Blasts? What Blasts?�Yeh to hota hi rahta hai�
�Kuch nahin kar sakte � yeh to hota hi rahega�
Â
� I have been hearing this in various conversations all around me for the last two days.�
On Rediff, Nitin Chhoda wrote: ��You want to help, but the only thing you can do is make a few phone calls. You want to feel sad, but you are too far away�In essence, you feel helpless.� �
I disagree. �Everyone, in India � and outside � can make a difference.
We can do a lot more than feel sad and make a few phone calls. For a change, we can feel angry. Back in March �06, after the blasts in Varanasi, still smarting from the blow and the rage within, I wrote: �If the whole incident was not so tragic, it would be surreal�.�
Maddeningly, the sequence of blasts, appeals for calm, investigations, nabbing of suspected Pakistani terrorists followed by collective amnesia seems to be playing out again.�
The so-called �international community�, the western countries, the global powers that be, of course don�t care � beyond mouthing platitudes of condemnation and sympathies, there is little they will do � and why should we expect otherwise? No one knows (or cares) that over the years, we have suffered more from terrorism than any other country except Iraq.[i]�
Bomb blasts in London are a �terrorist outrage�, an attack on western values, an attack on freedom and democracy. In India, bomb blasts are a way of life � besides, what are a few hundred people in a country of billion? �Not surprisingly the unfortunate victims of Varanasi, Delhi, Mumbai are never counted or mentioned amongst the �innocents� killed in New York, Bali, London or Madrid.
And besides, aren�t these people killed because we are holding on to Kashmir against Pakistan�s will? Ignorance rules the discussions – and takes cover under indifference when facts begin to get inconvenient.�
So what can we do – other than to pray and feel helpless?�
I wish I knew the answer. But honestly I do not.
In my search for answers, I trawled the discussion forums on Bharat-Rakshak. Huge amount of activity as you can expect � I came back with more questions than answers. But one comment forced me to think.�
In a sobering post, Raja Ram laid out what needs to happen for this to stop:
But beyond all this, there will be a need for GOI to get international pressure on the perpetrators and that does not mean the usual parading of painstakingly gathered evidence to foreign diplomats in camera. The GOI has to present the evidence gathered publicly, set forth a clear demand for actions from governments or agencies of governments that may be involved with a clear time frame. This should be backed up with a clear promise of retributive action against the perpetrators with or without their support. International support for such should be channelised and developed.
This calls for political will. So far no administration in India has had the gumption to go through this. Hence hope for retribution is not high at this point in time�.
Unless the entire spectrum of Indian public opinion comes around to clearly calling the spade a bloody shovel and stop pussy footing around, there is very little the GOI can do in terms of retribution.��
But this �can happen only when the political class has the clarity of mind about dealing with terror in that manner. There are consequences to such actions that we must be ready to face. The political class, mind you is a creature of the people. The people should not only be ready to back them but demand such action from the political class and only then will they respond. Till that happens, concerned Indians can pull their hair and whack their heads – not much is going to come out of it. India will just have to take it in her stride yet again and fight on alone. There is no support for India in her war on terror. What is available is only meaningless platitudes. Sad but that is the bitter truth.�� In November last year, after the Diwali blasts, Swapan Dasgupta wrote in �The Pioneer� (�What cross-border terrorism? Let�s celebrate survival�): �The “soft state” is not merely a helpless Prime Minister, an inept Home Minister and a compromised External Affairs Minister. It is a mindset of squeamish appeasement guaranteed to ensure the victims of last Saturday’s massacre won’t be the last�� ��I read this and asked myself � where is our �Lakshman Rekha�? Where is our Red line?�As Rudradev mentioned in his comment on Bharat-rakshak, Once upon a time I thought that a direct terrorist attack aimed at the highest echelons of the political class itself, might be such a redline. But the parliament attack, and Parakram thereafter, put paid to that notion.��We worry about taking �strong action� � any action�why? Because it may ruin our dreams � our dreams of becoming the world�s second biggest economy by 2050, the dreams of 10% economic growth, the dreams of 300million middle class, the dreams of an IT superpower��
