Monday, November 14, 2005

The drama that is India

I thought this happened only in the movies. But Bihar proved me wrong. The very movie-like incidents in which a whole city was beseiged by Maoists who entered a jail, shot dead the jail warden, rescued their comerades and shot dead their opponents were a case in the point.

It also speaks volumes about the authority's complicity in the entire matter. I refuse to believe that such a large operation, involving hundreds of men, was carried out in utter secrecy and the intelligence did not know about it. Also, it is utter callousness on the part of the government to leave a city so woefully unmanned and vulnerable. The Election Commission has to own up part of the blame, if it "forces" administration to deploy a rather large chunk of its forces on election duty, Maybe getting a greater chunk of forces on election duty from outside the state is the solution. But whatever it is, it is a management failure, rather than anything else.

As has happened so many times in the past, this incident would soon be forgotten, the records remaining only in the memories of the people who've lost their near and dear ones, and some old dusty files in some government offices.

Solutions? Although I can come up with a zillion solutions, by this time I've become so hopeless and pessimistic towards India, that I don't think any of it would ever be implemented.

India, and Bihar in particular is on its way to the same fate as Tom Cruise's sungasses in Mission Impossible - "This device will self destruct in 5 seconds".

No comments: