Bombs of Bengal: Is there no end to it?

It was not a bomb blast. It was a minor explosion. Speak about being casual and this is what the Barrackpore Police Commissioner Police Niraj Kumar Singh had to say about the explosion at the Assembly of God Church school in Dum Dum cantonment which took place on Saturday at 9 am.

While the very fact that a bomb stuffed into a ball was hurled inside the school playground was not considered serious enough, Singh further stated that it was a minor explosion and also added that if it was a crude bomb it would have caused serious injury.

However, the injured person, Johny Haldar has sustained only minor injuries and has already been discharged from hospital, he also said.

The point is not major or minor bombs:

After the blast at Burdwan, West Bengal has been witnessing blasts in all sizes, shapes and types. One day there is a seizure of 1000 crude bombs while on the other there is a blast at the Sharadha Mutt which was dismissed as a fire cracker.

It was only last month that there was a blast at a cracker factory in Pingla which killed 11 persons. While this was once again brushed off as an accident, the real story at Pingla was that crude bombs were being manufactured in an illegal cracker unit.

In addition to this, in the month of May, there was another blast at the Tiljala area in which one person was injured.

If one looks at these various blasts, they may have all be of low intensity. But is that the point here really?

The point is how much really is the state administration doing to stem the flow of bombs. To cut a long story short bombs in West Bengal flow more than water.

Even if one looks at the Saradha Mutt case, it was dismissed off as a fire cracker. The main point that none noted was how did an explosive make its way into a high security zone filled with people?

The crux of the problem:

Bombs are the most commonly used weapons in West Bengal. There are nearly 400 illegal fire cracker units in West Bengal which function.

While fire crackers are manufactured and sold, these persons are allowed to operate as the local politician is in need of crude bombs which are prepared in the very same factory.

To make matters worse, all those employed in such units are children as it requires small hands to prepare a bomb with finesse.

Bombs continue to be the most used political weapons. Most of these bombs are hurled during the local body elections and it is a matter of pride if one party hurls more bombs than the other.

Most of these bombs are used to scare the opponent while the more powerful ones are hurled with an intention of destroying a party office or even kill a worker.

The high demand among political parties is what keeps the crude bomb industry ticking. If a person has managed to hurl an explosive into a school ground, then there it is a dangerous sign. A pertinent question that needs to be asked is what if the bomb was of higher intensity.

There was a cricket match on at the school and the object was hurled with an intention of creating a scare.

What was the intent behind the school bomb?

The reason it appears was a very silly one. It could have been the handiwork of some miscreant threatening to disrupt the ongoing cricket match.

The other reason that investigators are looking into is whether there was someone who had an enmity with the school administration. These are the various possibilities that the police are looking into.

The injured person Johny was at the ground when the incident occurred. He is the one who picked up the ball and threw it which led to the explosion.

Fortunately the ball fell into a puddle which lowered the impact of the blast. Had it fallen in an area with a hard surface, the impact could have been more.