Return of Terror

The Delhi blast, along with a foiled terror plot, brings back haunting memories of a nation under a siege of panic. And the reverberations are being felt far and wide

- SHUTAPA PAUL

When a cab exploded near Delhi’s Red Fort on Monday killing 13, its reverberations were felt far and wide.

The impact brought back to memory the familiar feeling of fear not felt for decades. The last major terror attack in the National Capital was in 2011, almost 15 years ago. The blast, which has now been called “an act of terror” by the Indian government, is one of the biggest terror attacks in a major Indian city in over a decade. For long, Delhi had been the chosen site of serial blasts — 1997, 2005 and 2008. Reports suggest that the miscalculated and unplanned November 10 bomb blast was likely a part of an intricate serial blast plan aimed to rock the Capital and deliver maximum human damage. Asa young reporter in the mid-2000s, along with the chaos and bloodshed unleashed by actual bomb blasts, there'd also be instances of bomb threats and hoaxes. Visits to crowded markets in Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar or Greater Kailash always carried with it a sense of foreboding.