Responses to “India’s Security Failure – Who is Responsible

35 Responses

1. Rahul responded:

As I read this blog, I couldn't help remembering the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice, shame on me." Is our leadership doing a "chalta hai" on security issues?? How many terrorist attacks does it take to drive the point home? It took one 9/11 for the US to shape up and we haven't seen another successful attack on their land in the last 7 years. Can't we learn a thing or two from the likes of the USA or Mossad? I take pride in my country's tolerence - but wait a minute, are we becoming "tolerant" to terrorist attacks!? Wake up folks! The determination of extremists has to be combatted with (equal, if not greater) determination on our side, NOT some so-called "tolerance", complacence and laxity. The terrorists are doing their job… I think it's time our leaders do theirs. Jai Hind.

2. jayantsinha responded:

Do we even have the leadership that is capable of handling such types of attacks? In other countries, you have many senior leaders that have dealt with war and violence e.g., Powell or Putin. These are people that have been tested under fire and understand how to deal with enemies. Who do we have in our government today that is tough and principled?

3. Mukul Kanitkar responded:

I am also angry. But not at the failure. I do not feel any amount of security would have been able to tackle this kind of situation. I am angry at the attackers. The philosophy that justifies such acts of cowardice and voilence. I am angry at the totally irresponsible media. I feel it is not the time to find faults and blame game. WHAT we desperately NEED today is a solid STAND.

I do not expect it from Old generation politicians but from the Leaders of the Youth. I salute the bravery of our common man. They came to the streets to cheer the NSG even before the operation at the Nariman house was over. Clearly the plans of terrorists have failed. They have not been able to deter us. India will not go in the shell of fear. We are far more tougher.

The STATE machinery may have failed but the NATION is strong enough.

4. Another angry Indian responded:

I am angry at our maritime intelligence who could not see them coming.

I am angry at our political leadership who come out with an even weaker face everytime we face a terror attack. Everytime we hear the same ranting from them.

I am angry at our electronic media which was acting as an informer of the terrorists. They almost gave them the details of the actions taken by NSG and other security forces, helping them to take a better position and come up with a strategy to deal with them.

But I salute the bravery of our citizens and Police forces who despite being badly equipped handled the situation well. Perhaps instead of just storming into the hotel, they would have spent some more time in strategizing. We lost some of our senior officials in the attack along with so many others. I extend my heartfelt condolences to their families.

5. Mayank responded:

If we talk about the size of the country, India is slightly more than one-third the size of the US. But we must appreciate the fact that America under the leadership of George Bush, who was laughed at by people from all over the world, never let any other terror attack happen after 9/11. And also after Iraq and Afghanistan attack, US became sworn-in enemy of most of the terror outfits but we are a soft target, we must admit.If we talk about the size of our police forces, I think we have enough of them because we hear reports that some of our leaders have 350 security personnels in their cavalcades.

Terrorism is a kind of problem for which we cannot give a five or ten point solution but in my view some of the steps that can be taken are:

1. Have a better equipped and trained intelligence agencies and their reports should be taken seriously by people who are in power.

2. Terrorism should not be politicized in the name of the religion.Politicians should understand that we are human beings not just vote-banks.

3. We should start chosing their leaders by their ideologies on the issues which affect us and not by their last name.

4. Police should be given better training and weapons to handle such situations. Policemen who die in combat with terrorists should be treated and respected as Martyrs.

5. Ensure fast and fair trials of the convicts. Having a special law and courts will help.

6. Ensure that media should act responsibly during the troubled times.

7. Having an identity card for every citizen, even though is very difficult, will help us in many ways. But we must ensure that the entire process should be closely monitored by people in higher echelons.

8. Every citizen should keep an eye on suspicious activities around them and report it to the police.

9. We must also ensure that the gap between the upper and lower class should not widen much further. If the terror organizations will start exploiting poverty as a means to employ people in their outfits, the situation will be much harder to deal with.

I request you all to add more points. Its time that we should raise our voices. Let us, for once, keep this alive in our memories and act.

6. Aditya Khanna responded:

India's Security Failure – Who is Responsible?

Sanjeev, you and me are - along with 1.1 billion others.

I think single-handedly blaming the government for any isolated event (this time it happens to be a security lapse), is the easier thing to do for all of us. By not participating at one's own individual level in different ways, each of us has a partial responsibility for this failure, along with the government.

1. Voting participation - I hadn't voted in any of the earlier elections so don't have the right to blame a government – have tried changing that today by taking a very small step - Just got back from voting at the Delhi assembly elections - the average age of people voting is not less than 50. Where are all the hundreds of millions of young people?

2. Living participation – anyone choosing to settle down outside India in the last few decades - because they don't like the economic opportunities internally, standard of living, civic sense, corruption, redtape, infrastructural facilities etc etc - don't have a right to blame the government. Those who have consciously stayed back need to know that they are part of the problem, those who didn't even stay back, escaped the problem very easily. Those returning now are redeeming themselves to have the right to a voice.

3. Governance participation - I came across Al Gore's detailed Wikipedia profile the other day - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore. That's a young dynamic leader who jumped in very early and created an impact and continues to do so. It's not that Indians don't have smart people with exceptional motivation and drive for achievement. They just don't enter the public service sphere and the lack of touch points doesn't help. The smartest and most motivated people I know don't have any ecosystem around public service.

4. Thought participation – I haven't been this close to terrorism before and thus have always been guilty of forgetting about an event cause its always been something I've read about in the papers or seen as 'breaking news'. Being so close to the incident has a lot to do with it being on my mind right now (a) I reached Mumbai at 10:30 on Wed night, and the taxi that blew up was perhaps 10 minutes ahead of my schedule. (b) a friend of mine from Mumbai was 5 minutes from Leopold and was heading there for dinner. He saw the shootout from a 200 metres distance and his three clients eating dinner there are dead. (c) Just spoke to a friend in NY. Her ex-boss, who was like a father-figure to her, was trapped in the Trident and has been declared dead (d) A friend's friend knew one of the chefs at the Taj, who is now dead.

That's also the sad part – until one is directly impacted, somehow the motivation for most people to do something isn't getting triggered. All of us forget previous terrorist activities, so we can't again blame the government if these issues are not on our own minds all the time. I hope I don't forget it this time.

I really think that this discussion getting triggered just happens to be the context around a security lapse. But each of the issues of governance, security, poverty, health, employment, infrastructure development etc are deep seated generic issues that cant be solved if the collective strength of a nation cant be mobilized. For that to start, participation needs to start first.

Coming to security – I don't have the right knowledge to comment on what's the best thing to be done quickly. Though, I heard recently that the policemen who wear vests only wear it on their chest in front and not behind on their backs, cause each bulletproof plate costs 3 lacs. We can't expect top-of-the-line security measures if one thinks about saving hygiene operating costs. Policemen need to have complete confidence going into a potential war zone. Similarly, if there are a 100 rumours about impending terrorist activity, perhaps 2 turn out to be accurate. However the security infrastructure needs to accommodate bandwidth & resources to logically chase each of the 100 rumours so that they catch those 2 that have a high potential mayhem impact. Security budgets need to be higher, leadership handling security infrastructure needs to have the DNA of having experiences war zones, private individuals need to contribute resources to the government beyond paying taxes etc.

Developing countries are like startups – in building mode. They require entrepreneurial skills – to get things done and to create ecosystems to make things happen. They require persistence, passion, energy, enthusiasm, exceptional drive and motivation. That high level of engagement can only start happening when participation starts – in all its forms.

Hope I didn't offend anyone with my thoughts – it's only my point of view.

Cheers

7. Sunil Mohal responded:

The answer to everyone's outrage can be answered by one question, "How many of you have ever voted?". While I accept that politics is the last refuge of the scoundrel, how many have ensured that those guys are not selecetd to Parliamnet?

We as a nation blame everyone for all our problems, the politicians failed us, the intelligence failed, the infrastructure failed us.

I think we should be saying, "We failed ourselves". We are all responsible for Maj. Unnikrishnan's, ACP Kharkare, and everyones else's death.

If the population is actually interested in saving India, instead of being spectators and armchair critiques, should take affirmative action.

8. KHS responded:

it will be forgotten in just 7 days. we are biggest hypocrites.

9. goli responded:

I would really request you to remove such post from web, and request indianbanao to engage in more positive and solutions suggestion posts then general rant.

20 Police officials lost their lives, is it not the greatest sacrifice that they can give, what more do you expect. There are loopholes is because most elites just sit and give commentary and alway find the negative thing.

