Echoes of past: Red Fort blast brings back memories of Delhi’s dark days

Delhi was jolted once again after 14 years, as a powerful explosion near the Red Fort metro station on Monday evening killed at least eight people and injured 24 others. The high-intensity blast gutted several vehicles and triggered panic in the busy area, which was teeming with commuters and visitors at the time. The injured were rushed to LNJP Hospital, located a few kilometres away. For a city that has often been at the heart of the country’s most terrible terror strikes, the sound of another explosion felt like an unwelcome echo from the past. Delhi’s historic markets, monuments and public spaces have, time and again, found themselves on the frontline of violence, each incident etching deep scars in its collective memory. The summer of 1996 remains one of the darkest chapters, when a powerful bomb ripped through Lajpat Nagar market, one of the capital’s busiest shopping hubs, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. Just a year later, a chain of explosions rocked multiple parts of the city from Sadar Bazaar and Karol Bagh to Rani Bagh, Chandni Chowk and even a moving bus in Punjabi Bagh. The blasts struck at the city’s heart — its markets and streets — where daily life carried on amid growing unease. The Red Fort itself, now again in the news for tragic reasons, has long been a symbolic target. In December 2000, a terror group opened fire inside the fort complex, killing two persons. Barely a year later, Parliament attack of December 2001 once again placed Delhi at the centre of terror, claiming the lives of nine security personnel and staff members. The years that followed brought more pain. In 2005, a series of coordinated explosions just two days before Diwali tore through Paharganj, Sarojini Nagar and a DTC bus in Govindpuri, killing over 67 people and injuring more than 200. The festive spirit was replaced by fear as the blasts struck the heart of the capital’s markets. Three years later, in 2008, five near-simultaneous explosions hit Connaught Place, Karol Bagh and Greater Kailash, killing over 20 people and injuring dozens. The last major terror strike before Monday’s incident was in 2011, when a briefcase bomb exploded outside the Delhi High Court, leaving 15 dead and 79 injured. With the latest explosion near Red Fort, Delhi’s uneasy calm has been broken once again, reviving memories of the years when terror sought to shake the city’s spir