I Believe I Can Fly!

I felt really sad for the “real heroes” after following the Mumbai Rampage for about 60 hours. NSG Commandos, MARCOS, Police, ATS and Fire Brigade were the real heroes who took on the responsibility of saving the nation and lives of countrymen from this devastating attack. Politicians and bureaucrat are only for the purpose of sepnding our tax money for their luxuries.

Often many Governments invite various superstars to their State. For them, they will arrange best car for transport, they will sponsor them a business class seat on airlines but our NSG commandos have to wait and travel in BEST buses – even after their outstanding performance. They saved us. Shouldn’t they be given special treatment as a way of saying “thank you”? Shouldn’t there be a better mode of transport. They were on the grounds for 60 hours – fighting with terrorists in all odds, in middle of fire, bullets flying everywhere, grenades being launched but without even thinking of their own life they were there trying to save us and what have we given back to them?

It took them 9 and half hour from the first fire to start their operation. The reason – bad planning of the Government. NSG Commandos are based at Delhi, they were woken up from their sleep and got ready as soon as they can with all their arms and ammunations. It was then that the officials realised that an aircraft that is capable of flying 200 commandos was not in Delhi but was at Chandigarh. The pilot was woken up and then commandos were waiting for the aircraft in Delhi. Now the flying speed of this aircraft is not great. It took nearly 3 hours to reach them to Mumbai and then they boarded on BEST buses and it took them 40 minutes to reach to the site from the Airport.

The other argument could be, if you expect our NSG commandos to travel in BEST buses, why not our politicians? They are also suppose to “serve” the nation. What is so great about them? Why do they have to travel with all comforts?

There is only one debate going around the world at this moment and it is the Mumbai Rampage. The incident is really distressing and in a way it is a challenge to democracy. I have been following up the incident since the time it started. I was astonished to see how much prepared were the terrorists.

The plans and actions of terrorists clearly indicates that they have done their homework properly. They have studied the areas and the properties which are under attack and surely for this purpose, they would have visited India for 3-4 times before the attack. The question is how come Intelligence don’t have any clue about them? The Central and the State Government had no idea as well. Initially they didn’t take the attack seriously until they lost precious lives of few important top police personnel. What were the State Intelligience doing while this attack was being planned? Should we take this incidence as a failure of Government and lack of competence in combating terror? What lessons have India learnt from this? Why is the present Indian Government still soft on terror? What is the reason? Is it still because of votes that come from specific community?

It would also be interesting to see what steps are being planned. Globally this attack has been termed as “9/11 of India”. What happened after 9/11? Americans attacked the countries who were supporting the militants. Is India going to attack any country? I am sure India should as the country is witnessing such acts on a very regular basis. Since 50 years India is under constant attack. What is the reason for our silence? Shouldn’t we as a citizen ensure that we elect Government that is actually interested in well-being of country and not just their vote-bank?

I am sure if there would have had been enough voting for the LS election, we would not have elected this Government. The Government does not reflect sentiments of the nation except few minorities who has elected these people. One lesson that we have to learn, as a responsible citizen, is to go out and VOTE. It is equally important to speak out and raise our concerns. Let the authorities at least hear them and then leave it up to them to take the decision but at least we should exercise our rights.

Before the attack, there was another issue going around in Mumbai - The migration of North Indians in Mumbai. Most of the political parties came forward and said we are with mumbaikars. Some of the parties supported the migration. But where are all these people now? Why are they not there to help the citizens? I am not saying that they should go out and fight with the terrorists. No this is not their job. But they have to come forward and assure people of their safety. They have to come forward and establish a dialogue with the locals out there.

I saw Narendra Modi, Gopinath Munde and other leaders at the site, expressing their concerns. Where are others? This morning I received an SMS on my phone – “It is time we stand up for our country. No point sitting and talking we need to stand up for each other. It hurts to see my country bleed and hurts to see my fellow men die. We need to be counted and make a change. I need to make change, you need to make a change, we need to make a change…” This was the SMS that was sent by the National President of BJP (Yuva Morcha), Amit Thaker. I would like to post my comment through this Blog. Amitji we are ready for change. Let the opportunity come and we shall make a change. We stand with you and appreciate your effort for getting in touch with the citizens ACROSS THE WORLD who have been shattered.

At this stage, I, as an individual, also stand with the people of India and would like to express grief and sorrow over this tragic incident. I would also like to Salute the NSG Commandos, MARCOS, Army, Policemen and all others for their extraordinary efforts.

BJP has always been stronger, in most cases, at assembly elections. However when it comes to national politics, BJP somehow fails to manage Lok Sabha elections. What could be the reason behind it? Is it that BJP lacks state’s representation at national level or they don’t have enough “national” leaders?

If we follow the election campaign presently held by BJP, there has been some instances where national leaders were invited for campaigning. A growing role of Narendra Modi has also been seen. Are his visits to Mumbai, Bangaluru and other states indicating towards growth of a new “national” leader in BJP. Before becoming Chief Minister of Gujarat, he was active at national level but now it would be difficult for many to see him taking higher position in national politics of BJP.

Today BJP’s top brass seems to be divided on issue of using technology for election campaigns. Pramod Mahajan initiated use of technology but since his death, there is no one taking deep interest in making use of technology. However, there is one medium which everyone is using – Mobile Phones.

So coming back to the point of lok sabha election, what is it that BJP is lacking?

- National leader
- Election Manager
- Lack of consensus on election campaign including use of technology.

Don’t worry. My effort here is not to criticize my country like everyone does but its an effort to bring few things to the notice of my people and help them improve.

Infact India is one of the fastest growing country in the world and is second largest populated country of the world with population of over 1 billion. There are 4 Indian in Forbes World’s billionaires rich list namely Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani and K P Singh. India is growing leaps and bounds. But there are certain area which often put reputation of India on stake.

Recent incident of Air India plane falling on its nose at the Mumbai airport is one of them. We have this country-owned international airlines in operation which flies to many destinations (often with Indian passengers as others don’t prefer to fly in Air India) and it is this flight that was getting ready for boarding and nosewheel of the plane collapsed. There was a human error and as per the news agencies, it was fault of aircraft maintenance engineers. There is obviously financial loss associated with such incidence but the greater loss is of our country’s reputation.

I thought there is a long way for India to improve but at the same time, I am always surprised by the developments taking place in Gujarat which is largely due to the ruling government under the leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. An efficient BRTS is under its way and also now there is a major work going on with the improvement of Canals. Developments around Kankaria lake is also significant. I don’t know what others think but if we have a team of leaders who are really focused on growth and development, India can surely beat entire world.