Now that some time has passed since the seven serial blasts on Bombay's commuter trains on July 11 that killed almost 200 and wounded another 700, it is possible to take a more dispassionate look at the tragedy. In particular, while not absolving terrorists and their external backers of the main blame as perpetrators of the outrage, it is also possible to fault Delhi for having been soft both on terrorists and on the causes of terrorism for far too long and on far too many occasions.

By the 1990s, India was a frontline of global terrorism and has suffered numerous attacks. Repeatedly limp responses have carefully nurtured a well-earned reputation as a soft state. Jailed terror suspects were released in exchange for kidnapped kin of political leaders. In December 1999, in a day that will live in infamy in the annals of international terrorism, the foreign minister escorted three terrorists, freed by India in order to secure the release of the passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines flight, to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. In response to an attack on Parliament in December 2001, India mobilized its defense forces for a year along the border with Pakistan at great expense, only to send them back to barracks with no action: war-mongering without war.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the anger and disdain of the people for the tough rhetoric followed by no action of successive governments of all parties under different prime ministers.