The shallowness is abyssmal

Last night, one of the politicians went to meet the family of one of the martyr's. The family, politely at first, and firmly later, refused to meet the politician. After all, it is the family's prerogative whom to meet and whom not to meet. I don't find anything wrong in it.

However, there is something very seriously wrong with our political class. Imagine I go to a person's place to offer my condolences. However, instead of going with humility and sincerity, I go there with a pomp to show off or go there because everybody else has been there. I also take sniffer dogs with me, just to be ultra-sure that there are no bombs at that place. How would that person feel?

The next day, our TRP-hungry media, questioned the family and the politician. When they should have left the family alone, they went to needle the family.

Here comes the worst - our eminent politician says - "Not a dog would have visited that house had his son not been a martyr."

Where is humility? Where is humanity? Do you understand that someone has died? Do you understand that someone has lost his son? Do you feel his pain? Do you know what is the value of life?

How can you? After all, you are Mr. Politician.

Hamare liye kuch mushkil nahi hai

"Hamare liye kuch mushkil nahi hai" - the first statement made by an NSG commando returning after a successful operation - Operation Cyclone - at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay. He said it such a simplicity and a sweet smile on his face, which is what makes it so encouraging and charming. Imagine what a billion people could achieve if all of us had the same spirit.

I was watching the action live on various news channels, and I could see the crowd clapping with joy when the operation at Nariman House ended. They were jostling, although not literally, to shake hands with the NSG commandos. They did not care whether the commandos were "Maraathi Maanoos" or came from other end of the country. They did not care about the religion of the commandos. They were there to salute the spirit, courage, and dedication shown by the commandos. This is the real India, this is the real spirit of people of India.

Where were the eminent politicians of Mumbai, who till some days back were busy breaking taxis? Where were the politicians who routinely attended bollywood functions? Where were the politicians who talk about Mumbai as if it is their own private property? Where were all these people. None of them had the courage to come out in open. In a way, it was good that these people did not come out because not only do they lack competence, but they also would have required their own share of security and created a ruckus out there.

Now the siege of Mumbai is finally over, but I am sure it is not the end of what we have seen. Our intelligence and security infrastructure is in shambles, and cannot be corrected overnight. I do not see any change in the foreseeable future because change requires tough measures, and our politicians are not the tough guys we need at this point in time. 

26th Nov, 2008 - Bombay Attacked

All the news channels around the world are carrying this piece of news. I won't elaborate on it too much. However, I am compelled to write a few things that I very strongly feel about. 

For quite some time, we have had a very weak leadership, which has set the tempo of India's response. Our response is neither prompt nor appropriate. The siege at Charar-e-sharief and Hazratbal shrines has, in a way, set a wrong precedent and it is solely the fault of our political leadership. The defence forces are not to be blamed for these debacles.

Since then, we have had a series of terrorist attacks, bomb blasts in cities and in temples. So many people have died in these attacks, but we haven't learnt our lesson at all.

What I fail to understand is after each such incident, we pin the blame on Pakistan and say - "ISI is involved in this incident." Is it not a given by now that ISI is behind every such incident? Why don't we take this for granted, and prepare ourselves to counter them? We give Pakistan a list of wanted terrorists and what do we expect from them - to hand over these terrorists to us on a platter? I find it all too silly.

Secondly, our political class is great at using diversionary tactics. When confronted with the question of handling terrorism, they divert public attention on whether it is Hindu or Muslim terrorism, whether to call it that way or not. For God's sake, please understand that no matter what kind of terrorism it is, people in India, our very own people are getting killed. Instead of bothering about adjectives and labels, we must focus on the core issue - terrorism.

Thirdly, the kind of idiotic questions that are raised on TV channels is unbearable. Yesterday, I was listening to Times Now and NDTV, and both were as idiotic as AajTak - the benchmark index of idiocy.

Times Now: asked foreign anti-terror experts why other countries do not support us diplomatically in anti-terror related activities. 

What kind of support we are looking for? We have to learn to solve our problems on our own. Why should any other country bear the brunt of our problems? It is silly to ask other countries to support us. We have to put an end to this menace.

NDTV: was wanting some positive comments from some film personalities about our political class uniting against terror. The example they cited was our PM and leader of opposition travelled in the same plane.

That is the least they can do. For 1 day in 5 yrs they did what was expected of them.

On a final note, a big salute and thanks to all the soldiers who fought and took care of the situation. They along with the hotel staff at Taj and Oberoi, who rescued people are the real heroes.