It doesn’t seem to care

On the last possibility. former Mumbai Congress Committee president, Murli Deora on a TV show expressed his reservations on the grounds that there is no place in Mumbai where one community can be said to predominate. A look at the list of victims on the injury list seems to bear this out. Despite the fact that one of the blasts took place in Zaveri bazaar, an area known for its jewellery shops and its Gujarati clientele, the list of injured in hospitals has names that come from all parts of the country — north, south, west and east with a large number belonging to the minority community. Mumbai is and has always been a microcosm of India. And an attack on this heterogeneous, striving populace is nothing less than an attack on the spirit of India itself.

And that spirit seems to be indomitable. There is much talk in the media about Mumbai’s resilience and its buoyancy in the face of adversity. Much of this is true. Crisis brings out the best in Mumbaikars. In 1993, as in 2003, volunteers instantly queued up to help the injured, donate blood and maintain order while attendance at work remained high. Interviews with the man in the street after this blast, as in previous cases, reveal a people frightened, but not in the least deterred from going about their daily lives. One has to work and there is no choice said commuters, travelling on the route of the last blast a day later.

It is a quality to be admired. And yet, at the same time, there are uncomfortable facts that need to be confronted. The fact that despite a spate of blasts since last December, nobody has seemed quite clear on the group or groups responsible for them. Possibilities indicated have included the ISI, SIMI, lesser known local organisations, the underworld, disaffected youths from neighbouring states or a combination of all these. Nobody seems to be certain. Worse still, nobody has been asking.

Many of the previous blasts occurred on local trains and BEST buses — both used by millions of commuters. Yet there has been little evidence of public concern in the form of sustained campaigns or agitations. Nor have there been hard questions asked in the media about investigations and preventive measures by the police and the government. It took many incidents before the Shiv Sena worked itself up into a righteous indignation and called a bandh some weeks ago which most perceived as an opportunistic political move rather than a serious attempt at finding a solution. For the country’s most progressive and populous city, the response to the ongoing terrorist campaign has been shoddy and remarkably apathetic.

The most recent blasts, however, have made too great an impact to ignore. If they have brought leaders down from Delhi, they have also put Mumbai on the map of global terrorism with new culprits being identified, such as Jaish and Laskhar-e-Toiba and even Osama Bin Laden funded groups. The significance of Mumbai, both in symbolic and in real terms, as a target for terrorism has also been finally underscored. And yet there is a danger, judging by past events, of slipping back into a state of inattention. Of lurching from crisis to crisis or worse, accepting this state of affairs as inevitable a sad fate for a proud and lively city.

Better than merely celebrating Mumbai’s spirit it is perhaps time to apply its special qualities of professionalism and unity to address the new, terrible threat.