For The First Time

The incidents and its consequences of the Mumbai carnage on 26/11 is a distinctly different posture than all the other shambles that had happened in India in the past. There are some similarities one can equate the latest bellicosity with the terror attack of Indian Parliament in 2001. In both the cases, the assailants came out to challenge the security system of India head on. They took out weapons and kept on firing incessantly. The only difference between the two cases were that in Mumbai, the number of people went down dead were lot more than in the Parliament case. The consequences of the incidents had far reaching effects in both the cases, though what would turn out finally in case of Mumbai is difficult to say at the present juncture.

This is the for the first time when the assaulters took a modus operandi to intrude the land of India in a different way. They crossed the Arabian sea, shuffling the boats, putting the Indian navigators on the wrong foot, and entered the city fully equipped. This time, they decided to play with the lives of affluents and chose to hunt the people at the heritage hotels and kindle it. Here in two places and in Nariman House they gushed forth the venom at the foreign nationals. The pitched battle between the fugitives and the commandoes took a significant period of over sixty hours, that was viewed by millions of people across the globe. The commandoes sloping down the helicopters, the firemen ascending to a great height to flush the blaze, the inimitable officers of elite security laying down their lives, stretching out flat by the eminent mediamen on the surface in front of the field of battle, were the pieces of bravery we are not in the habit of watching.

Notwithstanding the unmatchable incidents of bravery by our own people, the events that turned out after the armed conflicts caused intense excitement amongst all sections of people, including Pakistan, the one who were supporting and abetting the terror from across the border for a considerable period of time. These events were totally unusual in Indian context. One of the armed terrorists was caught alive. Ignoring the directions of his mentors, the surviving terrorist has confessed his real identity and named all his accomplices. The crocodile tears of the Govt. of Pakistan got exposed the moment the terrorist started coughing up all he knew. Whatever little honour left of Pakistan, was in tatters. Most governments across the globe were belittling the acts of the government of Pakistan, and repeatedly asking them to mend their ways. What a shame for a government elected by its people, what a shame for the President of Pakistan whose wife was ambushed by the same flock who targetted the financial capital of India.

Till now, the last but not the least events that have mesmerised the nation was when the people all over the country, immediately after the incidents, felt sickened and disgusted with the white-clad politicians for their inaction, who are using the vote-bank policy in handling the terror. The compensations given to the widow of police chief were turned down, the father of a deceased commando chased away the Chief Minister of his state who went to sympathasise with him, the people spoke in defiance against the politicians in front of the cameras, were some of the acts which were hardly seen even after such events that happened before. Never before the present head of the ruling party and the PM have been seen exchanging words with the leader of the opposition party which truly has happened a few days ago in the Lok Sabha. Above all, the BJP, the main opposition party in Parliament voted in favour of NIA and UAPA Bill brought by UPA Cabinet for tackling the terror. UPA and NDA have never before worked shoulder to shoulder, though they are identical in their thoughts in governing the country.

It seems that the blood spilt this time by the hundreds of people, would not go waste. We might be heading towards the right direction.