Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called an all-party meeting on October 30 to mitigate the fraught social climate precipitated by the bomb blast that claimed one life and injured scores of worshippers at the evangelical prayer convention at Kalamassery in Ernakulam district.
Mr. Vijayan, who was in New Delhi to attend a polit bureau meeting of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], has embarked for Kerala, underscoring the gravity of the situation.
Mr. Vijayan termed the attack “extremely unfortunate”. When asked whether the blast was a terrorist attack, Mr. Vijayan said the police were probing all angles. “I can’t say anything more at the current stage of the police investigation”, Mr. Vijayan said.
However, CPI(M) State Secretary M. V. Govindan aired the possibility that the Kalamassery blast was a terrorist incident orchestrated to divert attention from Kerala’s empathy with the oppressed people of Palestine.
“The political circumstances bolster such a theory. The blast was no accident for sure and appeared pre-meditated and well-plotted. The government will expose its architects”, Mr. Govindan said.
Leader of the Opposition, V. D. Satheesan, warned the public not to promote or listen to conspiracy theories based on guesswork and misinformation. He said there were at least two back-to-back bomb blasts inside the prayer hall. The attack stunned Kerala, Mr. Satheesan said.
Senior Congress Leader and former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala blamed police intelligence failure.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Veena George indicated the death toll in the blast was likely to climb. The explosion claimed the life of one woman, whom the police were yet to identify, and injured scores of others. Ms. George said the condition of at least six persons who sustained blast injuries was serious.
The State police probe into the bombing was gathering pace. However, the evidence about the perpetrator and the motive for the crime remained, at best, tenuous.
They released a security camera capture of the suspected getaway vehicle supposedly used by the bomber. They were also questioning a Kochi resident who surrendered at the Kodakara police station in Thrissur, claiming responsibility for the bombing.
