I say NO to empty rhetoric. Do YOU?

There we go, another year gone by...26/11/2010 now marks a couple of years since the entire nation endured the gruesome spectre of the 26/11 tragedy.
Just as 2010 also marks:
17 years since the Bombay serial blasts,
11 years since the Kargil war,
9 years since the Parliament attack, and
hardly a few days since we heard of the latest terror strike alerts.
Oh, and this is most certainly and most unfortunately, not even an exhaustive list.

Anyone aware of the way we have approached revisiting such bitter and tragic instances would know that such dates have turned into nothing, except a time for ceremonial platitudes.
Time for dishing out the usual rhetoric on every such anniversary.
Time for talking about the 'spirit' of a Mumbai and praising the much-abused Indian patience, resolve and statesmanship.
Sorry leaders, but we can totally do away with all the useless, spineless tokenisms that you choose to vomit/spurt/blurt out, on such days with unfailing regularity and predictability.

I tried to reflect on, and list, what all has happened/changed in the last two years since 26/11/2008:

• The main conspirators hiding in Pakistan are still scot-free. Worse, we are even today, as helpless in apprehending them as we were a couple of years ago (despite all credible evidence and intelligence inputs).What has ever become of Dawood Ibrahim, for that matter, in the 17 years till date that we should expect anything better or new, now?!

• The predictably unrepentant terrorist - the captured gunman Ajmal Kasab - is still languishing in jail, having already cost the exchequer many crores.

• Home Minister P Chidambaram has, today, despite having issued thousands of pages of voluminous dossiers, yet again noted/appealed to/told (take your pick, if you find any one of them better than the other two stances) Pakistan that it has to act against the conspirators.

• India has re-re-re-re-re-re-re-issued a stern warning and re-re-re-re-re-re-re-said it is looking forward to stern action from the Pakistani authorities, and re-re-re-re-re-re-expressed its displeasure and regret over lack of enough action on the ground, despite enough incriminating evidence.
  Keep looking, I say! What better can you expect of the Pakistanis? But what better have we done ourselves after just saying, saying and saying...and then expecting them to say and do what we'd like? Sure, we should just keep expecting, keep looking and keep hoping, all of us - before (God forbid!) the next one takes off. Even after that, what can happen? A new series of statements (yes, just those) of renewed, reaffirmed displeasure/regret/hope would be unveiled and there we go again.

• David Headley has been accidentally unearthed as the lynchpin of the 26/11 planning team but punishing him from our side, through our courts, stays elusive since it's unlikely he would ever get deported to India.
  The only good bit is that we can act on the leads received (and to be received) from him, in advance, and use him to trace and track all his co-conspirators.
  Alas, this too would be possible, only after the mercy of, permission from, and dependency on - USA's co-operation.

• A movement that looked to create a difference through public unity and an outpouring of emotions against terrorists in the immediate aftermath of 26/11 did seem to have some muscle in it but that too, has since fizzled out.

My point is - WHY? Why do we have to stay content with such state of affairs? Why can the media, like Raja's, Chavan's, or Kalmadi's misdemeanours, not highlight the government's inaction and inertia?

WHY and for how long should we be expected to stay content with just pledging to act, repeatedly?

Hand on heart - have we done whatever it takes and is in our capacity to act? What have we done to improve our intelligence systems and beef our security apparatus, so that we are not sitting ducks, just waiting for the next bomb to go off somewhere?

I'm not one for blindly aping the US/West/anyone but what's good and worth emulating, must not be ignored.
Did the US do anything similar in the two years since 9/11?
Sure, we are not a superpower but can't we even show our intent (if we genuinely have one, to prevail against terrorism)?
How many years has it been since 9/11? How many repeats of (forget such attacks) any subsequent attack have we seen on US soil?
It's not even about results, for God's sake. It's about genuine, persistent intent translating into concrete action.
Have we seen the same earnestness and zeal to protect its borders and citizens from the Indian leadership and security agencies, as we have seen from those in the US?

As I said, it's not even just 26/11 - there are so many other instances that have left us bruised, battered, bereaved, and grieved. What has ever become of any of them?

Which is why, it is high time our leaders acttually be proactive and ACT to do everything to bring the perpetrators to book, and do all in their might to prevent a recurrence of any terrorist misadventure - instead of just vomitting their usual, empty rhetoric on such times.
Surely, we can do much better than just being dependent on Pakistan to act - expect (action against terrorists) and then regret and re-issue a strongly worded statement especially on such occasions, re-expect and re-regret, and on and on and on.

Till then, all that the Indian public can do is to keep its famed spirits alive by humming and believing in these lines:

           Kuchh baat hai ki hasti..
           Mit-ti nahin hamaari,
           Sadiyon raha hai dushman..
           Daur-e-jahaan hamaara.
           Saare Jahaan se Achchha - Hindostaan hamaara!

Guilty, until proven innocent

All of us are too aware about the current state of Andher Nagri, Chaupat Raja in our country.

I do not wish to dwell on the sheer scale (given the amount of misappropriation) of the scam - and it's not as if other scams of smaller amounts are any less deplorable.
A scam is a scam is a scam. Period.
It is nothing but a brazen breach of trust and honesty. The trust, commitment, transparency, and honesty that the citizens and electorate of the country expect and deserve. Nothing more, nothing less.

