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‘Wednesdays will be our days of national shame’

Prem Panicker | December 03, 2008 12:57 IST
Last Updated: December 03, 2008 13:38 IST

The outpouring of anger in the wake of 26/11 appears to be finding focus, and direction. And purpose: namely, a nationwide movement of civil disobedience, that borrows from the techniques of India’s freedom struggle.

As Mumbai prepares a massive protest at the Gateway of India this evening, a similar one is being organised in New Delhi [Images], at India Gate, 6 pm on Wednesday.

We have had enough, it is time to do something, say organisers of the Delhi protest. Their draft manifesto, a copy of which is with Rediff.com, elaborates on what they mean when they say they are fed up:

“We the people of India have had enough.

“Enough of terrorist attacks that threaten our lives and that of our loved ones and rip apart the fabric of our cities and our society;

“Enough of politicians of all parties who fiddle while terrorists burn, then seek to appease our anger with platitudes and pointless ‘resignations’;

“Enough of excuses from prime ministers and accusations from wannabe prime ministers;

“Enough of the empty rhetoric of governments that promise action but give us only inquiry commissions;

“Enough of the callous unconcern of the political class that has resulted in this country we love being subjected to constant attacks from external forces.

“We have left this country in your hands for all these years, hoping that you will do what we elected you to do. You have failed us — miserably, and on every front.

We have had enough. And we are, from this moment on, taking the country back into our own hands.”

How? Supreme Court advocate Rahul Mehra, one of the organisers, told Rediff.com: “We intend today’s rally to be the start of a national movement. We will link up with the organisers in Mumbai; together, we will tap into like-minded people in all metropolitan cities and across the country. We will rally every single Wednesday, and the rallies will spread around the country, until our demands are met.”

The New Delhi group has prepared a draft document that lists some nine immediate action points that they demand action on. These include concrete ideas to strengthen the security apparatus, to better protect borders and coastlines, to delink the police and security personnel from the political apparatus and have them be made answerable to the law alone, and such.

The key demand, however, relates to the political sphere where, say Rahul Mehra and other organisers, nothing has happened other than finger pointing, knee jerk statements and tokenism.

“We demand that all political parties in India at the state and central level abandon their narrow concerns and come together immediately to formulate, and announce, a consensual national policy on the subject of internal security; we demand further that all parties pledge to uphold this national policy irrespective of who is in power,” says the manifesto.

If not, what? “We the people of this country have two very powerful weapons: money, and votes. We will, at the rally this evening, outline ways in which we will be able to use those two weapons to increase pressure on the political apparatus,” Mehra says.

The first, money, is translating into a move to ask people to refuse to pay taxes; to, instead, pay it into an escrow account where it will be held, pending action.

The other, votes, relates to a little known provision in the Conduct of Election Rules (1961) that permits voters to go to the polling booth, register his presence, and then refuse to vote, as an indication of his dissatisfaction with all contestants and their parties..

“Essentially, if the number of voters who go to the booth, register their presence and refuse to vote outnumber the number of votes for the winning candidate, the election is declared null and void, and has to be redone. Moreover, the abstentions are seen as an indication of the electorate’s lack of confidence in that particular candidate, and hence those candidates cannot contest in the re-poll,” says one of the organisers.

There is some doubt on whether this is in fact valid in law, or just one of the recommendations made in 2004 by then Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy. But that, say organisers, is not the point:

“The vote is a powerful weapon, and we will explore various means to use it to send a message to the political class that depends on us to vote once in every five years and ignores us for the rest of the time and lets us die,” says Rahul Mehra.

The organisers, both in New Delhi and in Mumbai, say they intend for this to be a movement for change that will not ease off ? “Ease off? It will snowball,” says a Mumbai-based organiser ? until real, quantifiable change has been effected.

“In the past, we have expressed our anger, and then moved on,” says former Rediff.com staffer turned filmmaker Suparn Varma, one of the organisers of the rally in Mumbai. “Not this time.

“This time, we will use every tool at our disposal ? social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut and many more, the media, every tool that can be harnessed, to make sure the momentum grows, not ebbs. We will be there at the Gateway every Wednesday till we see action, and in the weeks to come, it won’t be just New Delhi and Mumbai — we will roll this out to every city across the country.

“We will mark Wednesdays as our days of national shame, grief and rage, from now until we are satisfied that our lives will be secured, that our grief and rage has been heard and acted upon. We will keep up this pressure, we will build on it, until concrete action is taken,” says Varma.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/03mumterror-wednesdays-will-be-days-of-national-shame.htm

M J Akbar is one of India’s best-known journalists and commentators, someone with a deep insight into the Indian people and their mindset. In this first-person, as-told-to piece, Akbar discusses the Mumbai attacks and their relevance for India.