I am angry, but not at government because that is what I have elected, Either I suggest positive changes else keep mum.

Every time we forget hundred other terror attacks that could have happened, but did not happen because of our intelligence.

So please time to salute our police.

You are doing more India bigado, instead of banao. Hope to see more constructive posts from your website.

10. Anurag Dixit responded:

Goli,

I am sure India Banao is definitely not trying to undermine the sacrifices of police or defense forces. None of us, I am sure, has even an iota of doubt about their bravery, courage. They have served the country time and again and served it well. But this is the time that we need to ask a question to ourselves. Are we going to just sit and admire their sacrifices, light a few candles, send a few text messages and then get back to work? No! At least I don't think so.

There are people who are responsible for making and implementing policies, providing good governance and ensuring safety of India's citizen and it's borders. It's their responsibility to tell us what they are going to do about such things. They are responsible and they have will have to tell us what, how and when… we will keep asking till then… and if all us do, it will be too loud for them to ignore. Just because I have elected some one, I can't keep tolerating their incompetence. No Sir, I won't. I will not even try to their job. I want them to do it and do it well.

Angry till then,

Anurag

11. Gaurav Sangtani responded:

Recently I watched one movie "A Wednesday". I am writing something from the movie, it applies to us all.

"" ग़लती हमारी है… हम लोग बहुत जल्दी यूज़्ड टू हो जाते हैं…

एक ऐसा हादसा होता है तो चैनल बदल बदल के सारा माजरा देख लिया….

एस एमेस कर दिया फोन किया… शुकर मनाया कि हम लोग बच गये…

फिर हम उस सिचुयेशन से लड़ने के बजये उसके साथ अड्जस्ट करना शुरू कर देते हैं..

पर हमारी भी मजबूरी है ना… हमे घर चलन होता है साहब, इसीलिए हम सरकार चुनते हैं….कि वो मुल्क चलाए…

………एक आदमी गुनहगार है कि नही इसको साबित करने के लिए आपको दस साल लग जाते हैं…

आपको नही लगता कि ये आपकी काबिलियत पे सवाल है..?

आप जैसे लोग इन किडो का सफ़ाया नही करेंगे तो हमे झाड़ू उठानी होगी

लेकिन क्या है कि उस से हमारी इस सिविलाइज़्ड सोसाइटी का बॅलेन्स बीगाड़ जाएगा.. लेकिन क्या करें…"

"मुझे यकीन है कि जो ब्लास्ट हुए वो एक टेररिस्ट आक्टिविटी नही थी… वो एक बहुत बड़ा सवाल था…

और वो सवाल ये था कि.. हम तो तुम्हे इसी तरह मारेंगे… तुम क्या कर लोगे… येस थे आस्क्ड अज़ दिस क्वेस्चन….."

____________________

12. chamaruag9 responded:

WE ALL INDIAN SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF OURSELVES WHO HAD ELECTED AN IMPOTENT GOVERNMENT IN 2004 AND AN NONSENSE ,FOOLS GOVT IN MAHARASHTRA.WE ARE NAIVE,FOOLS,NONSENSE.WE HAVE NO SELF RESPECT,NO NATIONALITY,NO PATRIOTISM LEFT IN US.WE SHOULD BE DOOMED.WE ARE ANGRY BUT UNABLE TO DO ANY THING AS WE ARE HANDICAPPED.WE ALL INDIANS SHOULD INTROSPECT OURSELF AND READY FOR ACTION. WE SHOULD START A WAR ON THE TERRORISTS WHOEVER HE MAY BE ,WHAT EVER RELIGION HE MAY BE,WE NEED NOT ASK FOR THE VOTES OF MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS.WE ARE INDIAN AND WE SHOULD BE.IF INDIAN ARE TO REMAIN ALIVE AND INDIA HAS TO SURVIVE, STRONG ACTION IS NEEDED LIKE PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH HAD ONE AFTER 9/11.

13. jayanta responded:

It is abundantly clear to all indians now that our ability to deal with the 'terror threat' is serously lacking in 1. leadership at the political level 2. competence at the professional level 3. recognition od the priority at the national level.

it is sad that we had to wait till this happened for the sense of outrage and anger grow to a level as is now being felt.

the positive sign is that all agree that the events at mumbai colaba attack must not be forgotten.

but what next?

