Opinion Why governance is just another word
There has been much talk lately of governance. Ever since Narendra Modi put it at the top of his political agenda,other political leaders have picked up on it
There has been much talk lately of governance. Ever since Narendra Modi put it at the top of his political agenda,other political leaders have picked up on it and us political pundit types have taken to pondering over the word almost as if it were the first time we had heard it. Unfortunately,the word governance remains meaningless to most people until it comes accompanied by specific illustrations that give muscle and sinew to what is otherwise an abstract idea. For me,the manner in which American officials dealt with the aftermath of the bombings in Boston last week provided an excellent example of what happens in countries where there is good governance. But,first a word about leadership in these times when India seems so bereft of it.
As soon as the explosions occurred,the President of the United States went on nationwide television to reassure people that he felt their pain and that the perpetrators would be hunted down and punished wherever they were. Why does this never happen in India? Why do our leaders vanish as soon as something terrible happens? When did you last hear one of them say a reassuring word after something bad happened? These are questions we must ask ourselves just as we must ask ourselves why as the worlds largest democratic country we have not been able to put in place the sort of systems that went into immediate action after the cowardly,senseless bombings in Boston.
As someone whose job requires me to check what the news is on the hour every hour,I had my television on when the explosions occurred. Within minutes,I saw policemen appear to cordon off the crime site and paramedics appear to help the victims. What I also saw were ordinary citizens rushing to help the wounded and it reminded me of the most poignant comment I heard from a man who spent more than 24 terrified hours hiding in his room in the Taj Hotel on 26/11. He said,When I finally came out,there was nobody there to help me get home. Nobody to even offer me a cup of tea or words of comfort. And Mumbai is a city in which in times of peace you can bring swarms of high-minded activists into the streets in minutes.
To return though to the bombings in Boston and what we need to learn from them,did you notice that although the American President came on television several times to reassure people,he did not instantly blame jihadists as our ministers like to do? Some have blamed Pakistan even before an investigation has begun. In complete contrast,the White House spokesman answered repeated questions about possible suspects simply by saying that the investigation was still ongoing and he did not want to prejudice it in any way. Why does this never happen in India? Why did we have senior Congress leaders openly blame the RSS for 26/11 without once thinking of the consequences of what they said?
Speaking of 26/11,we need to remember that if the Americans had not helped us with the technology needed to intercept the conversations that the killers in Mumbai had with their masters in Pakistan,we may never have known who did it. And,if a brave policeman had not given his life to catch Ajmal Kasab alive,we may never have proved conclusively that the perpetrators of the worst act of terrorism on Indian soil were Pakistanis.
So have things changed since then? Have we learned any lessons? No,we have not. We know that jihadi terrorism is war by another name and its objective is to destroy India,but we have not yet acknowledged that if ordinary policemen across the country are not trained in counterterrorism,we will never win the war. We have mulled over synchronised intelligence gathering through a National Intelligence Grid,but not gone further. In the streets of Mumbai,I sometimes see men with Commando written on their shirts,and ominous-looking armoured cars,but has this made us any safer? No,it has not. And the reason is that security systems remain broken and antiquated and nobody has bothered to do anything to improve them.
The reason why nobody has bothered is because that most fundamental thing that is required for anything to work as it should has not yet been fully understood by those we elect. Governance. Not a single political party has given to governance the sort of passionate attention that they routinely give to raging about secularism and communalism. Or even to the time that most political parties are now allotting to the specific task of proving,before 2014,that Modi has not done for Gujarat what he claims to have done. Modi himself needs to do more to explain what su-shasan means.
Follow Tavleen Singh on twitter @tavleen_singh
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