Many people forget that India is a tough nation. Toothless leaders have turned India into a soft nation. People forget that India has fought back Muslim terrorism in Kashmir; Sikh terrorism in Punjab, Christian terrorism in Nagaland and Hindu terrorism in Assam, and amongst the Naxalites [Images].

We have had everything thrown at the Indian nation State. Still, we have stood up. The people of India have shown the courage and ability to believe in their nation and to fight back. But the completely impotent leadership of five years have turned a tough country into a soft State.

I am very sad. I keep feeling that if they protect India as they protect their leaders — whether it is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] or Congress President Sonia Gandhi [Images] — I think I would be safe. Today, India’s leaders are safe and India is in panic.

On what India’s response should be:

India’s proper reaction would be possible if we understand the extent of the disease.

If the disease is cancer, you can’t apply band aid. After making a complete mess of security issues for five years by asking Shivraj Patil [Images] to go finally we may have a home minister who doesn’t comb his hair and change his clothes. But we want something more than that. If it is cancer, we need chemotherapy, a much more serious exercise. It needs a legislative and executive framework. It needs political mobilisation. People are numbed.

The Indian people have no leadership. You have a prime minister. Did you see him when he addressed the nation? Nobody knew if he was addressing the nation or having a cup of tea?

He looked serious, but he didn’t talk to us about our anger and about our anguish. I think this administration is tone deaf to the anguish of the people. They just cannot understand what the people are going through. They just don’t understand our pain or our anger. The most important thing is that, perhaps, we have politicised not only the instruments of the State like the police but we have also politicised the understanding of the nature of the problem.

I think the very first thing to do is to ensure security so that it prevents the next attack. If any attack takes place under someones job should go. Don’t come to me with alibis.

On the terrorists getting local support:

I am an Indian Muslim and I am very proud of both, being an Indian and a Muslim. I do not see any contradictions. This is my land and I have nowhere else to go.

But can I say because I am an Indian Muslim that no Indian Muslim is involved? Can you, because you are a Hindu, say that no Hindu is involved? We have to behave like Indians first. Not as a Muslim or as a Hindu first. Because we need Hindu votes and Muslim votes and because this government thinks that it needs Muslim votes so it has been in complete denial.

Do you think that these people came across from Pakistan and had no support in Mumbai?

It is not possible. It was a huge operation. Ten people hit nine places and you killed nine of them. You want to say that they went from place to place? Who knows some of them must have slipped away to create new sleeper cells to hit us six months later.

They are hiding things. I would like to believe that there was an underworld connection. Because, Karachi and Mumbai are also linked by drug smuggling. The culture of criminals is aggression. It comes naturally to them. It is not easy for you and I to become aggressive, however angry we are. It does not come naturally to us. These are people who are trained psychologically in aggression. They have no respect for the State. They have no love for the country. And they have no respect for authority.

Why? Because the only face of authority is the corrupt policeman. The criminal gives money in the morning and money in the evening. Why should he have respect for somebody he gives bribes to? For the guy from the underworld his understanding of the Indian State and authority is corruption. He has no patriotism to stop him. Why would he not join hands with the terrorists? In any case, he belongs to another world. We have not even begun to address and discuss this.

On the Pakistan factor

I am tired of giving Pakistan a long rope on some excuse or the other. Everybody is saying this will happen if we do this, that will happen if we do this. Our relations with Pakistan will go, then, let them go. What has our relations with Pakistan brought us except violence and terror? Why should we be in charge of saving Pakistan? For what? Every time they turn around and they say they want evidence. Now, finally we have evidence.

I have been an editor for 35 years from the age of 23. From that time on, since the days of General Zia-ul Haq, I have been hearing ‘Pakistan is asking for evidence’. We asked for withdrawal of their support to the movement for Khalistan, they said, ‘Oh, we don’t know anything about it.’ On Kashmir, they kept repeating where is the evidence. Benazir Bhutto [Images] came, she asked for evidence. Nawaz Sharif came, he asked for evidence. I think Pervez Musharraf [Images] asked for less evidence. Now again, they are asking for evidence.

There is a terrorist in Mumbai, captured and arrested. How much more evidence do you want? If what he is saying is not evidence, then how can you get more evidence?

This government is in its 11th hour. Now they will bluff the people to protect their votes. There is no time left for them. The agony of departure will be hard from this government.

On the reaction in the West

The US and Britain have a vested interest in telling India to look within. Why? When Americans die then they can send their air force 7,000 miles and bomb every country to smithereens. But when Indians die, they tell us no, no, you must be patient. You must act like a swami and a yogi. Why? Is an American life more precious than an Indian life? Why should we keep listening to them? But we have a government that keeps listening to them all the time. We don’t get tough.

