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Journalism of Courage
Mumbai was recently rocked by two bomb blasts at around midday in densely crowded areas. At least 45 innocent lives were lost, and many more severely injured. This was not the first such act of ghastly terrorism in Mumbai. The city has suffered a series of such terror strikes in the past 10 years. This kind of urban terrorism has spread its fangs across India. Such dastardly acts of violence are perpetrated in an organised manner with the sole purpose of demoralising our people and destabilising our country.
Each act of terror evokes public outrage and criticism of the intelligence apparatus which in turn is met by lame excuses by the authorities. At the same time, a large section of social and political leaders along with eminent educationists and other influential personalities remains apathetic. We do not make an effort to understand or study such terrorism. Consequently, we fail to fully appreciate that such terror cannot be fought by security agencies or by government alone. The terrorist is invisible, alone or in small, tight groups, and secretive. The target is always open, exposed, largely unsecured. The advantage of timing, place and weapon is with the terrorist; the success of the attack lies in the element of surprise and swiftness inherent in such attacks. Yet no terrorist can mount an attack, much less succeed, without some sort of local apathy or support, overt or covert. The people of India need to fight terrorism as one people. Our war against such acts of terror has to be fought by the people as a whole. For such an effort, leaders, irrespective of parties and ideologies have to come together and act together.
Recently, Lok Sabha proceedings of the two-day debate on a motion of no-confidence against the government were nationally televised. The vituperative exchanges and ugly scenes drove home the current reality: The leader is more important than the party, the party is more important than the nation. How can such leadership, this form of statecraft, inspire patriotism or further the spirit of sacrifice among people which is an imperative for progressive nationhood? I do not say that nothing good has been achieved in the five decades since Independence. But I feel that for India to achieve her destiny, we ought to think deeper about our situation.
