First, Happy Diwali and my head still hurts from last night. And five hundred rupees in tens can really stuff your wallet. Sidharth organised a great party yesterday and some of us had a very entertaining time playing teen-patti. Small stakes of 10/20, but I still managed to end the night with one hell of a lot of ten rupee notes. A lot of them, and many twenty buck notes as well. A breakfast at Fortune Global wasn't too bad as well.
Anyway, coming back to the Delhi blasts, yesterday's TOI had a front-page edit advocating the imposition of laws that could prevent attacks like what happened on Saturday. Essentially, I believe the newspaper was asking for a reimposition of the rather repressive POTA. An act that the Congress government repealed (rather than modifying it) when they came to power. Strange because Maharashtra (despite a Congress government, though it is the strangest Congress government in the country) still has the even more repressive MCOCA.
India has suffered terrorism for longer for almost any country in the world save Israel/Palestine (Note, I equate both parties in the Middle East). The killing of soldiers and paramilitary forces in attacks might be shocking, but since they are still 'soldiers', I could still at one level understand those attacks. But the killing of women and children who are out with their families is indefensible at any level.
However, will it be correct to impose an authorotarian act upon us because of that? I don't know, because I do not know how authorotarian the act will be. Will it be as invasive as the 'Patriot Act' that the US has? Or will it just add another level of security to Indian streets? Frankly, I still feel no matter how much security you have through metal detectors and guys feeling up my ass-cheeks every time I fly, India by its sheer crowd and inherent open-ness will continue to have the occasional attack - killing even more civilians.
The only way I feel we can tackle this is to be proactive (a la Israel) and just send a few of those Sukhoi's we have parked at Pune across the LoC and attack the militant camps once and for all. But with this government, which breeds corruption (Natwar Singh, Hullloooo?) and then denies it (Mitrochkin is a lying bastard and now Paul Volker is being tarred too, lets just forget Lalu) is not going to be the one to do it.
Somehow, at a karmic level we are being punished for having elected this bunch of jokers into power.
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2 comments:
Glad you had so much fun! K, it seems like th Asian way to me. Just look around China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, all of them deal with corruption by sweeping it under a rug and pretending no one will notice. India's no different.
I'm appalled that instead of conducting their own inquiries the government just decides to dismiss the UN report offhand. But if it is not this bunch of jokers, it would be another bunch. Bear in mind, that I'm not a cynic when it comes to the political system, I remain an optimist, but we need systemic change.
I don't think POTA is the answer, for that matter any law which is made for the exception is always going to be misused. Moreover, if we could only enforce existing laws effectively, we could effectively cut down on all this crap. Instead, we believe that bringing stronger laws, with the same dweebs enforcing them, would sort the issue out. Eventually, be it bombs or be it lousy leaders, it is only the people, alert and pushing for a positive change, can make a difference.
Sad as it is, I think I'd agree with the late Mrs Gandhi, corruption is going to be around. I don't see where it is not there, left, right ,centre, I don't believe in what anyone says or does for that matter. The Mitrokhin archive and Paul Volker is nothing new, everyone has their hands dirty and it will never go away. This is how power and influencing people works out. You can get infuriated about this as much as you want, but it won't change, only the clowns at the top do.
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