26/11/2008: A BLACK DAY
Last year this date was written in black. Not just the people of Mumbai but the entire nation finds it difficult to forget the macabre incident that happened in the Taj hotel in Mumbai. But the question is what have we learnt from that? The Leopold cafe was reconstructed and opened soon after and the hotel started functioning as well. The crisis management team of the Tata group is amazingly strong but, what about the crisis management of the Indian government. We still have no preventive measures worth the name; no solid steps against terrorism, only loud noise.
It is shameful on the part of the government that in the very first place the terrorists could enter so easily with loads of arms and ammunitions inside the country. Secondly even a year after the terror attacks, nothing substantial has been done yet to prevent such incidents further. The much trumpeted anti-terrorism measures remain till date largely on paper only. The families of the slain policemen are living on pavements; this is indeed a big slap on the system’s face. After the operation, the commandoes were huddled off in local buses, how disgusting it is!
Thirdly, the role of media was rather destructive. To gain the TRPs the channels continuously showed the current details live which updated the terrorists and their mentors more than the public. If media had acted in a mature manner, fatalities would perhaps be much less. But we have a strong tendency of not learning anything from the past tragedies. Every time and everywhere we turn to our ‘chalta hai’ mode. Now a day the news channels are more in grabbing TRP than showing something useful. Dedication of prime time slots to Shilpa Shetty’s wedding appeared to them more important than the sufferings of the attack victims. Her mehandiwali’s interview held a priority over what the attack victims’ families cried for.
The CM of Kerala openly insulted the slain Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s parents in their own house. The families of other slain heroes are still awaiting action by the sleepy and indifferent government machinery on the promises doled out to them. Shame on such a system! And I think because of such a treatment to our forces, youngsters are thinking twice before joining defense services, and that’s again a big slap on the government’s face.
But then, the government’s apathy and slumber are nothing new. At least for Mumbai, be it terror attack or repeated flooding of the city, the government has invented an easy shelter to hide behind- ‘the spirit of Mumbaikar’. True, the Mumbaikars have shown a remarkable resolve in coping up with the miseries that have struck their city, but the government has exploited it to cover up its inefficiency to such an extent that now it appears to be more of a commoners’ compulsion to keep the life going.