1. there is no provision in the constitution for presidents rule at the centre. but in the case of an external threat ( as this most certainly is) it is possible to supersede the elected govt. to deal with the situation. in the present circumstance has the pm briefed the president? has she spoken to the pm? what is the role of the president in these circumstances? we should discuss this matter.

2. the lack of professionalism in the handling of the situation was for all to see and thesubject of open discussion. the saddest indication was the shooting of the ATS head? what kind of war against terror are we fighting where the general gets killed in the first skirmish? it is obvious that there is a seriouslacuna at the professional level. our response should not be 'more of the same' as is so frequently thecae. this requires a complete rethink.

3. at the national level we seem to see 'terror' as one of the national priorities. it is seen most often in the same light as communal and caste issues which are also serious concerns no doubt. but unless we handle this obvious external threat first and foremost our effort to handle the other issues will surely fail. the media must play its role in building up public opinion and to create a focussed response to deal with this threat and not obfuscate the threat with other issues no matter how important. today it s the single national priority to deal with the threat of 'terror'.

14. Aditya Khanna responded:

Hi Anurag, I understand your point. And I also agree that the buck does stop at someone who holds a position of immediate responsibility. That is a given.

However, I don't agree that the solution is to solely shout the loudest – your voice is being heard, by all of us and also the politicians, though talking about it repeatedly that 'things are not right' is the easiest thing for us to do, which we will continue to do anyway. Having a discussion on a blog is even easier.

A friend of mine drew the analogy yesterday. If there is tons of garbage thrown by employees in a company's lobby, there is an administrator who is obviously responsible and will face consequences for the lobby being untidy. But if the garbage persists and continues to not find a permanent solution, someone from the rest of the organization needs to lend a helping hand by picking up the garbage as well, maybe someone else has to find a sustainable process of a garbage disposal system, someone else has to find a better replacement for a more competent administrator, someone else has to engrain the right culture within the organization's employees that does not allow garbage to be thrown in the lobby in the first place, someone else has to allocate resources for upgrading best practices for garage disposal etc. There is a better chance to find a solution in this collective way for a complex problem, than to constantly rant with the company's administrator that there is a garbage problem persisting.

There is a high premium for individuals who proactively participate, spend their time, resources, energies and get things done. That's the entrepreneurial mindset.

1. Public service is not like a corporate job, of that of a lawyer or doctor or actor or sportsman etc where one's actions have a finite amount of repercussions and influence. We're talking of the most complex problems that are about living and dying (terrorism, poverty, unemployment, disease), for which complete solutions haven't been found yet. Assuming that politicians are some supernatural human beings who can solve every 'life and death' problem is very easy for us to do. We all need to contribute in some capacity to solve these world problems.

2. Governance, per se, is a collective responsibility, with every individual understanding where he or she fits into the whole ecosystem. Naturally, each of the 1.1 billion people will contribute in different capacities. So an uneducated youngster who is worried about basic things like food, employment, shelter etc will perhaps participate in smaller ways by voting and being aware of local policies. Similarly, a few 20-something friends of mine have given up corporate careers and working fulltime in development activities by running NGOs around specific issues. That's exceptional motivation towards development. Another friend of mine is working towards an economic success as an entrepreneur first, and then wants to enter public service fulltime maybe after a decade. A large company will try to adopt a village as part of their CSR initiative. So we will all have different levels of engagement. And if governance succeeds, it is also everyone's success, however if there is a failure, it is also everyone's failure.

3. For development results to happen, it seems a colossal task. We are talking about decades, not years, before sustainable solutions around problems around terrorism, poverty, health are cracked. If another terrorist attack happens (god forbid) soon, we can again say that it is another failure by the government. However, the truth is that it requires a massive infrastructure of people, processes, policies and culture, over several decades, for sustainable solutions to these world problems.

15. Kaushal responded:

Who is responsible for this attacj - I am responsible for this attack. And it's not just me, it is you as well who is responsible for this attack.

All of us are responsible for idly watching by over the years to see India being a continuous victim of terror.

All of us are responsible for electing the incompetent politicians who are more worries about the votes than anything else.

All of us are responsible for being arm chair commentators without doing anything.

All of us are responsible for the state of the affairs in India as it stands.

Ultimately it is no one but us, who is responsible for the sorry state of my country.

And yet we blame everyone else but myself.

