I can hear some of you saying “Are you kidding me! You think putting all this in a blog is really going to help??” Well..my point is atleast let us make a start somewhere..lets not give up before we even start making an attempt..Maybe you are right..maybe nothing will change..but you can atleast have the satisfaction that you gave it your best shot..Lets not give up..not yet!
‘Public memory is short..people will speak about it for a few days & then it will be life as usual’..This is what the average Mumbaikar..Indian..thinks..right? But who is this average mumbaikar..this ‘aam aadmi’? You, me and thousands n crores of like-minded individuals? What if each one of us pledge that we wont forget..nor let the authorities forget the dastardly acts of terror inflicted on our city? What if we decide that ‘enough is enough’ & that we will not take everything lying down? What if…
‘Mumbaikar..kuch KAR!!’ before its too late..
Again, before I start writing this post(hey I already wrote 2 paras!!), I would like to sincerely thank all those who took their invaluable time to read the previous post & provide some very insightful & thought-provoking views. So you may find quite a few of your very own thoughts in this post because they in fact are your thoughts. I am just acting as a mediator, a mere typist penning your thoughts.
The aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks & the subsequent valiant rescue operations by the NSG & other security forces has been marred by the usual political drama. Quite a few heads rolled with the home minister, Shivraj Patil sacked & Maharashtra Deputy CM, R.R. Patil & CM, Vilasrao Deshmukh offering to resign. News Channels & the media are in overdrive with Chat shows, Debates, discussions; Most people on the show are demanding the resignations of incompetent ministers, although, I fail to understand how the sacking/resignations of these ministers is going to help? Isn’t this the time for them to accept their failure & take the necessary corrective actions instead of passing the baton to some other incompetent fool?
Just when everyone was expecting all the political parties to be united , most parties have started the inevitable blame-games & are trying to gain political mileage from all this. Huge hoardings of all the martyrs have come up all across Mumbai with political party logos unashamedly adorning them as if it’s an election campaign rally…It’s sickening! Some of the comments of our so-called leaders have left a very bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Sample this from the Kerala CM in reference to his visit to Late Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan: “Had it not been for Major Unnikrishnan, not even a dog would have come to his home.” Even considering the context in which these statements may have been made, the comment is highly uncivilized, outrageous & uncalled for..and that is to put it very very mildly.
One of the popular SMSes that was doing the rounds just after the successful NSG operation was bashing Raj Thakeray & his MNS that “All the NSG commandos were either from North or South-India..No Marathi-manoos…Where is Raj Thackeray & his gang now” etc etc.. Fair comment! Point Taken my lord! But here’s my word of caution: How did we arrive at this statistic of no marathi-manoos in NSG? Why the hell do we care as to where from these NSG commandos came from?? Are we now going to start categorizing people as North Indian, South Indian, Maharashtrians just by checking their last names?? If that’s indeed the case..GOD SAVE US!! As if the existing divisions in our society are not enough!!..religion, caste, language to name a few..
‘Every Cloud has a silver lining’..goes a well-known proverb. Although, there can hardly be a silver lining after this, but then there’s always hope..hope that things will change..that we will make them change..As a dialogue in Rang De Basanti goes: “’Koi bhi desh perfect nahi hota..usse banana padta hain”..How you may ask? Ok..lets try & make a start..
Ø Cast your Vote carefully: Every government is as good as its people & you get the government you actually deserve. So make sure you vote. Send the message loud n clear to the politicians that we won’t vote for you if you do not care about us. Also please be aware of the useful ‘I Vote Nobody’ option as per Article ’49-O’.
Ø Be aware of what is going around you. Be aware of your rights such as the Right to Information. Exercise your rights as a good citizen.
Ø Online Public Grievance Lodging System: http://pgportal.gov.in/ I do not know how many of us have actually used it. (I have not but my point is be aware!).
Ø Pressurize the government & the politicians: Ask them the right questions through various forums such as talks-shows, debates, in print, in blogs. Questions such as
- Why despite Mumbai being the financial capital of
- Why were the NSG commandos brought to the Taj after a long delay of 8 hours..that too they had to travel from the airport in BEST buses..Surely we could have had better & quicker transportation.
- Is the money that is spent on protecting impotent Politicians justified? Cant that be put to better use to improve the country’s security.
- Considering the country’s enormous coast line & the corresponding security risk, Are the Navy & the affiliated security forces adequate?
(More suggestions are please welcome here..Please comment)
This is just the beginning..’Picture abhi baaki hain mere dost’ J
1 comment:
Patya I think we all share the same feeling, Its really time to act and do more than just to pray for souls of people who died in these blasts.
As you have already penned down the root cause of the failure of the system.Some points which i thought are,
1) Failure of the our Intellegent Services.
2) Lack of dedicated politicians.
First of all we don't get such politicians and even if we have by any chance they are not competent enough to handle critical issues.
Best example i see is R.R. Patil, he might be a honest minister (If we do a non-prejudiced analysis and read about him you will agree with me). But we see his failure to handle important issues and the overall use of the police force that he has done. Weapons that they use are two old and they can no way fight even with all gangsters (forget about the terrorists) because they too posses AK 47.
3) The way politicians treat police is really horrible. Before bomb blasts parties like shivsena and BJP were cursing Hemant Karkare and suddenly he becomes hero for many of them. Police force as such is used by politicians for their own purpose rather than security of the state.
3) NSG has definitely done a gr8 job but still total 10 terrorists could manage to fight with them for 60 hours which is definitely not a good sign.As identified later to some extent media was also responsible for indirectly helping terrorists.
When I think of all these issues it really boils down to every section of the society.
I really feel its all happening because of the leaders that our society has chosen.
Even if some educated people can think in right direction but fact remains that many of us still think that their vote is not going to change anything in this country and hence not using their voting rights at all.This is a shame and shows that even educated people don't understand/ignore the power of every vote in democracy
Majority of the people who are actual decision makers are required to be more educated about the issues happening in country and most importantly making them realize that their could be change in the situation if they vote for right people. I remember few days back when I was having discussion with some people in my native place about politics in that region they said they vote only for congress because congress takes better care of farmers than BJP. I really felt that they have not done their analysis and many a times its just a political advertisement rather than ground results which make people vote for a party.
Our society needs to be more educated not just by qualifications and certificates. Lets take some steps in that direction.
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