Questions galore about the real target of the Uzbek suicide bomber from Russia

An ISIS recruit from Central Asia was chosen as the would-be assassin because he was in a position to acquire a Russian passport with greater ease owing to the historic ties of the region with the former Soviet bloc.

- GAUTAM SEN

It may be inferred from wider concomitant circumstances that the suicide bomber on the way to India through the Russian Federation was tasked to attempt the assassination of India's elected Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Only his assassination would merit such an international conspiracy, apparently with the involvement of so many parties abroad. Plans to murder Narendra Modi to avenge the alleged insult to the Prophet by a minor BJP apparatchik, as proclaimed by the would-be assassin, is a singularly unconvincing motive for the conspiracy. PM Modi has ensured swift punishment for those in the BJP who are responsible for irresponsible statements. Given the record of assassinations of foreign leaders by major governments, including the US, the former USSR, Britain and French alone, one cannot exclude the possibility that one of them was involved in the plot discovered by the Russian FSB.

The murder of any other Indian political leader, with the exclusion of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Adityanath Yogi, would not result in the fateful momentous consequences that Narendra's Modi's would have precipitated. The person judged the foremost agent behind India's bid for economic and military power would have been removed and the country plunged into civil war of incalculable proportions. Having a Khalistani terrorist to do the killing, which came close to a possibility in January 2022, would have caused swathes of India to burn, but assassination by an Islamic jihadi guarantees a self-destructive implosion across the length and breadth of India. Nothing could be better designed to cause severe setback to contemporary India's quickening rise in international rankings on multiple indices.