The issue is not so much whether such analysis proceeded from objective realities. The cyber-world resonates with thunderous email proclamations from those convinced that the situation in India is distinctly pre-revolutionary. What is important is that a burning impatience with the status quo and a sense of manifest destiny bound these activists together. They transposed their incredible certitudes on to an amorphous mass which thought them to be misguided patriots at best or complete loonies at worst.

Secondly, while the desire of those accused in the Malegaon blasts case to spread retributive terror is not in doubt, there is some scepticism over their ability to go beyond PT drills and screening war films. Some of those charged were, for example, obsessed by the desire to eliminate a RSS pracharak who had allegedly sold out the Hindus of Nepal. If Purohit’s interrogation report is any guide, the war chest could at best have bought some crude explosives and small arms. There was constant chatter about purchasing RDX — even a guru agya from the pretender Shankaracharya of Shardapeeth — but nothing appears to have materialised. The Malegaon blasts may have been the handiwork of some of those linked to Abhinav Bharat. However, since empty boastfulness was a part of the group’s culture, the trial should help establish who was guilty and who imagined that bombings were a good idea.

Finally, there are many unanswered questions that centre on the role of Military Intelligence. Was it the MI brief to forge a network of RSS dissidents? Is it purely coincidental that Purohit’s network was dominated by those considered as MI “assets”? Were Purohit’s superior officers unaware of his activities, or did he misuse his operational autonomy by keeping them only partly in the loop? Why did Purohit involve other MI officers in his outstation trips to meet fellow activists? Is it significant that Purohit promptly informed his superiors when he became aware the police wanted to question him? Why have some members of Purohit’s network not been questioned? These are clarifications that may help disabuse the whisper that the Malegaon blasts were an offshoot of a diabolical scheme that went awry and was disowned.

... contd.