- Kaushal (An angry Indian)

16. Anshul responded:

Hi Sanjeev,

I just read your article and agree with you. But I would like to ask you that will blaming the government each and every time help us. Isn't that cribing? The urban educated seems to be confused, the UPA doesn't take a stand and the BJP just keeps blaming the UPA. We want results, and if not results, we want ideas. If a political party blames another, it should also come up with ideas. For e.g. We must be aware that if we vote for BJP, how will it fight terrorism. The other day I met the Radio BJP van, claiming to spread awareness, but instead it was blaming the opposition and counter questioning us.

The UPA never takes any strong actions against any such attack and has never taken any satisfactory action.

I am a Youth blogger and am trying to create awareness through my blog www.youthkiawaaz.com and have addressed such issues quite a few times. Frankly speaking, there is no leader present in our political system, be it any political party. We are ready to take the responsibility for our nation, but how? We can't just keep sitting here and letting our so called leaders (be it of any political party) do whatever they want. How can we be let out of this helpless situation? No political party, I repeat , NO poltical party is worth trusting. Maybe that's too harsh an opinion but that's what me and my readers at www.youthkiawaaz.com think.

I would like you to visit www.youthkiawaaz.com and read my articles MUMBAI UNDER SIEGE: INDIA SINKING.

17. raghughagar responded:

Hi

I couldn't go through all of your comments so excuse me if there are any repetitions

I believe that the blame/responsibility for this Mumbai attack along with other attack goes to people of India

Yes, let us see how

* We didn't support strict Acts against the Terrorist instead choose to bring them down whoever took it…

* We are not bothered about the religious issues of India (we neglect it saying it's communal)

* we didn't stood up against those who are dividing India wrt Religion at least against Kashmir we don't find public reactions anywhere only politicians are talking about it..

* Media in India is very aggressive i've no doubt about it but its uniforms everything like corruption every party is same… vote bank politics every party is same… development every party is same… In reality it's not… Someone is different some way… But they don't care instead choose to say all politicians are culprits and corrupted… This attitude has to be changed and a good government which has done good job has to be given reward for instead of just shouting there faults all the time on the news… if people don't get to know what are its achievements how will they be able to decide correctly …

18. Anurag Dixit responded:

Hi Aditya,

Thanks for commenting on my argument. I agree governance is a complex job and public service (and also politics) is completely different from the corporate world that me and you are familiar with. But then why do we continue to let it go in the hands of the most incompetent people. Why do we have, in last 60 years, elected illiterate, corrupt and even anti national elements to some of the highest democratic institutions of India? Why do we console ourselves on the grounds of collective responsibility, when our elected representatives fail to deliver. I agree with you completely on issues like poverty, literacy and employment. It will take a lot of time and effort for us to solve those problems. We can and should contribute. It will definitely make a difference. Where I do not agree with you is on the national security and law enforcement issues. Tell me one way you can positively contribute to eradicate terrorism from this country?

I know I sound cynical, but can't help it. In fact, I share this cynicism with many. According to Vir Sanghvi in one of is blogs on this issue, only two other countries, apart from India, have such rampant and uncontrolled terrorism issues (and he forgot to mention Iraq), which are Afghanistan, a country at war, and Pakistan a failed state (according to him). I am sorry, I can't discuss Utopian approaches and Idea. We need real action and results before everything spirals out of control.

I couldn't help but stretch your analogy to put forth my final point. My apologies. If we go by the garbage analogy (no pun intended, seriously!), "garbage collector" are the law enforcement and intelligence agencies like Police, IB and even RAW up to some extent. Ministers and other politicians are the "admin guys". Now, our admin guys, with their vested interests, lack of intent have let these institutions degenerate over years. They have no collaboration, no plans or methodology to initiate an effort to find a long term solution for the terrorism menace. So what should we, the Aam Junta, as a member of the board do? We have to force the admin guy, to give us a plan that will provide a solution to the problem. We also want to see results, both in short and long term. If we don't see milestones being achieved, we need to act in the time tested way… find some with a better plan and execution record to replace them. If we don't, then some of us will have to get into action and do the job. period!

I rest my argument here,

Anurag

19. Gaurav responded:

Dear Sanjiv

The point is that whatever is being written abt our politicians/establishment is known. They are incompetent and useless and self centred. The point is - how will we ensure that this time things will be different, this time we will not allow accounability to go abegging, this time how we as civil society channelise our anger and make this time count.

