Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 13, 2007
It is a sad comment on both our nation and
the Union Government that we recall the shocking terrorist strike on Parliament
House and the bravery of those who laid down their lives to protect the symbol
of India's sovereignty only when December 13 comes, that too if at all. Six
years ago India was prepared to go to war with Pakistan for masterminding
the terror strike; today we have all but forgotten that December day when
five terrorists sneaked into Parliament House compound and would have succeeded
in their grisly mission had they not been stopped by security forces. There
are no candle light vigils, nor does media take note of the anniversary. It
has been reduced to a photo-op with the Prime Minister, his Cabinet colleagues
and other senior politicians queueing up to place flowers at the memorial
plaque that has been put up on the outer wall of Parliament House and posing
for camerapersons in the hope of some media coverage. What is supposed to
be a sombre occasion of remembrance has become a ritual. It took the courage
of Ganga Devi, 52-year-old widow of Assistant Sub-Inspector Nanak Chand who
died fighting the terrorists on December 13, 2001, to bring home this truth
to those who matter in Government and the nation at large. Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, who claims to have spent sleepless nights worrying about the
fate of suspected terrorists, had neither the time nor the inclination to
spend a few minutes listening to the woes of Ganga Devi which would not be
dissimilar to those of others who lost their loved ones during the terrorist
attack. But Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, caught by news cameras with
a smirk on his face, was not so nimble-footed and had to bear the brunt of
Ganga Devi's wrath at being denied the help and assistance she had been promised
six years ago.
It is immaterial as to whether the Government has allotted petrol pumps to
the next of kin of eight of the nine victims -- it's not known why the ninth
has been excluded -- as is now being claimed, for what is important is that
the victims of the terrorist outrage should feel their husbands, sons and
fathers have not died in vain. Obviously they do not feel so, or else they
would not have boycotted the 'official' event; Ganga Devi came to speak her
mind and let the world know about what one newspaper has evocatively described
as "India's fake face". The enraged widow could not have been more
pithy and accurate in her description of the commemorative event as a "farce".
The Government's failure to provide appropriate and adequate benefits apart,
what has come to the fore is our indifference, as a nation, to the plight
of those who have suffered on account of terrorism. The pathetic condition
of Pandits who have been forced out of Kashmir Valley by Islamic terrorists
no longer bothers us; nor do we spare a thought for those who have died in
terror bombings, for instance in Mumbai, Delhi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Hyderabad
and numerous other places. This reflects poorly on our resolve to fight terrorism;
unless a nation declares 'never again', it will continue to happen again and
again. It should not surprise us that given our own failure, the Government
should have failed abysmally too, most glaringly so in not despatching Mohammed
Afzal, found guilty of plotting the attack on Parliament House, to the gallows.