I was looking forward to a relaxing and long Thanksgiving weekend. But what happened in Mumbai made it a very sad, sleepless and frustrating weekend. Sad - because many unfortunate and innocent people had to go through a terrible event. Sleepless - because the imagination of their experiences was gut wrenching. And frustrated - because of the indifferent attitude of the Indian Government over the years, which led to a situation where India could not confront the terrorists effectively or efficiently, and which leads to a situation where common people will not get straight answers from those that are supposedly accountable.
I live in the United States, but I am an Indian. I love both countries and I owe a lot to both of them. I have had the fortune of experiencing life in both these countries and observing how the political and public service systems work. And I was appalled to see the lack of even a half-decent infrastructure in India to deal with the attacks over the weekend. But what was more worrying was what happened after the seige was ended. The response, both verbal and actions, by several political "leaders" of the country made me wonder if life of a common citizen in India is valued at all.
First of all, my heart goes out to all those brave men who risked (and some who lost) their lives trying to respond to the attacks. I do not have words to express my respect for what they did. But seeing that they did not have the right gear to do their job, was unbelievable. India is not a poor country. There has been a significant flow of money into the country over the last decade. The least a Government can do, given the magnitude of terrorism we have been facing and the type of neighbor we have, is to equip our brave men with adequate gear to fight on a fair basis. On one hand, we had these terrorists who seemed well-trained and had ample ammunition. And on the other hand, we had people without even the right kind of life vests! Furthermore, the terrorists seemed like they were well-trained and were taught a strategy. It was sad to see that our personnel were just trying to fire tactically (even aimlessly at Nariman House), without any kind of strategy. It did not seem like we even had a single spokesperson/leader accountable for our response. And until today, we have not even figured out the exact number of attackers! It sounded like some of the attackers just fled the scene along with the hostages. Some of the hostages coming out of the hotels were talking to the media, saying that they were not stopped or questioned by the cops standing by! Anyway, if I start typing all my thoughts about it, this blog will run into several pages.
What happened after the weekend was tougher to swallow. The Chief Minister of the state visits the Taj hotel with his son. And his son takes a movie producer with him! The Chief Minister casually responded by saying that he took his son because he was curious to see the place. I just did not think the minister understood the gravity of the situation. Of course, his deputy had the audacity to call it a "small incident". Then comes the incident of Kerala's Chief Minister insulting the father of a slain commando. Can this guy even imagine how it might be for someone to have lost his only son? I wonder if these ministers care for anything other than the votes for their next election.
I saw that many ministers offered to resign (both in Delhi and in Mumbai), and some of them were accepted. I think these resignations are a convenient vehicle for them to leave the messy place they have created. I strongly believe that a minister's position (at whichever level) is a job with a LOT of responsibility. Heck, I would think of the same even at a municipal representative's level. People filling these roles need to understand the responsibility. I do not think that is the case with several of these ministers. They probably do not even understand the difference between "not doing a good job" and "doing a bad job". A bad job at that level is like committing a crime against the nation. These ministers are answerable for the bad jobs they did.
I read an article that said the funds that were given to Maharashtra police, were used up to buy luxury sedans for the senior officers. The same article also said the Deputy Chief Minster (the same guy who thought it was a small incident) has about twenty luxury cars provided by the Government. These things just do not make sense. As much advanced as India is, the basic human rights do not seem to exist. It seems like there are two species of lives. One - that of ministers and kingmakers. They are Gods and this species seems to be extremely important. Two - that of people who fought the terrorists and people who were killed by the terrorists. This species seems to be... just dispensable.