I have been tracking India Banao for some time now. Have also recommended to people I know. I am being blunt. We need to move from reading about your and Jayant's views to agreeing a set of actions with a propoer implementation mechansim for this intiative to go fwd.

20. jayantsinha responded:

Thank you Gaurav, for your honest views. At India Banao, we are committed to working on multiple fronts to make a difference. The first step is to get a dialog going and to get people engaged. I have spoken to many young people, and (prior to this terrible attack) most people have been quite disengaged from the political process. After all, most people think, theyI can get along fine without having to worry about the political system. They can roll up the windows when the beggars come, the security guard in their building can keep poor people away, and they can insulate themselves from the slum around the corner. Unfortunately, it takes a despicable terrorist act for people to understand that their political choices can have dreadful consequences.

But getting people engaged is only the beginning. You correctly point out - what happens next? We are hoping that we can make several things happen. First, we are suggesting that people participate in a candlelight vigils that are being organized in Delhi and Mumbai. Second, we are filing a Right to Information request with the government to force disclosure on what actions have been taken after each of the terrorist attacks of the last few years. Third, we will be writing articles in the mainstream media to force further discussion on these topics. And, finally, we hope to be able to organize events with senior leaders where people can ask the tough questions. People are posing deep, important questions about domestic intelligence, the nature of governance, our crisis infrastructure, and the quality of political leadership. These will take some time to get sorted out - the US also took several years to implement all the post-9/11 changes.

These are some of the steps that we plan to take. We welcome all good ideas. Please send us your thoughts about what we could do.

21. jayanta responded:

The aftermath of Colaba:

The GOI's response has been to set up a Federal Force - another layer of security- more of the same !

It needs to be understood that Malegaon and Colaba is no the same.

Malegaon is a local response ( who ever they may be) to repeated attacks by what is believed to be the handiwork of a particular community against another.

Colaba is part of a global effort to bring the nation to its heels as it is seen as a bastion of human values they wish to destroy.

It makes India particularly vulnerable if we are unable to effectivley provide special protection to these bastions. All the 'Presidency' Cities ( and now Delhi and Bangalore should also count as one) should be brought under Centrally administered regimes in recognition of the fact that they need a special degree of governance.They( the old Presidency towns) all had a special adminstrative set up which has now been diluted and allowed to wither away.

This is true not only in terms of the security requirements but in fact all areas of the adminstration as in fact they are all closely interlinked. The water supply and power supply have serious security implications , for instance.

Once we have effectively dealt withe the threat of 'terror' in these bastions we will be in a far better position to tackle it in the rest of the country. to attempt tackling it everywhere in the same manner and with the same set up will not be feasible.

Already we are hearing that another attack is likely. we need to act now!

22. muni responded:

The sad part of the whole story is that India needs a revolution… and when i say that it means a revolution in the way we Indians think.

as the media says "enough is enough" to me its just words. the days of Gandhi (non-violence) are gone. there comes a time when we must take arms to defend what our country stands for ..such as religious tolerance… democracy and fighting for that is our right.

I don't think Pakistan as a country is behind these attacks but those terrorists came from there… and what they have done is basically put a drop of lemon in a glass of milk…. so to say, and by that they are bringing the tension to new heights between India and Pakistan.

My suggestion would be ..to have a joint effort with Pakistan to eradicate such person from both territory.

23. suresh boman responded:

I feel this is the high time of all Indians to think themselves? Instead of blaming others even Pakistan let us do some introspection? Forget the BJP & Congress? when came to ruling both are not better than other? I am a supporter of your movement but I feel it is going towards BJP side? we have to be independant with an aim to develop India a modern, sophisticated self reliant and wold leader country.

Let us analyse things in the sequence:-

1- There were earlier reports of warnings of terror attacks? did we took necessary precautions? was there no failure in part of Taj & Obroi when they say the terrorists visited , stayed their earlier?

2-When the Late ATS Chief ( Salute to the brave martyr) warned his uperiors about the forcasted attack? is his duty finished there?

3-When we elect the so called leaders why they need so many black commands? after electing how they become vvip in thier own country? at the expence of the common public?

4-All parliament members together increased thier salary recently? the 6th pay commission has done a great injustice to the armed forces? who is responsible?

5-Including BJP everybody use religion and corruption for grabing power from the other? when we will have an election in the name of ideologies and polcies?

