Dec 02, 2008 01:57 PM
2067 Views
(Updated Dec 02, 2008 02:07 PM)
Just after the Delhi blasts I wrote a review in MS in which I vented out my anger saying We are on our own and probably the only way the government and the whole political establishment will wake up is when the Terrorists lob grenades into our own drawing rooms.So in another addition to India's shamefully dubiuos past of terror attcks Mumbai was attacked in the most audacious way imaginable taking the whole country hostage for the better part of 3 days and lives were lost.It was war on Indian soil where had it not been for the untiring effort of the heroically brave NSG commandoes and the police forces we would still be counting the damage inflicted by this shocking act of barbarism.
As I stayed glued to the heart stopping action on TV and kept fuming all the while at the sheer helplessness I was feeling of not being able to do a thing when my house was being attacked and taken over, a faint voice within me still tried to calm me down saying "Just wait for this to get over.Just wait till the last of these psychotic bozos are gunned down.This has got to be enough to wake everyone up including our government .This is too big an attack to be ignored and pushed under the carpet by the people who we have chosen to be answerable for our security as they have so conveniently done in the past.The action won't stop at the last gunshot fired in the glorious TAJ Hotel. "
But as a few days have past after the dust has settled in Mumbai that voice within me has all but died.Ya I saw the Home minister with a shameless smiling face taking the responsibility and step down as if he was very relieved.Yes I saw the two main state ministers reluctantly leaving their seats after one of them terming it as "Ek adh Hadsa"(a small trivial accident).Yes I have seen the Indo-Pak cricket tour being called off as if it's any form of bilateral diplomacy.I have seen the government press into action(that's what they want us to believe) with calling the meetings and now summoning the Pakistani High Commisioner as if that's the only way to counter this threat.I have seen the Prime minister(the male one i.e) come out with declarations of strengthening the NSG and such other forces as if he was actually waiting for something like this to happen.
But all of this just accounts for may be 10% or less of what should be done.As the whole nation is demanding real decisive action all that the politicians across all parties are telling us is to exercise restraint and patienece and avoid knee-jerk comments(yet another fancy diplomaic term).Well sadly for you Netaji, I have run out of that precious commodity called Patience which you seem to have truck loads of.The terrorist have come to my house, set my house on fire and devastated my peace and you are trying to tell me that I shouldn't be angry.Who are you? Mahatma Gandhi.My blood boils when I see Major Unnikrishnan's mother wailing at his last journey and you tell me to control my rage.One of you ridicules the public who have finally got down to exprssing their anger in no uncertain ways and another of you insults a martyr's father and you expect me to listen to you.I can't hide my face thinking of how the Lashkar -E-Toiba chiefs would be high-fiving each other in some bar in Pakistan at the tremendous success they had and you want me to act normal and behave as if we won the war as one of you mentioned that they had come to kill 5000 and we stopped them at 200.Has the lure of money and seat stripped you completely of your balls as is the case with your conscience.I feel more than anything else I should be wary of you terrorists who come by votes more than those who come by boats.
What is stopping our authorities to go beyond the beaten track of threatening Pakistan with the same old words is beyond logic.We know where these guys are operating from, we know that some really influential Pakistani authorities are behind this and we know ultimately they will deny whatever evidence we show them.Don't they deserve to be bombed then.This is war and why can't you move beyond sweet talk.Why should we indulge in drawing a line between their government and the rogue elements operating from their land as they want us to do.That's their problem.If they can't handle it we should step in as the US is doing in NWFP.They are a failed state but why should we repeatedly suffer for the geographical proximity.So many Pakistani artists, sportspeople and others come to India and revel in our hospitality yet when it comes to taking responsibility they view India with suspicion.I have only one thing for them.Get the hell out of my land, all of you.I don't care about you skills and intentions.All I know is your inability is in a large part responsible for so many people loosing their lives so often.
Yes there is the threat of full scale war erupting but I think they simply can't afford to do that in the circumstances they are in and this time we can count on the international support provided the fact that so many foreign nationals have been killed and the world is increasingly viewing Pakistan as the epicentre of this global evil as we have always been saying.Our people are ready to pump in more taxes, our army is ready to avenge the death of their comrades but still our policy makers are thinking with the brain of a dove when they should be absolutely hawkish.Desperate times call for desperate measures, the sooner they wake up to that the earlier we will get through this ordeal.
But blaming Pakistan doesn't mean we are totally clean.It's the inherent "chalta hai" attitude within us that has cost us big from time to time and we are waking up to it only now.We don't act on the intelligence provided, we don't arm our security forces properly, we don't protest when the politicians make a meal of an honest Police Officer trying to do his duty in the way he knows best.Hopefully all these will change in the near future provided the collective rage and the media support, which I have to say has been outstanding,to say the least.
Mr Politician, you seem to think that a democracy won't survive without your species but you can't be more wrong.Maybe the people will vote against democracy and the collective impotency it has now come to mean in this country.So wake up, smell the coffee and act now.
