Opinion 26/11/09 Sees New India

NDTV surveyed Mumbai and found remembrance so overwhelming that the city was in catharsis. In Mumbai,Delhi,Bangalore,Chennai,Kolkata,what we were seeing,more important what terrorists were seeing,and I take NDTV’s word for it,was a new India. Indeed,as NDTV pointed out,this is the new India; and all we do in the media is to reflect on this new mood of this now great country (italics mine). I would venture to add that another aspect of this new India would be what an ex-cricketer said on NDTV when the broadcaster was live from Bangalore: how solid are we in our solidarity. From Bangalore,via NDTV,I also heard a message meant not just for new India: 26/11 was a wake-up call for every human being on earth. But,NDTV in Bangalore also alerted me to the fact that our new India apparently has a problem: terror resides within each of us.

The questions that reside in all of us: let’s think about those,too. P. Chidambaram answers people’s questions on CNN-IBN,with CNN-IBN adding its own questions. Don’t you think the time has come to change VIP security,CNN-IBN asked the home minister. So,less security for VIPs means more security for all of us — is that it? What a fascinating idea. If I find a Pakistani terrorist pointing a gun at me,I will presumably feel safer knowing the SPG has abandoned Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi and are picnicking on the lawns of their bungalows.

The home minister,in response to that CNN-IBN question,asked whether we want our elected representatives unguarded to the point where they are in real danger and whether that represents an advance on the current system. He sounded most reasonable to me. But was I the only common man agreeing with him? The minister was also asked how citizens can be made more involved in security. The flag march in Mumbai,CNN-IBN said,only involved security personnel. Again,I was impressed. Flag marches where you and I and everyone join in as security personnel march by — terrorists will be terrified when they see commandos and citizen commandos hanging around together,being covered live by journalists and citizen journalists. But the home minister counter-questioned CNN-IBN,what do you mean by citizen involvement,and added that flag marches should necessarily involve only state security personnel.

Clearly,the sensible home minister was not going to impress the new India,I thought. And there was proof on Times Now. A 26/11 survivor was asked how he feels now — Times Now told him it didn’t want to ask how he feels but still felt compelled to ask how he feels. The gentleman said that this home minister was no better than his predecessor. That was the nicest thing anyone has said about the former home minister. Also part of that radical political analysis was this: “we” didn’t do anything about the government when “we” had the chance. But we had the chance,surely? General elections and Maharashtra elections. And we voted,didn’t we? What was I missing? I was thinking,you see,of we as in we,not we as in new India. I was missing,as NDTV said,the beautiful positivity.

saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com