'Shatru Bodh' returns to centre stage: Delhi– blasts expose Bharat’s growing internal security fault lines

The blasts reveal how internal fractures can be weaponised by hostile powers seeking to destabilise Bharat from within. In a world where hybrid warfare blurs borders, Shatru Bodh becomes a strategic necessity. Securing Bharat’sfuture now depends on neutralising internal adversaries before external enemies exploit them

In an era of increasingly complex conflicts, the concept of Shatru Bodh—"knowing the enemy"—has never been more relevant. In my weekly column last November, I had highlighted the remarks of Baba Ramdas, founder and host of Baba Ki Khari Khoti, who at the Jaipur Dialogue Summit 2024 had urged Bharat to introspect deeply on who the "shatru" truly is. He had called upon the nation to understand, not merely identify, its internal and external adversaries. One year later, Bharat now finds itself confronting the very dangers he warned about.

The Red Fort blast, linked to a trans-state module involving six physicians, clerics, and other professionals, underscores the depth of this betrayal and forces the nation to confront an uncomfortable question: Was Partition truly an unfinished business?

In the shadow of this tragedy, the nation is also forced to confront a darker reality, an insidious underbelly of internal security threats where white-collar professionals could be leveraged as key enablers for operating terror networks and carrying out or coordinating future attacks.

This revelation has now amplified and reignited a national reckoning: Bharat must urgently prioritise the "fourth front", its own disloyal elements, if it is to secure its borders truly. The question echoing across the country is unavoidable: Is Bharat prepared to face its most dangerous enemy — the one operating from within?

The fourth front: Bharat's silent and most dangerous battlefield

Bharat’s national security architecture has traditionally focused on three strategic fronts—Pakistan, China, and, to a lesser extent, Bangladesh.

However, the most significant internal threat today arises from the fourth fron: internal adversaries who are embeddedwithin society and institutions. These actors—once dismissed as fringe—now include individuals with high educational credentials, social respectability, and access to sensitive networks.

The recent blast also highlights that internal enemies are no longer confined to ideological activists or political agents—they now include professionals entrusted with saving lives. Doctors, long regarded as symbols of trust and compassion, being linked to terror plots is not merely shocking; it represents a new and deeply troubling dimension of national security breach.

The new face of internal subversion:

For decades, policymakers have warned about soft threats—misinformation campaigns, activist networks funded by hostile nations, and organised propaganda from media and academia. But the infiltration of the medical profession marks a new stage. These are not conventional foot soldiers. These are educated citizens with access, mobility, legitimacy, and influence.

Their involvement shows that radicalisation has entered respected professions; terror networks are exploiting educated intermediaries for logistics, finance, and surveillance & internal threats are evolving faster than Bharat's security framework is adapting. This is what makes the internal front the weakest link in Bharat’s national security chain.

What Baba Ramdas Predicted: The Relevance of ‘Shatru Bodh’

At the Jaipur Dialogue 2024, Baba Ramdas had cautioned that Bharat's enemies are no longer only across borders but also embedded within information networks, institutions, and civil society. His term, Shatru Bodh, resonated deeply—especially among the youth—because it reframed national security as a cognitive discipline.

He had argued that Bharat will be harmed most not by those who attack its borders, but by those who attack its mind. One year later, the unfolding events have validated that warning. Shatru Bodh is not about paranoia. It is about national awareness, vigilance, and strategic clarity. It pushes citizens to understand:

• Who the enemy is

• Why do they think and act the way they do

• How they operate within society

• What tools they use—media, academia, funded activism, misinformation

• Where they attempt to divide the nation

In the context of the Delhi–Jammu cases, Shatru Bodh becomes more than a philosophical concept—it becomes an operational necessity. According to Colonel Ajay K Raina, SM—Indian Army veteran, military historian, author of 28 books, and a leading national security expert—today’s conflicts span a multidimensional spectrum, striking at every layer of a nation-state. In such an environment, the emergence of terrorism within white-collar professions should not come as a surprise to security agencies, even if many citizens struggle to comprehend how such a phenomenon has taken root.

The Road Ahead: Bharat Must Fix the Inside to Protect the Outside

The Delhi blast is not an event—it is a symptom.

The involvement of doctors is not an aberration—it is a warning. Bharat must now do five things with urgency:

1. Strengthen internal counter-intelligence

White-collar radicalisation requires specialised surveillance and early detection systems. To address this, all religious establishments must come under round-the-clock surveillance to ensure they are not misused as hubs for radicalisation or covert operations.

2. Build a national counter-misinformation grid

Information warfare is now as lethal as physical attacks.

3. Reform institutional vulnerabilities

Universities, hospitals, NGOs and other private institutions must be integrated into the national security perimeter. A thorough review of the backgrounds, funding sources, and promoters of private entities is essential, bringing them under a robust national security framework to prevent exploitation by hostile forces.

4. Promote shatru bodh as public civic education

Every citizen must understand how internal and external enemies operate.

5. Communicate a zero-tolerance principle

Any interference—whether internal or external—must be met with a decisive response, both strategically and publicly.

Bharat’s greatest battle is now within

The Delhi–Jammu events confirm a historic shift. Bharat is not only fighting enemies at its borders but also adversaries who disguise themselves as civilians, hold respected professions, and influence public opinion.

Internal enemies are not a social debate—they are a national security emergency.

Bharat can secure its geographic boundaries only when it secures its cognitive, ideological, and societal boundaries.

As the concept of Shatru Bodh reminds us:

The first step to winning a war is knowing who you are fighting—both outside and within.

(The author is Founder of

My Startup TV)