What I do want to write about, are the things that struck and hurt me even more than the obvious news flashes and beyond the usual platitudes of 'law must take its own course', 'we condemn such misuse of public money strongly', 'a thorough investigation is a must', 'innocent until proven guilty', and even 'it's a conspiracy'.

Excuse me, but whether it's CM Ibrahim or A Raja, who the hell wants to conspire against these people?
How often have we heard about the conspiracy theory against anyone who is accused of any malafide intent and wilful wrongdoing?

To put it in other words, have you ever heard someone accused of corruption, despite being confronted with raw facts, NOT putting up the 'It's just a ploy/conspiracy against me' front as his sole defence?
I bet, never.

Heard the DMK representative a couple of days ago, vociferously denying any possibility or need of Raja's resignation. After Raja was made to resign yesterday, it was quite laughable to then see him doing a shameless turncoat by taking a moral high ground by then shamelessly claiming how his party had displayed great virtues of probity and accountability.
Only, it wasn't funny. At all.
 Where had all these values disappeared only a day ago when they had not been pressed for resignation?
To see such embezzlers being portrayed as 'scapegoats' of 'conspiracies', is nothing but a smokescreen of the highest order.

Does a Ratan Tata or the CAG have nothing better to do than alleging against someone like an Ibrahim or a Raja, respectively?
What we should actually ask is why was the Government sleeping on the matter and was in fact, even defending Raja till the last minute?

The accused always believe propounding a conspiracy angle is all they need to do, to wash their hands off any allegation. So what, even if it comes from credible people/agencies with incriminating evidence!
I believe it's time we dealt with such scamsters with this two-pronged approach:

A) Guilty, until proven innocent
Having seen enough of such attitudes and circumstances, I am honestly sick of people being framed as innocent when clearly and under the garb of conspiracy, all evidence is against them.
Now I am not against the basic premise of this idea. However, I am all against its misuse.

Such people who misuse these laws and tenets, under the pretext of 'conspiracy' and/or 'innocent till guilty' when there is compelling evidence against them, must be presumed as guilty. And this is where an independent (from the clutches of bureaucrats and politicians) agency must be formed, to act against those who are, on the basis of prima facie evidence, clearly found to be complicit in any kind of breach and misuse of public position and office. And then try to hide under the garb of 'innocent until proven guilty'.

Our judicial system is already swamped with so many cases that it takes only so long to decide on the cases (that too, assuming witnesses don't die/get killed/turn hostile), that the actual culprits either remain scot-free, on bail, or die a natural death at the young age of anywhere in their eighties or even nineties.

Such people who treat law as part of their own fiefdom need to be treated as guilty. Like a show-cause notice, the onus should be on them to prove why and how they are not guilty when all prima facie evidence is against them.
And atleast resign, voluntarily.

Time was, we had Lal Bahadur Shastri, who owed up responsibility for a train mishap and resigned. Voluntarily.
Simple question: How big a role do you think, did he have in the mishap?
Was Shastri ji's role in the train tragedy in any way more than or even similar to what Raja's (and his ilk's) has been in all sorts of scams? But unlike the bellicose, unrepentant, shameless politicos of today, Shastri ji voluntarily put in his papers.
THAT, is what is meant and evident by Probity, Conscience, and Transparency.
Not when you get belligerent and even have the gall to display a forced resignation as martyrdom in the guise of upholding values.

B) Ensuring Accountability and Setting Precedents

Barring the exception of Sukhram in the telecom scandal, how many politicians embroiled in a scam have ever gone to jail?
Let's make the perpetrators pay - I say this only metaphorically, because literally speaking, that's precisely what they do - pay they do! Which is why, after paying up and bribing the equally culpable officials, they always get to be scot-free.

It's time to ensure those who commit such gross misappropriation and corruption get nothing short of non-bailable warrants. Let's see them behind bars.

When the Harshad Mehta scam happened, only Harshad Mehta went to jail, not any politician.
When the Ketan Parekh scam came to light, only Ketan Parekh went to jail, not any politician.
When the cash-for-votes evidence against Bangaru Laxman came to light, he was made to resign but he too, was never jailed. Nor did anyone from the hawala scam, or the fodder scam, or the zillion other misappropriations that never even come to light.

If a Shivraj Patil is inept during (and before) 26/11, he is removed. But what next? He becomes a Governor. Ditto for an N D Tiwari, after his infamous, sleaze-filled video.
The point is, politicians have for long gotten habituated to a settled and a 'yahaan-nahin-toh-wahaan-accommodate-kar-denge' life. In any case, they know they would not only get bailed out and roam scot free, but also get some plum post, sooner or later, here or there.

What we really and urgently require is to set up an agency that is outside any purview or any sort of influence of the government and the MPs. However, forming one obviously requires a legislation. The only, small problem is that such a legislation, that undermines the power of the legislatures, would have to be created, ratified and passed by the legislatures themselves.
Well, it's a bit like asking ISI to disband terror camps or hand over Dawood - you will hear all the usual noises but ultimately, nothing will effectively happen on the ground.
Alas, one can't expect a burglar to pass a legislation allowing others to stop burglaries!