Mumbai under siege

When I arrived office on Thursday, Mumbai was the focus of all talks.

Why Mumbai? Has something gone wrong there?

Don’t you know there have been blasts there?

Blasts! When? I did surf the news channels in the evening yesterday before sticking to a Hollywood movie.

It was after 9 in the night.

After 9! That means it is not safe to venture out at night too (The recent blasts had a few things in common – they were on weekends and in the evening, closer to 6).

Are we safe anywhere and anytime?

…………………………………..

Deep was the first friend I called in Mumbai.

Arre…blasts are common in India these days. Didn’t you recently have one in your city (he meant Delhi)?

Yeah but they have continued till today. Isn’t that a cause for concern?

Not a bit. Waise bhi I am not going to office today. Isi bahane mid-week mey relax karne ka mauka mil jayega (will get a chance to relax).

But as the day proceeded, his concern was palpable when I called him in the evening that day.

Yaar, I am afraid now. How can this be so prolonged? Also schools, colleges, offices, local trains, and shops too are closing. My parents want me to immediately leave the city.

I had no assurances.

———————-

Later in the night, Star Movies was airing ‘Babel’.

Starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, the movie busted the long held belief of Americans that they are a superior race and that they are born to fight all evils afflicting the world.

Brad Pitt finds himself in Morocco with his wife (played by Cate Blanchett) badly wounded by a gun shot by two curious boys (which everyone believes is the work of terrorists).

While the natives attend to the wounded women, there is no help received from the American embassy, not even an ambulance. Even fellow tourists, with who the couple were travelling, refuse to stay any longer, complaining of non functional AC.

At the same time, there is the illegal Mexican help, who saves the life of two American kids, at the cost of her own life.

Why I mention this film now has a reason.

Raj Thackeray and team has forever looked down upon people from the north, especially UP and Bihar. At a time, when Mumbai was undergoing the worst ever crisis, and Raj and goons decided to be mute spectators, it was people from all over India (Maharashtra included) who decided to give their support. The NSG had not the sons of the Maharashtra soil as the only fighter. They were sons of the entire Indian soil. All of us, from different parts of the country, had their eyes glued to our TV sets, waiting with bated breaths, when the bloody battle would come to an end.

—————————–

The battle of Mumbai is won. But the cost that India has to pay is massive

• 195 dead and over 300 injured.
• Initial cost of attack Rs. 50 Crores (approx)
• Loss of foreign exchange $20 billion
• 10 foreigners among those killed
• 15 police personnel lost their life
• Among them were Hemant Karkare (ATS Chief), Ashok Kamte (Additional Commissioner of Police), Vijay Salaskar (Senior Inspector), Major Sandeep Unnithan (National Security Guards), and two commandos.

And how the policy makers want to compensate for all these losses?

• By making a scapegoat of Shivraj Patil, the Home Minister of India
• By pressurizing the Maharashtra CM and Deputy CM to part with their chairs
• By suggesting a new anti-terror law that is yet to be agreed upon by allies, leave apart the opposition.
• By suggesting more policies that show no immediate effect.

And then follows the reactions of people who have no faith in politicking:

Hemant Karkare’s wife declines any compensation from Narendra Modi. During his living years, he was heading the Malegaon blasts case, the bone of contention for the BJP.

Major Sandeep Unnithan’s father declined to meet Kerala CM.

And then the common man

“After each blast, you tell me this was the last. This was the last time my life was terrorised; life will be safe hereafter, the government assures. Since I have no choice, I go about my life as ever. The media praises me, says that life is once again back on track. And just then there’s another blast – not the last one though”.

Take a leave and get beaten

imagine that you join office after a day’s leave and your boss and some of his favourites start beating you up for taking a day’s off.

“what crap! I am not a bonded labour to get such kind of treatment”, you say.

but one people’s representative was subjected to this kind of treatment when he didn’t attend the confidence vote at the lok sabha on 22nd July, 2008.

The MP, Chandrabhan Singh, alleged that he didn’t take leave because he didn’t want to vote with his party, BJP. He said he was ill and so didn’t attend the Lok Sabha session. His party, the BJP, insisted that he willingly didn’t attend the session to benefit rival congress.

syndicated from the DNA:

Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Chandrabhan Singh on Thursday alleged that party leaders LK Advani and Rajnath Singh were conspiring to murder him and had planned the attack by the party’s youth wing members on his New Delhi residence.

“The attack was planned by the party chief Rajnath Singh and Leader of Opposition LK Advani. They wanted to murder me,” Singh said.

Police said the MP was in his North Avenue home – a stone’s throw from Parliament House, the President’s Estate and key central ministries – when it was attacked by about 60 members of the BJP youth wing.

The placard-carrying activists hurled stones and bricks at the house, smashing many windows. They also damaged a two wheeler, broke a wooden door and destroyed all the flower vases in the house.

The lone constable at the spot tried to stop the protesters, but soon called for help. The police then whisked away about 20 activists.

“They threw bricks at the house and broke window panes. One person has been arrested and security personnel have been deployed,” a police official said.

The MP from Damoh in Madhya Pradesh was expelled by the BJP on Wednesday for abstaining during the trust vote in parliament on Tuesday.

“I did not abstain to help the government during the trust vote. I was not well at that time and vomited blood. I was rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital and since there was no space in the ICU, I was referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Had I been well I would have voted in favour of my party,” Singh said.

“Had Advani and Rajnath vomited blood, would they have gone to vote? The members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha were chanting ‘Advani zindabad’ and ‘Rajnath Singh zindabad’. It is clear that these two leaders sent people to vandalise my home and murder me,” he alleged.

BJP leader V.K. Malhotra refuted Singh’s allegations, calling them false and baseless.

“We took four of our MPs, who were critically ill, in special ambulance to the parliament. They came and voted from the lobby. But Chandrabhan disappeared at the last moment,” Malhotra said.

“All his allegations are false. No one was sent to his house by Advani or Rajnath Singh. No one was even chanting slogans. His fear of losing his constituency and membership of parliament is forcing him to level such baseless allegations. We are demanding the cancellation of his membership in parliament. He has betrayed the party,” Malhotra added.

On Wednesday, BJP activists held a noisy protest outside party MP Haribhau Rathod’s residence in Mumbai and attacked his house at Yavatmal in eastern Maharashtra for staying away from parliament during the trust vote.

Rathod was among nearly 10 BJP MPs who were either absent during the voting Tuesday or voted for the government in defiance of the party whip. One was present in the house but did not vote.

Sensational reporting by hindi news channels is unpalatable

Are you satisfied with the programmes being dished out on TV these days. i am not.

news channels in particular are very disappointing, mostly the hindi news channels. instead of providing information, the news channels sell sensation. the loudest the sensation, the largest the TRP – therefore, biggest the share in advertisement pie.

Where is the civic sense in Indians?

if mumbai is infamous for its gang-wars, delhi rues about the rallies that are organised here almost everyday.

just a day after mayawati brandished her support with the crowd collected from all parts of northern india in delhi, BJP and akali dal decided to hold a rally of its supporters from punjab. so there was an entire punjab on buses, trucks, and all forms of vehicles on the roads of delhi. they had come here to pressurise government to waive off the loans to farmers. whether the government was moved by such pressure tactics is still unsure; however, this really brought traffic on the outer ring road to a standstill.