The former Bihar deputy chief minister alleged that no measures were taken to prevent the attack in spite of intelligence inputs. He said the Centre and the state governments couldn’t escape the responsibility for the nine low-intensity serial blasts.
"We have information that the intelligence and NIA officials had tipped off the state government about the likelihood of a terror attack on the Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya and held a meeting with the state officials to review the security situation at the terror targets," Modi was quoted as having said.
"Yet no concrete steps were taken by the state government to improve the security deployment at the Buddhist temple town which led to the serial blasts this morning," he claimed.
Modi said there should be no politics on the terror attack and the state and central governments should immediately sit together and put in place elaborate security measures for the temple town.
Meanwhile our Special Correspondent in New Delhi BY S VENKAT NARAYAN sent the following report:
Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami said that the blasts are a terror attack. However, no group has claimed responsibility for the multiple blasts so far, and investigations are on.
The Buddhist Temple at Bodh Gaya, around 10 km from Gaya and 100 km from capital Patna, is world famous. It is the holiest shrine for the world’s 488 million Buddhists. Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment here under the Mahabodhi tree in the temple premises over 2,500 years ago. Every year, it attracts millions of Buddhist pilgrims from China, Tibet, Japan, Myanmar, the whole of southeast Asia, and more than a lakh from Sri Lanka. In February this year, President Mahinda Rajapaksa paid his most recent visit to the shrine.
While four blasts took place early this morning inside the Mahabodhi Temple complex, three occurred in Karmapa monastery, one each near near the 80-foot Buddha statue and at the bus stand near bypass, according to DIG Magadh range Nayyer Hussnain Khan.
The blasts took place between 5:30am and 5:58am, he said.
Arvind Singh, a member of Mahabodhi Temple Management Commitee, said the two injured included a national of Myanmar and another of Tibet. They have been admitted to Magadh Medical College and Hospital, he said.
Singh said two other bombs, one near the 80-foot statue and one at bus stand, have been defused.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) SK Bhardwaj said prima facie it seems the serial blasts have been done by some terrorist organisation.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and DGP Abhyanand left state capital Patna for Bodh Gaya by road.
DIG Special Branch Parasnath told Press Trust of India : "A team of NIA (National Investigation Agency) officers is coming to Bodh Gaya from Kolkata."
The ADG said that there was a general alert about possibility of terrorist attacks in Bihar and the state police have tightened security.
"At Bodh Gaya temple, the police security arrangements are only outside the temple while the security inside is looked after by temple trust officials," he said.
The DIG said, "The sanctum sanctorum of the Mahabodhi Temple is intact. The temple premises have been sanitised."
The secretary of the Bodh Gaya committee Dorji said, "There were four blasts inside the temple premises. Fortunately, there was no damage to the Bodhi Tree or the main temple structure."
"In the first blast which took place near the Bodhi tree, a table was blown up because of which two persons were injured. The second blast was inside the enclosure where books were kept. The furniture was damaged but there was no damage to the monuments or statues," he said.
Asked about the nature of explosives used, SK Bharadwaj, ADG (Law and Order) said they were low intensity time bombs.
He said, "We got information about six-seven months back that there may be a terror attack on the Mahabodhi temple. After that we had beefed up secuirty and deployed extra forces".
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama makes frequent trips to Bodh Gaya and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had visited it six months back. Fifty-two countries have established their monasteries in Bodh Gaya, Buddhism’s holiest shrine.
Six members of state Forensic department have rushed to Bodh Gaya, Inspector General of Police (CID) Vinay Kumar said.
Temple management committee member Arving Singh said a meeting of the management committee with chief minister and other officials is expected.
President Pranab Mukherjee has condemned the serial blasts as a senseless act of violence to target innocent pilgrims.
Expressing deep anguish over the blasts, he said it is a "senseless act of violence targeting innocent pilgrims and monks who had gathered to worship at this temple dedicated to the great apostle of peace Gautam Buddha".
The President hoped for the speedy recovery of those injured in the blasts. He asked people to maintain calm and restraint.
July 8, 2013 
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