After Patil

There was a startling swiftness with which Home Minister Shivraj Patil8217;s resignation came on Sunday. As a token of accountability, it was apt, especially with the indication that more resignations and transfers could follow. This newspaper has been sharply critical of Patil for his pathetic internal security record as home minister. But there was no vicarious satisfaction to be gained by his exit when it finally came. It is the least that could happen after what8217;s been possibly India8217;s deadliest terrorist strike, one that revealed gross failures in our capacity to anticipate and then deal with such incidents. Accountability is a basic principle of effective governance, and the home minister is morally culpable for this dismal track record. But this is not an issue that can be closed by a mere change of personnel, in the home ministry and elsewhere. Their failure, if it may be so termed, is the failure of a system, a system that8217;s just not up to responding to the national security challenges that have appeared with horrifying regularity. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must quickly be seen to be taking steps to show that India8217;s response at the highest levels of government will no longer be an exercise in analytical debates, but in action.

Because the danger is also this. Four days after terrorists struck at multiple locations in Mumbai and entrenched themselves for a long hostage drama, there is rampant anger against the political and executive class. Popular perception of a separation between a governing elite and the rest of the population that feels it deserves better is hazardous in any democracy. It is dangerous when a sentiment gains currency that the elite have to be taken on, and not cooperated with, to get accountability and responsive governance. That is a recipe for dysfunction. No system can be changed or rectified in a day, but the prime minister needs to revive confidence that this time there will be accountability and there will be change.

Dr Singh took the right step of calling an all-party meet over the weekend. This must not be a one-off. This country cannot afford to hurl itself into a general election in the next few months in an atmosphere of divisive politics on issues of national security. This newspaper noted last week that the Mumbai attack could be a definitive one, and that it required extraordinary sanity from our politics. Government and opposition must start giving enough of themselves, not just as a virtuous gesture, but so that they both gain enough space to make a bid for the people8217;s confidence.