Â
Rarely do we pause and think what happens to those dreams when 200 people get killed just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time?�But these things should not distract us � let us focus on getting an Indian as the Secretary General – we may not have a permanent seat but at least we have secretary general[ii]! �
As I was mulling over these thoughts, in what appears to be a divinely orchestrated irony, I came across a photograph of a beaming Shyam Saran, India�s Foreign Secretary offering Pakistan a cheque for $25m on 11th July even as bombs were being planted in Mumbai.�This was for the victims of the October earthquake in J&K and Pakistan – the same earthquake which offered terror outfits from LeT to Jamaat ul Dawa an opportunity to re-group, take in aid and re-build their cadres � all the while earning a huge amount of goodwill for doing what the government was incapable of doing � which is helping the aid victims. See, �A Tragedy that will Continue to Claim Lives� �
But what about the establishment? Did it not feel anything? Anger? Sadness? �
So I turned to� the Government of India. But all I got was a �cut-and-paste� “I�urge each of you to remain calm�We will win this war against terror���The words sounded familiar � and sure enough they were. Back in March �06, after the Varanasi blasts, the PM�s media advisor Sanjaya Baru reported that the PM had appealed for maintaining peace and calm � let each one of us get these words engraved and put them up on a plaque in our homes and offices � it will save everyone the trouble of repeating them every few months.�
What about Pakistan? As expected, we got the standard statement of condemnation. As Ujjal noted in his post on Bharat-Rakshak, �seems like it was written weeks in advance��
So did no one felt any anger? What does it take to do something?�
On the Bharat-Rakshak discussion forum, Sbajwa acidly wrote in his post:
�From Amarnath to Coimbture, Bombay to Delhi, Kashmir to Hyderabad/Banglore, Calcutta to Ahmadabad.., Terrorists have run out of targets..
They have attacked Red Fort, wives and children of Army personnel, Parliament, Stock Exchange, Educational institutes and professors, Amarnat/Ayodhya/Sankat mochan/etc temples, bombs in buses/trains/streets.
What is left? I guess they will have to start exploding bombs atop Himalaya or Ganga to get Indians to wake up and do something.�� Indeed.��
Then, incredulously, I learnt that just days before the blasts, the UP government had asked the Centre to revoke the ban on SIMI. Did someone say they were involved in the Mumbai blasts?
“Arey Yaar, Yeh to hota hi rahta hai”!!
[i] see India � The forgotten terror victim
[ii] See Ashutosh Sheshabalaya�s excellent article on this topic, �Team Tharoor and the GAMPENS legacy�
Â
yes i read this and i mistakenly posted my comment in the other thread.
i feel so helpless i just want to kill every member of the UPA.everyone right down to the bloody MP backbencher snoring at the back and collecting bribes to ask questions. bloody rascals. we all know they won’t do anything at all.
plus our Al-Media and Al-intellectuals. fucking bastards. with them working as the fifth column we don’t need Al-Qaeda at all.
I think I totally disagree. Because I am a real Indian (read: Secular and Tolerant). Terrorists have killed my neighbours and they have attacked my city – but I am not dead, none of my family members have died in a bomb blast. I called everyone after the Mumbai blasts, and found that my family was safe. That’s all I care. Let the whole country go chaotic. I will shut the doors and stay inside my safe haven perhaps praying that Lord/Allah/whoever save my house.
I see that Shantanu and so many people at Bharat-rakshak are upset and angry. Why are they angry? Dont they know that PM has asked for keeping calm?
My blood does not boil. Even that has become secular. I have started to believe that terrorism has no religion. But it is really funny that those who died in terrorist attacks did have a religion. Terrorists just target crowded places, by coincidence the crowd is inside or near temples.
Temples and crowds is such a nuisance. Gujarat civic authorities demolished 16 temples. Nobody said anything. They touched one illegal mosque, and everybody was on the streets – well, no terrorists of course. Just the “aggrieved” minorites (armed by fluck) and human rights activists…
Abu asim azmi – the muslim mafia (I meant SP leader) has threatened that 12 lakh Muslims will come down to streets in Mumbai if any Muslim is harmed. No problem. I will shut my doors and sit inside… I am secular.
