Mumbai146;s spirit is being flogged to death

Serves us right for being so pathetically hopeful: we should have expected no less of the PM. As for the CM, Vilasrao Deshmukh is naturally more preoccupied with saving citizens from a Fate Worse Than Death, than attending to the city8217;s fatal infrastructure. Like minding Mumbai8217;s morals and shutting down dance bars. Like deciding what our precocious metropolis will read and which movies it will or will not watch. Like working tirelessly to legalise illegal buildings and introduce land laws which ensure that ministers are not diddled out of the sinfully overpriced property pie.

That8217;s why our trains, which are designed to carry no more than 1,800 people, are packed with over 4,700 commuters at peak hour, the densest commuting population in the world. That8217;s why there happens to be only one public bus for every 1,300 citizens. And that8217;s why Mumbai is a soft target for any terrorist attack, a sitting duck with its feet firmly entangled in the weeds of civic decay. Maximum damage for minimum effort. No matter, we will survive8212;again. Without official assistance, thank you very much.

But now saviours are pouring in. Shortly after the blasts, Congress president Sonia Gandhi flew in here to commiserate with the injured. And at least 50 other VIPs from New Delhi are beating a path to Mantralaya to offer their token condolences8212;and burden the already overburdened police force struggling to maintain law and order.

Even the Opposition, led by the BJP and its outspoken political cousin, the Shiv Sena, is striving to do its bit8212;by attacking the ruling Democratic Front for its inefficient handling of the situation.

8220;The government has no right to be in power even for a moment,8221; thundered Shiv Sena heir apparent Udhav Thakeray barely hours after the blast. 8220;It8217;s incompetence is solely responsible for today8217;s incident.8221; I8217;m afraid I don8217;t understand this brand of public concern for two reasons. Firstly, when a human tragedy strikes, using it to further one8217;s own political agenda is in poor taste, to say the least. If the Opposition was really concerned about Mumbai, it should have been out there on the tracks, where dismembered limbs and decapitated bodies were being sorted out by dazed commuters, unaided by a single official.

After all, both London and New York were able to quickly pick up the pieces because their political parties decided to bury the hatchet and cooperate for the humanitarian task at hand.

Besides, the Opposition seems to have a short memory. Only last weekend, when a statue of Meenatai, Sena chief Bal Thackeray8217;s late wife was defiled, the party cadres went berserk and vandalized the city8217;s public buses, damaging property worth Rs 4.5 crore.

Let8217;s face it, violence is as old as mankind itself. And terrorism is a global phenomenon, the scourge of the 21st century. But when our own elected patriots are guilty of violence8212;or worse, indifference8212;from within, there is little even brave Mumbai can do to fight the enemy without.