Saturday, September 13, 2008

Now it is the turn of Delhi. Five blasts in a span of 45 minutes starting 6:15 PM this evening have claimed 18 lives already, still counting. The usual email of the Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the attack has been received by the police. As per the email, Operation BAD(Bangalore Ahmedabad Delhi) is now complete. The pathetic blame game and talk of ‘intelligence failure’ has already begun.

One can safely predict the sequence of events that will follow.

The Home Minister will make a brief appearance and blame Pakistan directly or obliquely. The Minister of State for Home will be heard saying that the matter is being investigated and that the ISI has a hand in the attack. Minister Renuka Chaudhary will explain why domestic violence cannot be dealt with by normal laws, necessitating a tough new law, while stoutly defending the opposite stand taken by the government to deal with the unending violence unleashed by terrorists. The NSA, who has used his stint to mindlessly upgrade police ranks and increase the dysfunctional invasion of the IPS cadre into the para military forces, will probably remain silent. If he eventually does decide to waffle an answer, he will most likely say that there is credible evidence to show Pakistan’s involvement, and declare that the ISI needs to be destroyed, without knowing what that entails.

Mulayam Singh Yadav will be shown saying that there is no proof against the SIMI and that it is a secular organization. Lalu Prasad Yadav will echo his sentiments and ask for a ban on the RSS and the VHP also if the SIMI is banned. Ram Vilas Paswan will defend illegal Bangladeshi migrants saying that there is no evidence against the HUJI and that all Bangladeshi migrants should be made Indian citizens. Of course, no one will ask him as to why not a single Bangladeshi has been able to settle down in J&K while millions have created a dangerous security situation in many other parts in the rest of India. Sitaram Yechuri will eloquently justify the hypocritical position of India's commies against a stiffer law for terrorists while recommending exactly the opposite for drunken driving.

The BJP will chant its POTA mantra and blame the Congress for going soft on terror. It will the taunt the Congress that the only blast cases of the last few years that have been solved are those that took place in Modi’s Gujarat, while in other states the political leadership has failed because it is trying to appease the minorities. Finally, it will ask for the government’s resignation and ask for elections. Sushma Swaraj may actually declare once again that these blasts are a sinister conspiracy of the central government to delay the monsoon session of Parliament and divert the attention of the people who in reality are very unhappy with Indo-US Nuclear Deal.

The usual chat shows will be held in TV studios in the next few days with the same players, the same questions and the same answers. At these platforms, bleeding heart secularists will get the opportunity to voice their apprehension that the blasts may actually be the handiwork of Hindu terrorists belonging to the fringe groups of the Sangh Parivar. Selected Muslims will also be heard saying that Islam is a religion of peace which does not permit killing of innocent civilians.

After all this has been said, everyone will show ‘great resilience’ and get back to the beat of life as if nothing ever happened.

This is what has been happening for years. And nothing, actually nothing, has been done till now to proactively tackle this scourge that India has been facing for decades now. Why proactively? Precious little has been done even reactively. Not one of the anti-terror mechanisms that other countries have put in place have even been considered by India.

India simply does not have the courage to do what it needs to. Why? The prime reason, of course, is the politics of vote banks which frightens politicians who are in business solely to grab power, all means fair. Due to this, the entire government machinery has been hijacked by bureaucrats who in this country have become the real, permanent rulers. Systematically, they have infiltrated, captured and destroyed all institutions that matter in the matrix of power. And, they lack the integrity to step aside and let real professionals, and the best available minds, get into the system to make it responsive and dynamic.

What did the Americans do after 9/11? They did not let their bureaucrats and diplomats let them beat around the bush into doing nothing. They went into Afghanistan. What are they doing now? Having given Pakistan enough time and opportunity and money to tackle the Talibanis and Al Qaida elements operating in that country, the US has decided unilaterally to send its special forces into that country to do the job. Yes, we all know that Pakistan is a sovereign country. Yes, we all know that the US is violating its sovereignty. What else should it have done? Should it have kept helplessly swallowing Pakistani duplicity like India has done?

A few days back, a guest on CNN suggested that the US should use diplomatic efforts rather than sending its troops into Pakistan. The news reader promptly shot back saying that diplomacy will take a long time to yield results and that with US troops dying in attacks planned in Pakistani territory, that kind of time was not available to the US.

Even American news readers understand this elementary fact.

But for over two decades, India’s politicians, “policy makers”(generalist bureaucrats) and career diplomats have not grasped it even though more troops have been lost to terrorism than have been killed in all the wars that Independent India has fought. When your top leadership does not understand or chooses to ignore simple facts that stare you in the face, because its civil servants can see things in only terms of cadre supremacy, no response is possible. That is exactly what has happened. And no one wants to learn anything from the US where career bureaucrats and the police are nowhere in the top decision making hierarchy. In fact bureaucracy is almost abhorred by the leadership there.

So, be prepared for the usual and superficial media blitz for the next two days. Hear a lot of statements from India’s leaders blaming Pakistan and the ISI. And know that there is nothing more that they can do. Job done, they will just shake the dust off their hands, go home, and then get back to the petty politics of creating new divisions in India’s social fabric, only so that they can get a few additional votes in the next elections.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------