I had wanted to pen my thoughts about the terror strike in Mumbai, the day it occurred. Yet I resisted the urge since I knew my emotions would cloud my judgment (though it’s not necessarily wrong) and my post would just be filled with raging anger, bubbling patriotism and all that.
I wanted to let the dust settle down, literally and figuratively, to help look at the whole incident, or accident if you wish to call it, more objectively. I know everyone and his uncle, newspapers and magazines have all condemned the dastardly act, praised our country’s resilience and have even christened the killing of the terrorists as our great victory over terror.
Did we win?
Run the whole thing down quickly, will you. Terrorists land on the shores of Mumbai, past the patrolling navy and beyond the city police cordon; shoot down people in prime spots – railway stations, pubs, residential complexes and city roads; storm the most iconic hotels of the city; kill more than 200 innocent people, Americans and Jews included; hold out the army, commandos and the police for more than 60 hours; get international media exposure; cause an estimated Rs.50,000 crores of damage both to property and public image; help put the country back on the defensive; force Government to act tough on Pakistan giving them a valid excuse to pull 100,000 lakh of their troops from the Afghan border and move them towards India thus effectively letting Afghanistan-based Muslim militants to move into Pakistan at will. And do all this by losing just 10 of their men (or rather animals).
The terrorists won. We lost. Period.
The terrorists wanted to achieve all of this and they succeeded. They might have planned for more and we might have stopped them. But whatever they wanted, they got. In short, they won; we lost.
Before you get angry and scream at me for blasphemy and downright lack of patriotism, hear me out first. I am seething with anger too. Unlike most of you, I am angry not just because we lost our people, property and our pride. I am also angry because we lost. And I am angry because we needn’t have had to.
This country’s military intelligence had let us down. Or if they had to be believed, the Navy and defense had let us down. Or if they had to be believed, the Central Government had let us down. And if they had to be believed the State machinery had let us down. And all of them together had let hundreds of innocent people down.
But for all of them, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan would have gone home to be with his parents. A certain Mr. Bannerjee would have gone back to Kolkatta to get married by the end of this month. Mr. Kapoor would have gone back to his office to continue being the Chairman of Yes Bank. And hundreds of others would have gone back home to their loved ones.
Alas, those were not to be.
All of us, you, me, the politicians, the media….the entire system let this great country of ours down. Down the bloody drain.
The politicians made the intelligence apparatus serve their ends and means; the Government, including the Prime Minister’s office, sat on intelligence reports about a possible strike. The media, by covering the entire gruesome attack live, were giving out valuable military information and strike possibilities to the terrorists inside the hotels helping them dodge the commandos. The whole system had gotten immune to all these killings and has learnt to restrict them to mere statistics. And you and me are guilty too for not questioning all this and letting this country rot all these years.
We lost the Mumbai battle. But we haven’t lost the war yet. There is yet hope. Don’t expect the politicians to change; don’t hope for the Government to wake up. But we can. You and me!
The seething rage among us had scared the politicians and the Government apparatus. They have gone into a hiding. Did you notice there was hardly a politician who appeared on TV or were available for an interview. They are shit scared to face the public.
If only we could sustain this pressure. If only we stand united and show our clenched fists and controlled anger at them, the Government and the politicians would act. They would know they don’t stand a chance against us. Remember, we have a powerful weapon among our midst. A nuclear Armageddon. It’s called our ‘vote’. It’s called our ‘voice’. If only we could unleash its power, it will reverberate far more than was heard in the corridors of the Taj.
And once we clean up the mess in our country, we can go hunting. Across the border, if it has to be, and search for all those militants and catch them by the scruff of their necks and first thank them for helping us unite together and then ‘kill those bastards’ one by one!
We owe it to Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and a hundred others.
