Govt knows there are ‘home-grown’ terrorists too: Chidambaram

As the National Investigation Agency (NIA) formally launches its probe into the devastating Delhi blast, former Union home and finance minister P. Chidambaram has revived a long-standing and deeply uncomfortable question: what turns Indian citizens — even the educated — into instruments of terror?

In a reflective post on X, Chidambaram did not directly reference the Red Fort-area explosion, but his words carried the weight of the moment. He recalled his statement during the parliamentary debate on Operation Sindoor, where he distinguished between foreign-trained infiltrators and home-grown terrorists.

“I was mocked and trolled for speaking of home-grown terrorists,” he wrote, adding that the government’s “discreet silence” on the matter speaks volumes. “The government knows that home-grown terrorists exist.”

Chidambaram’s remarks — and laden with warning — arrived on a day when the Union cabinet officially termed the blast a ‘terrorist incident’. The classification sets in motion a heightened national response, even as investigators trace the origins of the explosive-laden vehicle and the networks behind it.

It took the government nearly 48 hours to classify the 'act of terror', and the relatively muted response recalls Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion after the Pahalgam massacre of Indian civilians that every act of terror against India would henceforth be viewed as "an act of war".

The Congress leader urged the nation to confront an unsettling truth: that radicalisation is not always imported, but can take root within the country’s own social and educational spaces. “The point of this tweet,” he wrote, “is that we must ask what circumstances push Indian citizens toward terrorism.”

With PTI inputs