6-Why we didn't learn from our past mistakes?

7- FINALLY, when we will change our ATTITUTE OF LET IT GO? this attitude has to be changed, and this has to be started from school itself?

Ultimately what is the compensation for the victims? (The public- who is the real master in democracy, everybody appreciated and paid and saluted the brave Soldiers? but what about the 160 other familities who lost their one or more family members? ).

Once we all do this introspect ourselves and behave like a true commando and follow their descipline in every act of life this country will become self sufficinet and self reliant.

24. Hriday responded:

The UPA Govt.at the centre & the Maharastha Govt. consists of lazy, incompetent clowns.they are soft on Islamic terrorism.the electorate must boot them out of power if India is to survive as a nation.

25. Sagar responded:

Pakistani people are also fighting the tyrannical elements in their country. See the amazing BBC video about 60 Million Pakistanis sign anti-terrorism petition and send a clear message in this 'Ye Hum Nahin' campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlMRYaaSrI0

Majority of Pakistan is actually moderate Islam that celebrates the Sufi traditions. The Smithsonian magazine this month carried a well researched article on influence of Sufism and moderate Islam on Pakistani people: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Faith-and-Ecstasy.html

From my personal knowledge of some Pakistani people, I am sure the main stream people of Pakistan are in solidarity with people of Mumbai and India today. I read some of the thoughtful discussion here and one thing is clear that very often we do not differentiate between the common people and the governments/rulers of the countries (in Pakistan the civil government is still not all powerful). I think that people are the same everywhere trying to raise a voice of moderation but the politicians and dictators abuse the excess power we give them at the times of rising fanatical sentiment.

We need to watch out for the Ultra-nationalists and the fanatics who urge the fanatical sentiment. We certainly do not need the Hindu Pujaris (priests) ruling India as much as we do not want the fundamentalists ruling Muslim countries.

Some say we need to unite the Hindus in this fight against foreign interference and invasions. I feel we need to work on uniting all the people to watch for excesses of their rulers (democratically elected and dictators alike) and for the vested interests.

26. Gourang responded:

It is time we found an alternative. There should be a new party that represents educated folks who give a clear alternative to current political parties. That should bring in voters who don't currently vote due to frustrations of not having good qualified candidates. Obama mobilized many new voters in US. Maybe such a party can mobilize many Indian voters to come and voice their opinion through ballot box.

27. vmuthuram responded:

Interesting post and comments.

It seems slightly contradictory that on one hand there is low electoral participation by youth in India, and on the other, Islamist groups (homegrown and foreign) are increasingly successful in mobilizing 19 years olds to join their cause. At the risk of equating both types of participation as some sort of "activism", I'm curious as to why one has had more success than the other?

28. Hindustani responded:

Haan, sabhi bas baith kar blog hi likhte rahana.

29. jayantsinha responded:

All of us need to get involved in public affairs, and perhaps in politics as well. If you are Ready to Act, then please look at the list of 10 items that we have come up with. Voting on the basis of ideology not identity, is a very important step in being an involved citizen. We have to improve governance at all levels in the country. Today, the political system is only focused on delivering goodies from the state to selected votebanks and enrichment of politicians. There is no focus on public service or good governance. We can change that by voting and forcing politicians to be accountable.

30. Gaurav responded:

Test

31. Gaurav responded:

Dear Jayant/Sanjeev

My views on the next steps are based on the following

1. The need is to work with political class by targetting the newer generation and getting them on board

2. Channelise the current anger that is there post the Mumbai blast into areas other than security. My sense is that the sheer brazeness of the attacks has made people wake up. The pent up frustration is not just against security but the otherwise sorry state of affairs as well.

3. The areas to address include not onl security but also other pressing issues like agriculture, skill development and urban infrastructure

My views on the next steps that can be planned by India Banao are as follows

1. Look at involving members from the corporate world and leading media houses. In todays India, they constitute possibly the strngest pressure groups

2. Get other well known faces to India Banao as well. It will give it far greater visibility to aspirsing members and far greater weight when making suggestions to the Govt. In todays set up, other than yours, no other faces are well known to help in the above.