But there is a problem – I dont have a fiddle 😉
Recieved from Shri Diwakar:
*******
Dear Mr. Shantanu,
…
I stopped buying, and by extension, reading our very secular newspapers long back. A cursory reading of your article in “Hindu Dharma” tonight came as a refreshing breeze amidst all this secular heat.
I am reminded here of Shekhar Gupta’s “Walk the talk” with the Maharashtra CM after the Bombay blasts. The great Mr. Gupta repeatedly asks the CM whether and when the culprits would be nabbed, and the secular CM nonchalantly asserts “soon, very soon.” I have no doubt that the so-called culprits will be nabbed soon, very soon, because the police have been given a free hand to do so. They will then be arrested, charged, taken to court and, by the time they are sentenced 15 or 20 years hence, all will be forgotten and our secular brigade will then cry itself hoarse about the undertrials languishing in our jails for that long.
Now this nabbing and charging is the easy part, precisely why our great Mr. Gupta keeps asking about that. He does not, mind you, does not ask the CM whether he can guarantee that there will not be another blast. For that requires political will, arrests and preventive detention of poor, innocent Muslims. Even so soon after these blasts, when some 200 or 300 were nabbed and released after a day or two, I hear a Samajwadi Party leader say that if such things continue, twenty crore Muslims all over India will be out on the streets–enough I suppose to send shivers down the spines of our Karunanidhis, Laloos, etc., etc. Please note that I do not mention the names of that Italian carpetbagger–who for the sake of power sups with the man who was responsible for the LTTE running riot here during his earlier regime, and finally for killing her husband–or her lackey, the so-called prime minister.
I am talking here of the likes of Prashant Bhushan, the great fighter for the cause of human rights. When KTK Tulsi (I hope I got his initials right) says on TV that stringent laws beyond POTA are the need of the hour, Mr. Bhushan says No. They would be used to harass minorities, especially Muslims. For Mr. Bhushan a mere Act, which could lead to harassment of Muslims is intolerable, but bomb blasts that maim and kill hundreds of innocent Hindus are okay. Why blame Mr. Bhushan, when he is openly and avowedly wedded to a cause. No so our neutral anchors on TV. The moment the heat is on the Indian Muslim, all that the Congress/Communist/Samajwadi spokesmen have to do is to invoke the Gujarat mantra, and the frightened anchor, frightened of being accused as communal immediately shuts shop saying, “Yes, yes, the terrible Gujarat pogram, the draconian POTA.” Another anchor was more agitated at the visit of Narendra Modi to Bombay than at the blasts. Perhaps, only terrorists are permitted to visit Bombay. Another anchor, linking the blasts to Gujarat, traced the events from the killings there. No mention of Godhra, which, anyway for the secularists is at best an accident or at worst self-inflicted.
Here is some more good news. Soon this Paki-bashing will end. Sitaram Yechury has, I am told, written that the blasts are the results of our pro-American tilt. Soon, the self-proclaimed messiah of Indian Muslims, Mulayam Singh Yadav, will call for an end to this tirade against Pakistan, and it will end. After all, when blaming SIMI can anger Muslims, wouldn’t accusing Pakistan day in and day out irritate them, especially when elections to UP are on hand. Our secularists, who have been keeping quiet of late, will then have a field day. They only have to take a leaf out of Arjun Singh’s book ( he is supposed to have termed the attack on the RSS headquarters in Nagpur as stage-managed) and blame all future blasts as stage-managed, or the work of those who destroyed the Babri Masjid or were behind the Gujarat killings.
Cheer up Mr. Shantanu. Things cannot go on like this for ever. It needed a Pearl Harbour for the Americans to intervene in the Second World War, and again 9/11 to end the Taliban menace. It needed Hitler to invade Russia at the zenith of his power to destroy himself. And back home, it needed the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi to drive out the LTTE from our soil. Maybe, something like that will happen to drive out our secularists. Mind you, I am not saying something will happen to wake up our secularists from their slumber. I don’t believe they are sleeping, for they are not. They are wide awake. It is only the Muslim vote, which makes them look the other way.
