DISCLAIMER: I have tried to limit name calling and psycho-babbling. Still, take this blog post with a grain of salt.
At this moment in time, 26/11 is a date that has been gaining popularity among the world. Not going into what happened, I am going to ramble on the post-26/11 ramifications, from different perspectives.
Increasing Intolerance
Despite the numerous criticisms on Mr. Manmohan Singh that he has been soft on terror, the truth remains that Indians' intolerance is on the rise. Almost all reactions has been based on an emotional basis rather than on a rational basis. The day the carnage was brought to an end, the famous Shobha De came on air and started lambasting everyone around saying the NDTV's very famous theme during the coverage - "Enough is enough". Though her anger was valid and understandable, as are those who are angry about the whole situation, most of them fail to understand that it is a multi-pronged issue.
In the very same programme, there were other folks like Arun Shourie and other representatives of parties like Jayanthi Natarajan from Congress and from BJP. While Ms. De was continuing with her "Enough is enough" backed by the Channel which took it as its theme, there were visble discontent on the receiving end. Her "Enoughs" were both on the Domestic front as well as on the dealing with terrorism. Saying that decisive action needs to be taken and folks who were responsible for the failure should step down taking moral responsibility. I agree, but failure to understand the root cause will result in all these becoming short-term solutions than long-term ones. That is of course the effect of decisions taken in a state of anger. Of course, there are a bunch of folks to substantiate what Shobha did, like here. So folks, my request is be angry, but not intolerant; be rational and not emotional.
I do not want to get this issue to be discussed beyond a single post.
The Debate
Each individual was saying a few points. There were lots of reasons thrown out there, most of them were good, but what disturbed were the following. Each person was trying to downplay the other's solutions saying that it is not the real solution and went on to talk about their solutions. Even the host didn't help much. What I felt was that all points were valid and the solution should be nothing less than an all-of-the-above approach.
Soft on Terror
Even though I do not like Manmohan Singh's style of administration, I am going to give him the credit. Anybody who accused him of being soft on terror need to understand one thing. He is an economist, so much to say, he is considered the father of financial reforms in India. Without him, BJP would not have had the framework to continue with the growth that we saw. True, we were exposed to Globalization and we are affected now because of it. We do need to understand that with a beautiful seaview house comes the risk of Tsunamis. As any economist would say, any war would put a strain on the economy. Without a strong economy it is going to be difficult to support a full fledged war.
In my opinion, first, we still do not have the economic might to engage in an another war and still be resilient. The second reason is what Ms. Natarajan responded to Ms. De "Has Shobha heard about 'Actionable intelligence'?". I agree there. You cannot do anything with intelligence reports in the likes of Nostradamus predictions. CIA is one of the world's best. They were contemplating many terror scenarios including attack on the WTC and Pentagon by ramming planes. Yet it happened. The intelligence failure was the main reason why it happened and not inaction on the part of the Government.
Internal Strengthening (Playing Defense)
The Government's failure was not its inaction but the failure to address the weakness in forces. There are still flks who believe that the Indian intelligence is second to none and start their usual basking in glory of something that happenned so long ago, nobody knew how long ago. This is not going to be an easy task. The Government would have to step up to the plate and give serious consideraton to improving the capabilities. Police forces at the ground level are nothing but a corrupt lot. At least, spend mre money for those critical folks who work in the intelligence establishment. Procure more infrastructure for the defense forces. Provide importance to RAW and IB. When an ex-RAW officer writes about the corruption, instead of taking steps, they sue him??!! Rather than attack folks who provide constructive criticisms, they need to rope in people who can hel eliminate it.
In this sense, rhetorics are not going to make things done. Action on the part of the Government and the corrupt politicians. Let them get kickbacks but not on matters of National Security. Let the forces be free of politics and the usual corruption. Otherwise, we are going to see more of these happening and like 13/12 gave way to 26/11, 26/11 will give way for something else and becoming just another date.
At this moment in time, 26/11 is a date that has been gaining popularity among the world. Not going into what happened, I am going to ramble on the post-26/11 ramifications, from different perspectives.
Increasing Intolerance
Despite the numerous criticisms on Mr. Manmohan Singh that he has been soft on terror, the truth remains that Indians' intolerance is on the rise. Almost all reactions has been based on an emotional basis rather than on a rational basis. The day the carnage was brought to an end, the famous Shobha De came on air and started lambasting everyone around saying the NDTV's very famous theme during the coverage - "Enough is enough". Though her anger was valid and understandable, as are those who are angry about the whole situation, most of them fail to understand that it is a multi-pronged issue.
In the very same programme, there were other folks like Arun Shourie and other representatives of parties like Jayanthi Natarajan from Congress and from BJP. While Ms. De was continuing with her "Enough is enough" backed by the Channel which took it as its theme, there were visble discontent on the receiving end. Her "Enoughs" were both on the Domestic front as well as on the dealing with terrorism. Saying that decisive action needs to be taken and folks who were responsible for the failure should step down taking moral responsibility. I agree, but failure to understand the root cause will result in all these becoming short-term solutions than long-term ones. That is of course the effect of decisions taken in a state of anger. Of course, there are a bunch of folks to substantiate what Shobha did, like here. So folks, my request is be angry, but not intolerant; be rational and not emotional.
I do not want to get this issue to be discussed beyond a single post.
The Debate
Each individual was saying a few points. There were lots of reasons thrown out there, most of them were good, but what disturbed were the following. Each person was trying to downplay the other's solutions saying that it is not the real solution and went on to talk about their solutions. Even the host didn't help much. What I felt was that all points were valid and the solution should be nothing less than an all-of-the-above approach.
Soft on Terror
Even though I do not like Manmohan Singh's style of administration, I am going to give him the credit. Anybody who accused him of being soft on terror need to understand one thing. He is an economist, so much to say, he is considered the father of financial reforms in India. Without him, BJP would not have had the framework to continue with the growth that we saw. True, we were exposed to Globalization and we are affected now because of it. We do need to understand that with a beautiful seaview house comes the risk of Tsunamis. As any economist would say, any war would put a strain on the economy. Without a strong economy it is going to be difficult to support a full fledged war.
In my opinion, first, we still do not have the economic might to engage in an another war and still be resilient. The second reason is what Ms. Natarajan responded to Ms. De "Has Shobha heard about 'Actionable intelligence'?". I agree there. You cannot do anything with intelligence reports in the likes of Nostradamus predictions. CIA is one of the world's best. They were contemplating many terror scenarios including attack on the WTC and Pentagon by ramming planes. Yet it happened. The intelligence failure was the main reason why it happened and not inaction on the part of the Government.
Internal Strengthening (Playing Defense)
The Government's failure was not its inaction but the failure to address the weakness in forces. There are still flks who believe that the Indian intelligence is second to none and start their usual basking in glory of something that happenned so long ago, nobody knew how long ago. This is not going to be an easy task. The Government would have to step up to the plate and give serious consideraton to improving the capabilities. Police forces at the ground level are nothing but a corrupt lot. At least, spend mre money for those critical folks who work in the intelligence establishment. Procure more infrastructure for the defense forces. Provide importance to RAW and IB. When an ex-RAW officer writes about the corruption, instead of taking steps, they sue him??!! Rather than attack folks who provide constructive criticisms, they need to rope in people who can hel eliminate it.
In this sense, rhetorics are not going to make things done. Action on the part of the Government and the corrupt politicians. Let them get kickbacks but not on matters of National Security. Let the forces be free of politics and the usual corruption. Otherwise, we are going to see more of these happening and like 13/12 gave way to 26/11, 26/11 will give way for something else and becoming just another date.