3. Create comittess groups within India Banao which will focus and specialize in areas on which we wish to enagge with the Govt, The other cut is to have city chapters to carry out the same activitis but at a local level. In other words, a classic matrx orgamization structure

4. Focus on EXECUTION EXECUTION EXECUTION. Ideas will be aplenty. What we lack is the follow up ability and to ruthlessly get them executed

5. Call for a 2 day workshop in Delhi or/and Mumbai tp dicsus the way forward

32. Idealism Alive responded:

The buck stops where?

By Seema Goswami, The Hindustan Times

December 02, 2008

As Mumbai recovers from the carnage of last week, the predominant emotion on the streets is not sorrow or despair. What comes through most strongly is the anger of its citizens. And frankly, how could they not be angry? Their city has been brutally ravaged, their iconic landmarks targeted, their people used as gun fodder. Anger is a natural response in the circumstances. What surprised me, though, was the target of that anger.

Their rage wasn't directed at the terrorists. No one was raving and ranting about these murderous fanatics who had tried to destroy everything we hold dear. Nobody was asking, "How dare these people target us?" or "What do they want from us", or even "Why do they hate us so much?" No, all the anger was focused on our politicians. They were the ones being berated for having betrayed us; being attacked for having let us all down. They were the ones being flayed for allowing this to happen.

At a certain level, this response was understandable. In times of crises, when we feel helpless, we tend to turn on authority figures whose job it is to protect us. And certainly, there is no doubt that the politicians did fail. What was alarming was the way this outrage was expressed: in terms of civil disobedience with people threatening not to vote, not to pay their taxes. As everyone from Page Three celebrities to movie stars lined up in front of TV cameras to have their say, one thing rapidly became clear. Our reaction to a terror strike was to hit back hard — not at the shadowy perpetrators of this massacre but at the politicians who we blame for having turned India into a soft State.

As I watched these images being played out on the TV screen, I flashed back to the last time people were out on the streets in a similar manner, protesting a terrorist strike against India. The year was 1999 and terrorists had hijacked an Indian Airlines plane — IC 814 — and flew it to Kandahar in Afghanistan. They demanded the release of some of their fellow murderers languishing in Indian jails in exchange for the lives of the passengers.

How do you think the government responded? Did it refuse pointblank to engage with the hijackers? Did it refuse to allow its citizens' lives to be used as currency by the terrorists? Did it announce that India would never negotiate with terrorists or give in to their demands?

Of course, it didn't. And we all know why. It was because the people were out on the streets demanding that the government give in to these demands. We all remember the scenes of sheer hysteria played out in the media. Relatives of the hostages weeping outside Race Course Road, shrilly demanding that their loved ones be brought back no matter what the price, their pleas and anger magnified by the news channels that provided them the oxygen of publicity round the clock.

The government of the day capitulated to the pressure of its people and the then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh flew out to Kandahar with three terrorists who were released in exchange for the hostages. Since then, one of the released terrorists, Maulana Masood Azhar, is back fomenting hatred against India in his jihadist-recruitment speeches. And another, Omar Sheikh was later implicated in the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

In retrospect, the decision to release these terrorists shames us all. But can we repudiate our own culpability in this shameful episode? At no point did we, the people of India, ever tell our government in unequivocal terms: do not give in to these terrorists. Never ever did we tell our government to take a tough stand.

Yes, India has exposed itself as a soft State where dealing with terrorists is concerned. And the politicians must take the blame for that. But we the people must bear some measure of responsibility for having helped create this soft State. Let's not forget that at the end of the day, a government is only as strong as its people.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=9970f5d5-8138-4341-b10c-75567add30c2

33. sanjeev sanyal responded:

Thanks everyone for the response to my blog and all the suggestions. I have read them carefully. To sum up, everyone seems to be implicitly or explicitly saying that we need to turn words into action. I fully agree.

The first small step is to get better information about the state of affairs and what the government is doing. In this regard, as you may have seen, we have started a petition under RTI to find out what has been done by the authorities about the series of terror attacks this year. If this works as a tactic, we will do more RTI petitions for different causes and publish the answers on the website. A better informed population is also likely to be a more assertive population.

Other strategies will also be tried. We are open to ideas. Please keep them coming…. we will keep pushing till it works.

34. reader responded:

Could you please experiment with the color pattern for this blog to improve readability? The contrast between text and background in the blue boxes could be better.

35. India Banao! Administrator responded:

Reader,

Thanks for the feedback. We have taken a note of your suggestion and will try to improve the look and feel of the website.