I expressed my anger, my disgust and to an extent, my hope in various blog posts, post 26/11 last year. But a year later, it all seems such a bloody waste.
I wrote:
And we are already seeing the urgency at Delhi. Manmohan and Sonia realize well that this time, there is no running away. No way to let public memory die down. Because it will not die down.
The events were tragic. But if they have put the entire country into positive action, there is hope for the future.
Well, it was all shortlived. Public memory WAS short, we all got back to routine, and allowed the politicians to get back to their dirty old ways!
I wrote about the fear in the ordinary citizen’s mind:
But all of us have been afraid. Some more than others. Any of us could have been in the Taj or the Oberoi, any of us could have been at the VT station, or in the train when the earlier train blasts happened. Our loved ones could have been there. In some cases, they might already have been so.
Sends a shiver down the spine to even think about it. What if??
Yes, the fear is there.
But again, fear-shmear-whatever, life has had to go on. And till the next incident happens, we go about life like there’s nothing wrong, nothing to worry about, and all is hunky dory!
I referred to many unanswered questions around 26/11 last year. A year later, we do not have answers to these, but in fact, there are many more questions that have come up, and which have no answers either!
And then there was this earnest plea for political accountability:
I also hope that other heads roll – soon. Prime candidates being Vilasrao Deshmukh and R. R. Patil, the CM and Dy CM of Maharashtra. Besides their inaction and inability to protect the state and the city, their totally insensitive attitudes convey how completely disconnected they are from the citizens and their feelings. The CM took his film star son and his director friend, Ram Gopal Verma, on a terror tour through the Taj. R. R. Patil put his foot in his mouth when he conveyed on camera that such “small incidents” happen in big cities like Mumbai. BOTH HAVE TO GO. Sooner rather than later.
This is the most disgusting part. Vilasrao now enjoys a plush cabinet position. R. R. Patil is back in his old seat in the Maharashtra government. Both rehabilitated.. nah, rewarded!
A year later then, we are as unprotected, as insecure as we were. We have a Union Home Minister who takes pride in his ‘achievement’ (though not sure how much of this was also HIS achievement) in not having had another 26/11 in the whole year. Look where we have reached. A Home Minister who is happy in the fact that there has been no other major incident (he does not worry about the many minor ones that keep happening across the country), rather than talking serious steps of creating better security. The same Home Minister says categorically that war with Pakistan is not an option. Well, even if they keep creating, nourishing and supporting terror armies that can cause damage to our country, the Minister wants to categorically rule out the option! Not that anyone wants war, but it is about posturing. Saying that we will only talk, and put international pressure (all very slow moving tactics), even as our citizens remain exposed to danger, is what kind of leadership here??
The bottomline clearly is that the country gets a goverment and a leadership that it deserves. And perhaps in our busy lives, as we remain satisfied with just joining a Facebook cause against terrorism, and think we have done our part, and get busy with our lives, we do deserve this government, this leadership, this polity, this insecurity..
Yes, lets take ownership of our situation, and declare that we and we alone, are responsible for our affairs.. !
Random Musings 