Over half a dozen times has it been pointed out in these columns the glaring discrepancy between what the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and sections of the political class and media harp on, and what the United Nations, the American FBI and our Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also reiterate. It relates to the charges leveled against Swami Aseemanand and his alleged terror attack on the Samjhauta Train in which Pakistani citizens were killed. Whatever terror attacks against other targets that the Swami may or may not have conducted his alleged involvement in the Samjhauta Train blast is inexplicable.

Once again the Swami is in the news after a long tape recorded media interview he granted in which he alleged that RSS boss Mohan Bhagwat was the mastermind directing Hindu terror. The Congress has seized upon this to berate the RSS.

A word of caution to the critics is in order.

Aseemanand gave his interview spread over two years while languishing in prison. Earlier he had made and then retracted a confession which he had made to the police. His lawyer alleged that it had been forcibly extracted from him. In prison Aseemanand might well have been bitter with the RSS for failing to get him released while its leaders basked outside. Home Minister SK Shinde’s pious advice that Aseemanand must be believed if he said something therefore must be taken with a bucket of salt. However much the RSS or Hindu outfits may or may not have been involved in attacks of terror, it is the allegation of their perpetrating the Samjhauta blast that raises serious questions about the entire credibility of NIA’s findings.

The Samjhauta Train terror is crucial for alleging Hindu involvement in order to put Pakistan and India on the same footing insofar as cross-border terror is concerned. It was in this act that Pakistani citizens and not merely Indian Muslims became victims. That is why a Pakistani Minister in November 2011 visiting India could quote the Samjhauta blast to demand that like the 26/11 terrorists Hindu terrorists should also be nailed and punished.

The problem as repeatedly cited is of course that a UN Security Council Resolution had already indicted Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Samjhauta terror. This followed a detailed probe by the American FBI which identified and named all the four operatives from Pakistan who carried out the act. That is why the UN banned the Lashkar as a terrorist organization. The UN named Hafiz Saeed as the mastermind behind the operation and imposed sanctions against him. The sanctions could not be implemented because China exercised its veto power to protect Hafiz Saeed. This has been reported in these columns half a dozen times but to no effect. Neither the NIA, nor the politicians nor the media care to explain this glaring contradiction. The entire political and media establishment blissfully continue with allegations of Hindu terror in the Samjhauta blast as if the UN does not exist.

What is one to make of this strange silence? Is the Indian political establishment deaf and blind? Or is it that false assumptions have to be protected even if these contradict one another?

On October 3, 2011 I had stated that there were four possibilities.

• “First, that Swami Aseemanand is speaking the truth and the UNSC was mistaken. If so, the Lashkar was innocent regarding the train blast.
• Secondly, the UNSC was correct and the Swami was lying. In that case Hindu terrorists could not have been connected to the train blast.
• Thirdly, both the UNSC and the Swami spoke the truth. In that case the Hindu terrorists were colluding with the Lashkar-e-Taiba as has been alleged by some conspiracy theorists.
• Fourthly, both the UNSC and Swami Aseemanand were lying in which case the Samjhauta Express blast was perpetrated by an unknown terrorist outfit.”

Is it not long overdue for this riddle to be solved? How long can the brazen pretence continue that the contradiction does not exist? The sickness of India’s political establishment has made our nation a pathetic laughing stock for the world.