99% of attacks stopped, 1% can slip through: Rahul reality check-14/7/11

99% of attacks stopped, 1% can slip through: Rahul reality check-14/7/11

Ninety-Nine per cent of the terror attacks had been stopped in the country due to improved intelligence, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said today, but it was impossible to stop all such attacks.

“We will stop 99 per cent of the terror attacks but 1 per cent of attacks might get through,” he told reporters at Bhubaneswar this morning, talking about yesterday’s serial blasts in Mumbai.

“It is very difficult to stop every single terrorist attack. The idea is that we have to fight terrorism at the local level. There has been improvement in our intelligence. The way we think about fighting terrorism has improved by leaps and bounds. But terrorism is something that is impossible to stop all the time. There is now an attack on Mumbai. But you would not have heard all the attacks that were stopped.”

However, Rahul added, “We must try to stop 100 per cent of the attacks. It is something we will fight and defeat.”

Asked how the US had been able to stop terrorist attacks on its soil, he pointed out that American soldiers were taking the hit on foreign shores like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Referring to Wednesday’s attack, Rahul said the response of the government had been prompt. “We are responding to it in a quite organised fashion.”

Addressing a press conference at the PCC headquarters here, Rahul also made his first comments on the controversy over the Lokpal Bill and whether it should cover the Prime Minister.

“I have my concerns about bringing the PM under Lokpal,” he said. “The PM has to lead the country. If you impose the Lokpal while he is in office, you open him up to constant engagement, which is not good for the leadership of the country. He should be under Lokpal the day he leaves PM’s office,” said Rahul.

He also made a case for intervention before matters reach the Lokpal. “The Lokpal Bill is fundamental. But at the end of the day, the Lokpal Bill is going to come into contact with politicians when the Bill is introduced in Parliament. Lokpal treats the disease after it happens. We have to address the disease before it happens. We have to think of improving the quality of the political system. The main reason for corruption is our closed political system. The National Students’ Union of India and Youth Congress are trying to make the system open.”

Digvijaya defends Rahul

Defending Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in Bhubaneswar that it is “very difficult” to stop every single terror attack, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said that India is “better than Pakistan” where blasts take place every day, every week. Singh also showered praise on Home Minister P Chidambaram, saying that he is “much better” than the “Home Minister during NDA regime”.