Once again terrorism has scored on Indian soil. Innocents have once again lost their lives for no fault of theirs. We have lost one more battle against terrorism. While we were busy in ensuring and protecting the fate of a film, precious lives have been snatched away. Precious lives that can never be brought back even with all the monetary gains the ‘protected’ movie generated. In the wake of Pune tragedy the entire drama in Mumbai over MNIK seems like petty bickering and squabbling.
Post Pune blast, Uddhav Thackeray has pointed finger at government inaction. Government inaction it may be, but it was a direct result of the state machinery’s extreme preoccupation with capping a combustible situation of Sena’s own making. Who then is a bigger culprit – the government with its inaction or Shiv Sena, which kept the governmental forces occupied with non-issues? If Shiv Sena is pointing a finger to the state government it should point the other three towards itself.
The Pune blast has shown us that with our needless infighting we expose ourselves and make ourselves vulnerable to outside attacks. In this case the extremists were handed the opportunity to strike on a platter. A film, a statement, a person and quest for petty political gains became bigger than national security.
Sena and MNS supremos are vain enough to project themselves as messiahs of Marathi manoos in general and the Mumbai city in particular. Messiahs do not hide, hibernate or play accusatory games when their people are in trouble – instead, they role up their sleeves and get down to action. Sena and MNS kept snoring when Mumbai was under siege during the 26/11 mayhem. This time too it was the Sena threats that kept the government and forces occupied, unnecessarily it seems. The Thackeray clan is prone to make noises about non-issues and is adept at threatening fellow Indians like Sachin, Shahrukh and Rahul, whose nationality and patriotism is indubitable. A word or a statement does not make them a traitor. It is easy to scare the Australian and Pakistani cricket teams with dire consequences when it is certain that no legitimate member of either team is likely to pose a serious threat to Indian sovereignty or security. They are careful to limit their threatening stance towards individuals and groups that are sure not to retaliate in action.
Scaring the law abiding citizens out of their wits is the easiest yet the most heinous of crimes. The litmus test lies in scaring the wrongdoers and the mischief-makers. It is easy to be a tiger within the comforts and confines of our homes. The test of a tiger’s ferociousness lies in its combat with another tiger. Empty threats over non-issues are eroding the Thackeray image and their bastion day after day. Marathi manoos will be the first to stop taking them seriously in times to come. If the sainiks and their leaders were so damn concerned about Maharashtra (let alone India) it would be better if they were to vow that not one terrorist would ever be able to set foot on Maharashtrian soil. The day the Sena and MNS workers will vow to not only fight but also prevent any terrorist attacks is the day their threats will mean something. Till then its all big empty words.
February 18, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Good post indeed. I think it is high time that Supreme Court must come down heavily on the mis-uttering of Shiv Sena and MNS. They are talking irresponsibly and taking law into their hands. It is sad to see the entire police establishment is trying to make one film screened while taking the security issue a bit light.
I think we as citizens must be more careful in not handling unclaimed objects.
The Police post near the German Bakery was removed just two months ago and the terrorists strike with precision!
The German Bakery owner had asked his employee to open the unclaimed baggage from under the table and it turned out to be mass suicide. Government is issuing adverts for a long time now asking citizens not to handle the unclaimed bags or objects. But we have still not learned the lesson properly.
As the central government now claims that they have had intelligence reports of probable attacks on the German Bakery and other places around it. At least the Police must have installed powerful cameras and keep watching the movement of people from a secluded place but I think Indian Police has no ideas to thwart the terror attacks.
The irony was that the Police team have ordered 100 tea and snacks from the same Bakery and some policemen went to the bakery to check out why the snacks were not delivered as yet and moments after they left the bag was left there and when opened it triggered a massive blast!
I was lucky to not to visit that part of Pune as I was in Pune from 6th Feb to 14th Feb and returned to Delhi!!