The only shame is to have none

Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, went on an official tour of the Taj along with Ram Gopal Varma & Ritesh Deshmukh. Deputy Chief Minister said on national television that “In a big city, small incidents like this keep happening. One should not call it a failure of intelligence.” Obviously he thinks his job description is limited to moral policing of dance bars in Mumbai. Shivraj Patil was quoted as saying, “Thankfully, the terrorists did not kill too many foreigners.” Obviously, the death of 160 Indians (apart from the 22 tourists) was not enough to make his blood curdle. His insensitivity was evident even after the Delhi blasts in September, when he needed to go home & change his outfit before he could mobilize the armed forces because he is used to changing his outfits 4 times a day!!! Thank God he’s gone! L K Advani couldn’t attend the all-party meet called by Manmohan Singh on Saturday because he was busy campaigning for the elections in Rajasthan & it wouldn’t have been possible for him to leave midway, national security be damned!!

Let’s face it…we are being governed by a bunch of selfish idiots who are concerned only about their vote banks. They do not care for the lives of Indians as long as they have power.

On the other hand, IB & RAW claim to have issued repeated advisories to the Navy, warning them of the Indian seas being infiltrated by terrorists, the latest coming on Nov 18th stating that “a ship full of dangerous cargo has left Karachi & may be headed towards Gujarat”. Check this out as per NDTV’s reports :

“In March 2008, intelligence agencies had warned the Maharashtra government that the Gateway of India and Oberoi Trident hotel were potential targets. Sources said that it was revealed by Fahim Ansari who was arrested in Lucknow.

Later in August, intelligence agencies warned the crime branch that the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was training 500 to 600 terrorists for attacks through sea. Agencies said that the terrorists would be disguised as fishermen. They also mentioned that two West Asians recced Goa and Mumbai for two whole months.

On August 21, the Fishermen Union complained to police that illegal permissions were issued to 800 Gujarati trawlers. Majority of the crewmen were Bangladeshis. The Union feared that RDX was being trafficked through those trawlers.

Then in September, the Maharashtra state police was again warned of potential attacks on the Taj and Oberoi Trident hotels. Agencies also mentioned that terrorists were doing recces of the targets. Following that, a month later, intelligence agencies warned of a sea-borne attack and said an Indian, unmarked vessel might be used.

Finally, on November 18, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) again issued a warning to the Coast Guard, Navy and Maharashtra Police that the Taj and Oberoi were potential targets.Naval intercepts revealed "chatter" on the sea and RAW said that the attack was being planned by the Lashkar-e-Toiba's naval wing”

Why were these warnings repeatedly ignored by the Government of Maharashtra & by India’s usually efficient and well-regarded Navy? The attacks cannot be called “unfortunate” or an intelligence failure. There was sufficient intelligence about it, alright. These attacks were a direct result of the Government’s negligence, callousness & apathy towards the plight of citizens in the face of terror. This Government should be charged for large-scale manslaughter & those accountable should be penalized as per the Constitution of India. Nothing less should suffice.

PS: By the way, I want to know where Raj Thackrey is now? Probably cowering inside his house somewhere. Whatever happened to his zeal to protect the interests of his "marathi manoos"? I am sure he has no answers...because he can only wreak havoc when he's dealing with a powerless enemy, like the North Indians in Mumbai...because most of the men from NSG who stepped up bravely to rescue the hostages in "his" Mumbai were non-Marathis. Imagine if they had refused to do so. I shudder to think of what would have happened in Bombay.