TOI News Desk
NEW DELHI: As former US President and Democrat presidential candidate Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a registered Republican opened fire at him on Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party drew parallels to Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s 2013 election campaign, which was marred by six consecutive bomb blasts.
Referring to the 2013 incident, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya shared a news article and said, “Never forget: When Narendra Modi was the prime ministerial candidate in 2013, six blasts went off during his rally in Patna.The terrorists had originally planned to assassinate PM Modi using a suicide bomber.”
Condemning attacks on world leaders, Malviya remarked, “The world is becoming increasingly unsafe. We’ve seen attacks on Shinzo Abe, then Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, and now Donald Trump. The threat is real. Vile global Left networks are at work, demonising popular and powerful leaders, plotting to bring them down so that they can control elected governments and stamp their hegemony.”
On October 27, 2013, as PM Modi stood on stage at the ‘Hunkar Rally’ in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, bombs exploded. Six people were killed, and in 2021, nine terrorists were convicted for the attacks, with four receiving death sentences. The blasts occurred between 11:40 am and 12:45 pm. Investigations revealed that the terrorists initially planned to assassinate PM Modi with a suicide bomber but opted for bomb explosions to cause a stampede, providing a chance to target PM Modi in the chaos.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) found that the accused had conducted reconnaissance of PM Modi’s rallies across the country and concluded that attacking PM Modi with firearms was nearly impossible due to his tight security. According to the NIA’s charge sheet, “They decided to explode IEDs at the election rally in Patna, intending to kill many people, causing a stampede in which Modi could be targeted from close range.”
A special NIA court held nine members of the banned terror outfit SIMI guilty of the 2013 serial blasts that killed six people and injured 89 at PM Modi’s rally. One of the ten accused, Fakkruddin, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The court of additional district and sessions judge Gurvinder Singh Malhotra will pronounce the sentences on November 1. Special public prosecutor Lallan Prasad Sinha said the NIA would seek capital punishment for at least five of the nine convicts.
Five of the convicts – Haider Ali (alias Black Beauty), Imtiaz Ansari, Umer Siddique, Azharuddin Qureshi, and Mujibullah Ansari – are already serving life terms for the Bodh Gaya Mahabodhi blasts three months before the Patna attack. The other four convicts are Numan Ansari, Ahmad Hussain, Mohammad Feroz Aslam, and Mohammad Ifteqaar Alam. One of the original 12 accused had been convicted by the Juvenile Justice Board, Patna.
“The original plan was to assassinate PM Modi through suicide bombing, but the terrorists gave up that plan after a recce showed that his fortress-like security cover would be hard to penetrate,” the special public prosecutor said. PM Modi was then the chief minister of Gujarat.
The NIA discovered that the terrorists detonated a suicide vest tied to a palm tree in Ranchi’s Sithiyo area while preparing for the serial blasts. The conspiracy unraveled with the arrest of Imtiaz, who was injured during an accidental blast at Patna railway junction on the day of PM Modi’s rally. Another suspected SIMI terrorist, Tariq Ajam Ansari, was killed while inserting a pencil battery into an IED inside a public toilet on platform number 10 of the station. Three IEDs were defused at the rally venue later.
Referring to the 2013 incident, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya shared a news article and said, “Never forget: When Narendra Modi was the prime ministerial candidate in 2013, six blasts went off during his rally in Patna.The terrorists had originally planned to assassinate PM Modi using a suicide bomber.”
Condemning attacks on world leaders, Malviya remarked, “The world is becoming increasingly unsafe. We’ve seen attacks on Shinzo Abe, then Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, and now Donald Trump. The threat is real. Vile global Left networks are at work, demonising popular and powerful leaders, plotting to bring them down so that they can control elected governments and stamp their hegemony.”
On October 27, 2013, as PM Modi stood on stage at the ‘Hunkar Rally’ in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, bombs exploded. Six people were killed, and in 2021, nine terrorists were convicted for the attacks, with four receiving death sentences. The blasts occurred between 11:40 am and 12:45 pm. Investigations revealed that the terrorists initially planned to assassinate PM Modi with a suicide bomber but opted for bomb explosions to cause a stampede, providing a chance to target PM Modi in the chaos.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) found that the accused had conducted reconnaissance of PM Modi’s rallies across the country and concluded that attacking PM Modi with firearms was nearly impossible due to his tight security. According to the NIA’s charge sheet, “They decided to explode IEDs at the election rally in Patna, intending to kill many people, causing a stampede in which Modi could be targeted from close range.”
A special NIA court held nine members of the banned terror outfit SIMI guilty of the 2013 serial blasts that killed six people and injured 89 at PM Modi’s rally. One of the ten accused, Fakkruddin, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The court of additional district and sessions judge Gurvinder Singh Malhotra will pronounce the sentences on November 1. Special public prosecutor Lallan Prasad Sinha said the NIA would seek capital punishment for at least five of the nine convicts.
Five of the convicts – Haider Ali (alias Black Beauty), Imtiaz Ansari, Umer Siddique, Azharuddin Qureshi, and Mujibullah Ansari – are already serving life terms for the Bodh Gaya Mahabodhi blasts three months before the Patna attack. The other four convicts are Numan Ansari, Ahmad Hussain, Mohammad Feroz Aslam, and Mohammad Ifteqaar Alam. One of the original 12 accused had been convicted by the Juvenile Justice Board, Patna.
“The original plan was to assassinate PM Modi through suicide bombing, but the terrorists gave up that plan after a recce showed that his fortress-like security cover would be hard to penetrate,” the special public prosecutor said. PM Modi was then the chief minister of Gujarat.
The NIA discovered that the terrorists detonated a suicide vest tied to a palm tree in Ranchi’s Sithiyo area while preparing for the serial blasts. The conspiracy unraveled with the arrest of Imtiaz, who was injured during an accidental blast at Patna railway junction on the day of PM Modi’s rally. Another suspected SIMI terrorist, Tariq Ajam Ansari, was killed while inserting a pencil battery into an IED inside a public toilet on platform number 10 of the station. Three IEDs were defused at the rally venue later.