September 15, 2008
 

Why the terrorists struck again today

The number one reason is that we have an absolute arsehole as a Home Minister. He's there on probably a 'Patil' quota. Alternately, as Mint & Tehelka mentioned last month, he's in that post because Sonia Gandhi is extremely grateful to him for having guided her between 1999 & 2004 and his interpretation of his job as being one where he needs to be balanced without take sides is admired by one and all.

In my opinion, the terrorists will keep getting away with these attacks as long as they target civilians. The moment a politician is affected, that's when the representatives will wake up and take action. We saw that with the Khalistan movement, especially after Indira Gandhi was assassinated. We also saw the stance taken by various parties against the LTTE after it assassinated Rajiv Gandhi.

I was totally frustrated and angry with seeing Shivraj Patil on TV, because I knew how he would condemn the blasts. He said

I strongly condemn today’s blasts in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the kin of the deceased and pray for speedy recovery of the injured. The fact that the blasts took place in crowded markets on a Saturday indicates the evil intention of the culprits to cause maximum casualties and damage.

Anti-national elements have been trying to disturb peace and create panic among the people in various parts of the country. The Government will continue to deal firmly with such elements. I am confident that security agencies will soon be able to get to the bottom of these incidents and the culprits will be brought to book. Let us on this occasion deal with the situation with confidence and maintain peace and tranquility and defeat the nefarious design of the culprits.

So I set about digging up previous statements he (and his other ministers) had made when there were blasts earlier. The template is as follows - "I condemn today's blasts in _CITY_. I appeal to people to maintain calm and foil the designs of anti-national elements who aim to disturb the communal harmony. I am confident that the culprits will be brought to book.". Seems like a pretty easy job, doesn't it? In fact, I sincerely hope he doesn't have a speech-writer on his staff.

In a previous post, I had wondered if Shivraj Patil would have the dubious distinction of being in charge when the most terrorist attacks happened in India. I'm not sure if its easy to answer that question. Yet, going by the Ministry of Home Affairs website, there been over 20 (yes!) terrorist attacks in India, including today's, since the blasts in platform six of Varanasi railway station in March 2006 while my parents were on platform one.

1. 7 Mar 2006 @ Varanasi
   
2. 14 Apr 2006 @ New Delhi
   
3. 21 May 2006 @ Srinagar
   
4. 1 Jun 2006 @ Nagpur
   
5. 11 Jul 2006 @ Srinagar
   
6. 11 Jul 2006 @ Mumbai
   
7. 8 Sep 2006 @ Malegaon
   
8. 18 May 2007 @ Hyderabad
   
9. 26 May 2007 @ Guwahati
   
10. 29 Jul 2007 @ Srinagar
    
11. 12 Aug 2007 @ Assam
    
12. 23 Nov 2007 @ UP
    
13. 13 Dec 2007 @ Assam
    
14. 17 Dec 2007 @ Manipur
    
15. 1 Jan 2008 @ Rampur
    
16. 13 May 2008 @ Jaipur
    
17. 25 Jul 2008 @ Bangalore
    
18. 26 Jul 2008 @ Ahmedabad
    
19. 13 Sep 2008 @ New Delhi

This works out to something like a terrorist attack every 6 weeks! Note that I may have missed out on some attacks because of oversight (it's nearly midnight!). I also notice that there was no press release displayed for the Samjhauta Express bombings in Feb 2007 and the Lumbini Park blasts in Aug 2007 (Hyderabad).

Also note that this isn't by any means an exhaustive list of situations where Shivraj Patil has been caught with his pants down. If we added the incompetent handling of the Amarnath Yatra crisis, naxalite terrorism in the North East, Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh & Chattisgarh, then we'd get to around one incident a week!

As long as ministries are allotted to hopeless, incompetent arseholes because they've sucked up to a dynasty more than others, we will continue to bear the cost of terrorism.

Update: Noted on Vipin's latest blog post another instance of how politicians are provoked into action against terrorists only when they're impacted - the attack on Parliament on Dec 13, 2001.

Labels: india, shivraj patil, terrorism

Rambled @ 11:44 AM

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3 comment(s)

Stupid Shivraj patil should be kicked from the home ministry .

By  Veresh (Sep 15, 2008, 6:43:00 AM)  

pSecular media's response to bombings:

DAY1:
Blame the Home Minister and the police

DAY2:
Hold RSS, BJP and Modi responsible

DAY3:
Assert that Muslims are the real victims. Criticize the law enforcement people for taking suspects into custody.

By  tat_tvam_asi (Sep 15, 2008, 7:56:00 AM)  

operation BAD is completed successfully by the terrorists.

it seems chennai is missing in the list of 19 blasts which you have listed. and mumbai not being in blasts for quite a while.

there next target should be chennai and mumbai

In order to capture these terrorists, i think the only one person can do it from tamilnadu. it is our Captain. only he can do it

By  balachandar muruganantham (Sep 15, 2008, 10:13:00 AM)  

I'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. Obviously comments containing offensive and unsuitable language will be deleted. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own blog, especially if it discusses issues you find here.

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