Mumbai Under Siege

As the drama continues to unfold in Mumbai, nothing seems certain anymore. Prominent personalities and the media are now hammering all levels of government in India for their unpreparedness and lack of sophistication in dealing with the assailants that have brought Mumbai to its knees.

The government has begun to point fingers at Pakistan as the chief suspect in state sponsored terrorism. And amongst all this, we still do not have any hard, cold facts about exactly what has happened and what continues to transpire.
Facts, anyone?

IBN7 is already sensationalising a story of the possible hand of cross-border organized crime boss Dawood Ibrahim’s hand in the Mumbai ordeal. The dramatic tonality of the journalists, the frightening music behind flashy montages on the screen, and finally, the lines “Dawood Ibrahim ka haat isme ho sakta hain” all point towards a shameless degradation of journalistic integrity, not focused on the facts, or reporting the truth, but rather leaking sensationalist theories, feeding the public information drop by drop to keep them weaned on their channel. We should be at least discerning enough to understand that information in the immediate aftermath will be far from perfect, confusion will abound, and politicians will cloud the media with knee-jerk reactions and the opportunity to energize their constituencies with typical sound bytes.

Politics as usual

In such dire times, when one, including yours truly, had an inkling of hope that politicians would display bipartisanship and not politicize the issue, our so-called “leaders” have let us down terribly again. Rather than accept responsibility and take action, politicians are playing the usual game: pointing fingers, rallying their bases, trying to get as much camera time as possible, and ultimately doing absolutely nothing to help the situation. Paying the ceremonious visit to hospitals on camera is done for a reason. We as citizens of Mumbai, of India, are not holding our governments accountable for a single thing. A tragic catch 22 exists in our political system today - the average, well-informed citizen believes politics, rightfully, is so self-serving and so rotten to the core, that we can do nothing to change it; therefore, we turn a blind eye to willful, disgusting political manipulation of our country; we do not vote; we do not care if our voices are not heard; and we ultimately do not get involved in politics ourselves. Nothing short of a revolution (intellectual, mental, and perhaps even physical) may be needed to alter the course of Indian politics. And pray tell me, where are the “firebrands” of local politics, the MNS, the Shiv Sena? Where are the leaders that cry foul when North Indians “steal” their constituent’s jobs? Where is the “angry mob” now? Probably hiding.

“Who” an outdated word?

The looming question in our minds now is “who”? Who is responsible for what is continuing to transpire in Mumbai as these words find themselves to you, dear reader? That may just be an ooutdated question in today’s complicated world. The world has become a complex matrix of policies, agendas, states, and organizations. “Who” is not the relevant question anymore. Perhaps “why” should take its place. Some are beginning to point fingers at Pakistan. But what is Pakistan? A country or a functional anarchy? Of the ISI, the Pakistani Army, Zardari’s government, the Taliban, and the factional tribes, all of which operate with a great degree of autonomy, who? Others are pointing fingers at Al Qaeda, which may have been actually displaying their might to a Thanksgiving Day celebrating United States. So can we blame United States’ insipid foreign policy past? One can continue to traverse this matrix and come up with whatever answer pleases them. The sad thing is, this is probably what our “leaders” and our media will do. We must shift our focus to the “why” and “how”: why has this happened repeatedly? How do we combat it? How do we install state of the art crisis management infrastructure in India? And ultimately, how do we shift minds?
The “spirit” of Mumbai

And now, instead of beginning a meaningful, deep discourse on what has transpired, we hide our questions, our anger, our need for accountability behind the impenetrable “spirit” of Mumbai. What is this spirit? Are we speaking of our ability to endure tragedy after tragedy? Truthfully, do we Mumbaikers have a choice? We must endure because we have to. Year after year of incompetence and tragic events has desensitised us. There are no economic bailouts or tax relief for the common citizen, we must continue to get on that local train to earn our keep so we can feed our children, take care of our husbands and wives, and sustain our livelihood. This is no spirit. Mumbai endures because it has to. Mumbai endures because it has no choice.

These words may anger you, they may give you a moment of pause to reflect, to think, to criticise and to question. These are our God-given rights as free people. We have for too long allowed these rights to become eroded by our so-called “leadership.” More than anything, I fear our complacency as a nation. I fear that four months down the line, our anger, our resentment, criticisms, our need for answers will die a slow but sure death. We will allow our “leaders” to continue to rape our country. We too are self serving. We will get on that local train and drudge to work, because our children need light to study, and food to fill their bellys. And while “who” may today be an irrelevant question to be asking, the only possible answer to “who” might just be staring at you in the mirror.


Source: blah.burrp.com