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India has carefully termed the deadly New Delhi explosion a “terror” incident without directly blaming Pakistan unlike what was witnessed after 2019’s Pulwama attack or, more recently, April’s Pahalgam attack, and netizens have a lot to say about it.

On November 10, a car exploded near the Red Fort in the Indian capital in the evening, killing at least 13 people and injuring over 20 others.

Investigators told a foreign media outlet they were checking if it has any links to the recent arrests of seven men by police in Indian-occupied Kashmir. They said they were also investigating if it has any connections to the recent seizure of 2,900kg of explosives from Faridabad – a Delhi suburb.

While the federal cabinet issued a resolution calling the incident “a heinous terror incident, perpetrated by anti-national forces”, the reaction matched earlier comments by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi who spoke of a “conspiracy”, warned that “the conspirators will not be spared” and “all those responsible, will be brought to justice”.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah made similar observations, saying officials had been instructed “to hunt down each and every culprit behind this incident”.

Despite the passage of four days, the Modi administration has cautiously steered away from its earlier practice of immediately blaming Pakistan for any terror activities – that too within minutes of an attack, and internet believes it could have something to do with the thrashing India was handed out by Pakistan in May’s military clashes.

“It took 48 hours for the Modi regime to admit that the Delhi blast that killed 10 was a terror attack. No more chest thumping, mo more crude jingoism, no more threats to Pakistan [sic],” Indian-Swedish Peace and Conflict expert Ashok Swain wrote in a post on X.

The cost might have been the loss of six or seven fighter jets “but at least some sanity has come to India’s Hindutva crowd”, he went on to add in reference to the clashes that erupted in response to India’s cross-border aggression after the Pahalgam attack.

At least six Indian jets were shot down by Pakistan on the night of May 7 in what was termed one of the biggest aerial confrontations since World War II. The beyond-visual-range battle had followed days of cross-border skirmishes that ended with a United States (US) brokered ceasefire as Pakistan destroyed several Indian military targets in retaliatory strikes.

Swain, however, was not the only person to make said observation as dozens of netizens jumped in with hilarious comments.

“This means software updated successfully installed on Modi government by Pak army,” wrote one.

Another said “India had learnt its lesson at the cost of seven jets and global embarrassment”.

“Obviously May 7-10, those four days were/are/will [be] worse than a nightmare for them,” read a comment.

A rather serious reaction talked about India’s homegrown terror problem – a fact also highlighted by Pakistani authorities as they rubbished Indian claims and offered an independent probe into April’s Pahalgam attack.

“This is homegrown terrorism perpetrated by radical religious group[s]. Instead of attributing such incidents to Pakistan, it is imperative to identify and address the local issues. From Punjab to Nagaland, a dozen separatist movements pose challenge to India’s geographical integrity,” the post read.