The last time we got tough was after the attack on Parliament. We took some tough actions under Operation Parakram and then there was a certain lull. Three years ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was able to tell President George W Bush [Images] that there are no terrorists amongst Indian Muslims. That means that lull continued.

Pakistan must be made to realise that it will have to pay a heavy price. Not necessarily through war, but a heavy price will have to be paid in loss in trade, in cancellation of orders and other engagements. They should pay a heavy price in terms of people to people relations. I am not saying you can freeze a relationship to death, but the message must go out that if there is a crime there will be a penalty. You just can’t get away with it.

Let the Pakistan government cooperate with us. But look at how the Pakistan government has buckled down and we are sitting here whimpering.

They want to send some lowly officers to India. For what? Even Pakistan is treating the Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi government with total contempt. They know how weak it is.

Delink Hindu-Muslim relations and Pakistan

Look, you must not confuse the Pakistan issue with the Indian Muslims issue. Their so-called alienation or their economic deprivation is not linked to the issue of Pakistan.

Indian Muslims have nothing to do with Pakistan. They have absolutely no sympathy for Pakistan. They know that Pakistan was the biggest mistake committed in the history of Indian Muslims. They know it. You can ask anyone in Baroda, Bihar or Mumbai. They know how they are suffering the backlash of all the consequences of cross-border terrorism.

Today, they fear retribution from the government, they fear retribution from popular disenchantment and anger. They feel helpless. They feel afraid.

We must understand finally that it is not so much the ‘local people’, it is the local underworld that is involved in anti-India activities. In 1993, who were involved in terrorism? The underworld. Why have you not done anything about it? The State turns a blind eye to the police and corruption. I don’t know how many readers smoke hashish and other stuff, but I am accusing them of cross-border terrorism. Drugs come to India from Afghanistan via Karachi.

What we can do as individuals

If whoever is responsible for protecting the nation fails, then he or she should not be allowed to continue in power. That is the toughest and sharpest message we can give. You can tell that you may be a soft State, but we are a hard people and we are hard voters.

We are not going to forgive you for your lies and deception and for your waffling. How many blasts do we need to understand that? When Jaipur [Images], Ahmedabad [Images], Mumbai and Delhi [Images] happened no one who was genuinely guilty was caught.

We have to understand now that corruption has eaten away vitals of this nation. It is the biggest danger to the security of India. It is not just the case of some spectrum being sold to someone by some minister in. Everyone who is corrupt get out!

It Is a failure all around. We have to be extremely practical and pragmatic. There is great deal to be depressed about as an Indian. Frankly speaking, I feel very angry and upset. I am never upset by the behaviour of our enemies. I am only upset by the betrayal of those I trust.

M J Akbar, editor-in-chief, Covert magazine, spoke to Sheela Bhatt

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/02mumterror-pakistan-will-have-to-pay-a-heavy-price.htm

Interesting article by Sai Shivaswamy

Read On…

Choose the odd man out: March 12, 1993. September 11, 2001. November 26, 2008.

September 11, 2001, since it is the one without a sequel.

That is the only apolitical sms I have received since November 26, all the others have been simply scathing about our political establishment.

Why just sms, online message boards, television talking heads, the man on the street ? all are unanimous that Mumbai, and India, is sorely let down by its political class.

There was outrage when the train blasts happened in Mumbai on July 26, 2006. Now there is just rage.

Not the kind of rage that will beat up the next person; not the kind of rage that will pick on innocents. Not the kind of rage that wants war.

It’s the kind of rage that that will find expression through the ballot, as and when. The politicians are on notice, and they don’t seem to either know it, or care.

As a helpless Mumbai-ite and Indian I too feel enraged at the callousness of our political class. Seemingly decent and competent men and women holding high office turn to jelly when confronted with the biggest problem facing India, terrorism, and they evince neither the will nor desire to tackle the problem head-on.

But, I had told myself, I will not articulate my rage, for nothing much has changed since I cried out Enough is Enough! two years ago. My blog has strangely been silent through the traumatic week, as has my Facebook account. What do you say that hasn’t been said before, what do you say when everyone feels the same way?

Having lived through both of Mumbai’s worst encounters with terrorism, in 1993 and 2008, I can say categorically that nothing has changed. The ones capable of making a difference, have indeed made a difference — to their careers and, presumably, bank balances. Sharad Pawar [Images] was chief minister in 1993; he is now a central minister. But his city remains the same sitting duck it was. Today his party holds the home portfolio in Maharashtra — can there be a more cruel joke on us!

Then too the deadly explosives were smuggled in through the sea, through the Raigad coast. This time, too, the perpetrators have taken the sea-route, in both instances corruption down the line clearing the trawler’s path. After 1993 there was talk of strengthening our coastal security. What has been strengthened is the politician’s bank balance.

