This is another black day for all of us. Form hereon there will be more candle light marches, even more dossiers exchanged, the Government will continue to play passing the parcel with our neighbours endlessly, the Government will stage a dramatic halt in the peace talk initiatives and then reinitiate them (like we always do in a few months), they will play every single game that there is to play, from dumb charade to blind man’s buff, but we will never ever pin the donkey’s tail. This is reality and we the resilient citizens are expected to go with the flow. We will continue to do what we do best, we will move on with our lives, just as we did in the past, allowing our short term memories to dissolve in the frothy wake of our own helplessness while the Government will cower and hide tying to find every single reason that there probably is to not take a more aggressive stand on the issue.
I also believe that the Chief Minister of Maharashtra was not at the blast sites instantly, why? I would have expected him to be taking stock of the situation first hand and extending support. Is it because of the fear of undetonated explosives in the vicinity? Of course! What about the safety of all the nameless and faceless multitudes who scrambled back to their homes on crowded public transports last evening not knowing when the next explosion will be triggered? I can only but imagine the fear that would have been instilled in them at that surreal time. The Home Minister has once again praised the resilience of Mumbaikars but would even one Mumbaikar proudly put his head high up in the air and pat the Home Minister or the Chief Minister or for that matter any Minister on his back and say “You are doing a good job Sir”. I cannot even remember when was the last time our Prime Minister’s voice was heard, even if there is pin drop silence I cannot hear the man in Manmohan Singh speak. Can you? Right now, the silence is deafening.
The political system reeks and it is reflective in the intelligence failure. There is little point in Delhi shuffling a pack of worn out, dirty cards and pulling out one Joker after another from the pack. It has been eternity since I have seen an Ace being pulled out and having an expectation of such would mean I am living in utopia. The innocent people who died yesterday have sacrificed their lives, like sacrificial lambs they have been slaughtered again because of the failure of the state machinery. There is no denying the fact there is indeed a lack of both intelligence failure and inadequate law enforcement measures. Post 26/11, for a few months or so, security was beefed up in critical areas across the country. But, with time, the lapse has been quite evident. In the initial days after 26/11 the security at airport terminals too ran high when a platoon of them would adequately man critical locations. I seriously doubt if this is the current situation. As recently as three days back when I flew out of Bangalore, the barracks that manned the main entrance at the airport had but a solitary security personnel chatting on his mobile phone while another was almost dozing. Yes, it is impossible to guard every nook and corner and this is where critical information from intelligence becomes a lifesaver. The United States has done extremely well on this front to ensure that there has been no repeat after 9/11. And again there is strong leadership in the United States that takes control of the nation and officials who do what they are meant to be doing unlike in our case where the Prime Minister has devoted and continues to devote almost all his time and energy on coalition politics.
My heart goes out to Mumbai, which continually faces the brunt of venom spewed by mindless maniacs over and over again. Mumbaikars are expected to be calm, they are expected to be strong and when the Government makes all these expectations on innocent citizens, it is about time we levy some major expectations on our governance as well. It is about time the Government is made accountable for every life that has been lost. No longer is silence a virtue; it is time to speak up. Our lives are not cheap like the way the Governance always makes it out to be. The longer the silence, the fatter Kasab seems to be also getting in jail."
What are IB and RAW doing? Cannot they mingle with the terrorists and kill them or at least know when they are going to strike and where so that the terrorists could be defeated? And what is the use of keeping Afzal Guru and Kasab alive when they have already been sentenced to death? Are we waiting for another Kandhar episode?
Satbir Singh Bedi
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