Sorry for this long epistle, for I very, very rarely write about politics these days. Your heart-rending article provoked me to do so.
Keep it up.
Sincerely,
I too are feeling the same way as Mr. Diwakar. But we are paralysed and handicapped by our own emotions. We take care of this community(M) too much, as if it is our responsibilty to sooth them even if they kill our innocents. According to political(congress) agenda it is Hindu’s responsibilty to show tolerance, not Muslim’s as if they are guest in our country. Why guest don’t have any responsibilty towards host? if they are backward than due to thier own religion not because of India. It they are not comfortable in India(in matter of cases it seems they are not comfortable in USA, UK, Canada or may be on this Earth) they should go to places where they have fellow brothers. Why they didn’t leave India when partition was going on. Why they stayed in India. Sometime I feel untill now Hindus themselves are responsible for thier liberal and come beat me attitude. Actual fact is we (Hindus) are ruled by…in our own country, our nation and our own people has tamed us. I understand many Muslims are good too but they are not coming forward, its of no use to be good. Narendra Modi is roaring, but see how some hindus and so called secular leader are against him as if only because of him everything got mess. What about USA and UK. that means George Bush and Tony Blair is roaring because Narendra Modi had a meeting with them. They are too mad with this community. Forget India even european country has started discriminating them as they turned out to be traitors and betrayers.
I completely agree with Raja Ram. It is useless to sit back, write articles and let life go on. We, the people of India, have to think:
Who are supposed to protect us?
Our MPs whom we vote into power and our security establishments.
Our security establishments have a dual nature – on one hand, they are quite adept at discovering money trails and hunting down sleepers and RDX consignments.
On the other, they fail repeatedly to get intelligence of the exact location and timing of bomb blasts.
However, there is another angle to it. Security agencies would have to be blamed for failure when they are given full powers and freedom to do their job. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. They have their hands tied by our “secular” government so that their pet votebank is not aggrieved.
Read Praveen Swami’s report. Its not that police were not ready. They actually knew everything. They got information in MARCH for God’s sake! They KNEW there were people in the city looking to strike at the right moment. The police wanted to do arrests in the old city area but our secular Congress AP govt. sad NO!
It is really unfortunate that basic security has been given second priority to making sure that the “feelings” of a particular community are not “hurt.”
What Congress doesnt know is that this is a very short term tactic. This might ensure votes from their pet votebank in the next election for making sure their “feelings” are not “hurt.” But the majority community is getting increasingly impatient and their feelings too are getting hurt.
All I’ll say is what Durgadas Basu says in his book “Introduction to the Indian Constituion”: The feelings of the majority community are no less important for the integrity and unity of the nation.
The Congress parties and its “secular” allies along with the “secular” media and the human rights groups ignore this simple truth. One can easily sense the public anger against all these elements and sooner or later, it is going to burst forth in some or the other way.
They now have a chance to come clean and put nation before their political agendas and vested interests. They ignore it at their own peril.
Spot on Atlantean…Great comment.
Unfortunately putting nation above political agendas and vested interests is an alien concept for most political parties in India.
Dear Sir,
What a set a fools we are. Why all this hype about this bomb blast in UP. It is just another Bomb blast to be discussed and then thrown away like a used Tampon or Condom. Why make a big fuss about it.
Look at it the PM does lose sleep over it. The “Secular media” has some more ads and moolah to make. More arguments for FDI in media. More freedom of expression. More work for the NHRC. More employment, more economic development, more relations with the developed nations!
What are we all taking. Make more money with this disaster! More cell phones, more internet traffic, more investment in broadband width. Look at the positive side.
Just like our freedom fighters got freedom from the tyranny of the British, a few more sacrifices from our “HINDU BRETHEREN” to unyoke ourselves from the cycle of poverty will be most welcome to the “SECULARS”.
I am disappointed that we are looking at the negative side of things instead of looking at the more positive economic development.
Jai Hind!! oops! I am sorry, JAI SECULARISM!!
Regards,
vck