muslim quarters but most Hindu Gujuratis are no longer fooled by such artifice. As the people have become more educated and seen exactly how their politicians abuse their trust, it has become harder for the BJP to create an incident that can be blamed on Muslims who the BJP claims have been allowed too much latitude by Congress admininstrations.
But Congress have also been exposed as provacateurs when the need arises (ie behind in the polls).
Still as I said above most Hindu Gujuratis have a very cynical attitude towards these incidents and many empathise with the poverty stricken humanity who live in the muslim districts that have been subjected to all manner of abuse whenever some pol from the Hindu majority feels the need to get into the headlines.
I suspect that the excesses of the riots in 2002 shocked even some staunch Hindu separatists.
I was in a business partnership with a Gujurati bloke at the time of the 2002 riots and I saw the turmoil he went through. When the news about the train fire broke he was angry, but when the footage of the arson and murder on muslims was shown that anger changed into a sort of despair at his compatriots gullibility. In fact he expressed doubt then as to whether the train fire happened exactly as claimed, not because of any news from home or ex-pat gossip but because he thought the timing appeared too pat.
He had seen similar smaller riots first hand and told me that they are never as spontaneous as they appear. That there is usually someone in the background cranking up the trouble.
Many innocents pay for this unresolved conflict which is why it is difficult to conceive how any islamic organisation would create so much horror for themselves by cranking up a bombing campaign.
Still they wouldn’t be the first revolutionaries to shoot themselves in the foot if these bombings were committed by muslims.
No matter which side did this, the one thing we can be sure of is that it is ordinary citizens who will carry the cost of politicians need to make headlines.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Jul 28 2008 1:30 utc | 3

Re. Yesterday the city of Gujarat was hit with such an attack that killed some 50 people.
The blasts were in the city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat.
Re. The AP report An obscure Islamic group claimed responsibility for a series of synchronized explosions
This is hard to believe since the blasts happened in the old city, which is predominantly Muslim (per this Reuters report)
Not sure why an Islamic group would target Muslims. This definitely smells very fishy.

Posted by: SimplyLurking | Jul 28 2008 4:06 utc | 5

@Bernard D’Lima – @1, SimplyLurking – @5 – thanks – I have now corrected the plural and the city.

Posted by: b | Jul 28 2008 4:52 utc | 7

This will lead to a lot of conspiracy theories: Terrorist Attacks Unsettling India

An obscure group calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen warned Saturday that an attack was about to take place “in revenge of Gujarat,” plainly referring to the 2002 killings. The statement was sent in an e-mail message, written in English, to television stations just before the first blasts.
Police in Mumbai traced the email back to the internet protocol address of an American citizen living in Navi Mumbai, a satellite city across the water from India’s commercial capital. Police identified him as Kenneth Haywood, a general manager of an executive training firm called Campbell White. The firm’s website said it offers “accent neutralization, cultural comprehension and verbal/non verbal communication.”

Hmm – CampbellWhite.net is the companies website. The “Staff” link there points to http://campbellwhite.net/staff/staff.htm, a few first names and short bios, no Kenneth Haywood and no pictures.
But a search of “Campbell white” and Haywood leads to http://campbellwhite.net/Staff.htm which has pictures and bios of people including one Kenneth Haywood.

Ken Haywood is our Corporate Training Manager, and the General Manager in Navi-Mumbai. Ken has more than 20 years experience in hands on Corporate Training, and has held senior positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout that time.
Ken’s Background is in the Real Estate Law, and Information Services Industry. He has worked extensively with business leaders, advocates, and training personal since the mid 1980s.
Ken has completed courses of study in Civil Engineering, Real Estate Law, Business Communications, Conflict Resolution, and Advanced Professional Training courses.
You can contact Ken at: ken.haywood@campbellwhite.net

Hmm – sure they want to protect there people and have therefore changed the site. But they should have deleted the old one.

Posted by: b | Jul 28 2008 13:24 utc | 9