Farce of Resignations

In the sixties, Lal Bhadur Shastri resigned from the union cabinet immediately after the Ariyalur train accident. Nobody had demanded his resignation. Still his conscience did not allow him to continue as the union railway minister. But that is five decades back. There was political morality among most of the public representatives.

There were more than two dozen major terrorist attacks under the union home ministership of Shivraj Patil since 2005. Every time there was customary criticism against him and the failure of the intelligence agencies. Over 10,000 innocent lives were sacrificed to the blood thirsty terror organizations. Most of these deaths were organized by people coming outside the country. Even the internal terror mongers were aided by the external sources. Bangladesh apart from Pakistan bred anti-India elements and fed them with fatty food and monetary resources. Money came from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

All the terror attacks prior to Mumbai 11/2008 were taken softly and the union home minister Shivraj Patil was let off with lighter warnings. Chief Ministers of Maharastra, Gujarat, Delhi Andra Pradesh and Karnataka were not questioned for the terrorist attacks. It was a simple sensibility. When the state was burning under the terrorist fire not wise to demand the resignation of Chief Ministers. It is this magnanimity of common people and opposition parties that allowed the continuance of moral decay in politics. How worth is it to demand resignations as moral responsibility for terror attacks?

Once Shivraj Patil resigned, R.R. Patil the deputy Chief Minister of worst terror affected state of Maharastra followed suit. That compelled Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to put down his paper. These acts were total farce. With elections to the parliament and assembly only few months away, resignation is just a drama. According to the political pundits, R.R. Patil resigned to force Vilasrao Deshmukh’s exit from the chair of C.M. This was orchestrated by NCP supreme Sharad Pawar who does not like Deshmukh.

In a survey conducted by the Times of India last week 54% of the common people did not believe these resignations as moral feeling. They think that all these are comedy acts. They question the prime minister’s morality after these blasts and attacks. Why the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh did not resign owing responsibility as the head of the state?

Their question is genuine. The people had the government where it pains most. Instead of making mockery of public sympathy and support, the government actors should work with sincerity. Any play with public sentiments will backfire. This warning is strict and serious. Those who had tried to play with terrorist attack in Mumbai for vote were punished. Delhi election result is the right reminder

This culture is not related to one party. Cutting across the political spectrums, public representatives have the same trait. Sticking to power at any cost is the common culture among politicians. With these kinds of people how can one country have public serving representatives? Most of them exist of power. There is no sense of serving the people. Democracy becomes meaningless. This is evident from the worsening situations in the states where there is full scale representation to the locals. Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, Manipur where the local heroes rule the state the problem is more complicated. What we need today is a culture of politics which is keen to bring about total change in the lives of people. Change for better. Change for peace. Change for development and change for the satisfaction of one and all. Till then the politics and its resignations are just farcical bites.

National Security Risks

Bomb blasts have become routine. So also the blame game and memory loss. In these last four years of the UPA rule, four thousand innocent lives were lost. This tragic statistics demand the dropping of the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil. Will his exit change the security situation? A careful analysis of the history of security lapses in the country shows a disconnected functioning of the government. A mere change in the guard in the North Block may not bring out radical positive results. An overhaul of the entire nation’s approach to the security needs to be carried out. This includes the strengthening of state apparatus, ultra modernizing intelligence inputs, educating the public, collaborating with cross border and intra national sources. A person heading the home ministry should not get panic at the drop of a pin. At the same time he should also not be the one who exhibits utmost callousness towards public tragedies. In short, the home minister should act tough when the situation demands.

The state apparatus is used to the frequent mishaps. Either bomb blasts or communal violence have been keeping the babus and khaki brigade on the run. So a serial blast in Delhi killing 30 people or in Mumbai train taking 200 odd lives may not move them. Is this because the public too forgets the tragedy and moves ahead?

In the age of global terrorism, how India is different from other countries? Absolutely Indians are giving less trouble to the government. Commendably the public efforts in facing and coping up with the terror is incredible. On the other hand, the State is not taking advantage of the public support. A balloon seller and a rag picker have provided vital clues for chasing the crime perpetrators in the Delhi blasts. Innumerable cases of this kind of common people’s intelligence have helped the government. Who can forget the shepherd’s information to the army regarding the occupation of Kargil sector by the Pakistani forces?

Unfortunately the state has failed to recognize this ground support. Tragically those who put their brave foot forward and averted major crises are left unheard. A DTC bus driver, Kuldeep Singh who saved more than 60 passengers in 2005 is yet to get the reward of Rs. 3 lakhs by the home ministry. He was partially blinded in this heroic effort. Many more patriotic Indians live silently without any recognition from the government despite doing great services.

As India is threatened by the international terror network and local communal groups, a foolproof mechanism is needed. A close and apolitical coordination is required to unite all the forces to take on the terror groups. Without unanimity, serial blasts keep rocking the nation. The political class may be inept for this Himalayan task. A new ideology, new politics, new will, new national feeling and new force are needed. That force will raise the nation above all the petty political and personal aspirations and tune with the entire humanity to put a full stop to the global terror.