But, I had told myself, I won’t point fingers. The ruling class doesn’t give a damn anyway, so busy is it feathering its nest for an uncertain future.

And the ones who do the actual work, the bureaucracy, is no different. Crises such as the one Mumbai has emerged from are the result of omissions and commissions by them. Yet, they have recently given themselves a huge pay hike, relegating to the doghouse the ones who got us out of the terrorist attack by wagering their lives, the men in uniform. Even by the standards of an unfair world, this is criminal.

What worries me is whether the political class, even now, grasps the damage its inaction has wrought, not merely on the nation’s morale, not merely on the men in uniform who form India’s backbone, not merely on its polity, but among its people. For too long have we patted ourselves on the back for not succumbing to the terrorist’s provocation to civil war. Yes, riots have not broken out on the streets, and will hopefully never happen, but civil war can also happen in hearts and minds.

And the more I hear voices, not the dolled up oh-so-liberal sound bytes masked for TV studios and newsprint but candid voices around me, I worry that complete partition of minds is not too far away. Once the mind has seceded, geography becomes irrelevant even if maps don’t depict the reality.

But, I had told myself, I won’t be a pessimist, I won’t be a Sad Sack, I won’t paint a Doomsday scenario. God knows there are many already doing that.

Instead, I had resolved, I will be forward-looking, positive, and suggest a way out, as befits one with limited intellect but infinite passion for India.

The need of the hour is not to point fingers — everyone knows who is responsible for Mumbai’s trauma.

The need of the hour is not to bemoan what was not done ? the stark denouement is before us on Marine Drive [Images] and Apollo Bunder [Images].

Rather, the need of the hour is someone who can heal, who can soothe, who can restore the citizen’s confidence in the system, who will bridge the chasm that is slowly growing between Indian and Indian.

A politician, we know from our long and painful experience with that abominable set, does not do any of the above. The good ones among them are the ones who don’t do the opposite.

The tragedy of India is that neither the ones in power, nor the ones who believe they will be elected tomorrow, do any of the above. The prime minister does and says nothing. The man who hopes to replace him does and says the wrong things.

Perhaps it is just as well. Given the groundswell among the public against politicians in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, neither of them can be the messiah the nation so desperately needs.

Is there such a one among us?

Someone who is politic yet not a politician.

Someone who can inspire us, give our faith back, restore to us our tryst with destiny that lies tattered.

Someone who can unleash the immense potential of our largest wealth, our youth, who are lurking in that shadowland between yesterday and tomorrow.

Someone who can assuage the Muslim angst that they have been underserved by the system in democratic India; someone who can assure the Hindu that his hoary, glorious heritage is not under threat in secular India.

Is there such a one among us? If yes, will the messiah ? such a one can be nothing else ? please stand up and be counted?

There is one, yes, but he is not going to step forward. For he is not seeking any office. In fact, in the last office he occupied, he moved in with just a suitcase; and moved out five years later with little else. Such is the man’s simplicity and earthiness.

At times he reminds me of the humble Hanuman [Images] who doesn’t realise his prowess before leaping to Lanka. Other times he reminds me of Arjuna in the battlefield unaware of his dharma.

His popularity is the envy of any politician. In fact, I daresay he was denied a second stint at his last office because the politicians felt he was outshining them.

Not since Rajiv Gandhi [Images] in 1984 has anyone mesmerised the youth of India as he has.

Not since Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 has anyone articulated a vision for developed India as he has. Yet, his vision of India as a superpower in 2020 may not be realised because of the politicians’ folly.

Today, such a man is out of the system, nurturing his pet project, Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas, PURA, away from the spotlight, sharing his experience and knowledge with the youth in various academic environs, continuing to inspire them about an India that we may never see.

Yes, Bharat Ratna Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam [Images] is the man I am talking about. If anyone can restore India to Indians, heal the rift among Indians, and lead us forward in our oft-interrupted march, it is him. Will he please step forward?

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/01mumterror-will-the-messiah-of-the-hour-please-stand-up.htm

This is a small tribute from us to the victims of 26/11 and their families. Just a small place on the Internet to remember all those who laid their lives on that fateful day. We shall rise again!

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Jai Hind

I will be writing about this pretty soon once I come to terms with what really happened in Mumbai on the 26th. My friend Atul has been blogging about the incident the past few days. Check it out here

You might already know this by now but if you don’t then this is HUGE! Chandrayaan-I successfully landed on the lunar surface yesterday and planted our Indian national flag on moon! This makes India the first country in the world to successfully carry out a lunar space expedition on the first attempt. This is one of the proudest moments in my life as an Indian citizen. Bravo ISRO and bravo India.

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View the Chandrayaan page on this site here

I support Lok Satta, hope you do too.