JOB VACANCY FOR LEADER

QUALIFICATION: STATESMANSHIP

The blasts at Modi’s rally in Patna have once again given an indication of the things that are in store for the country as it inches towards the 2014 General Elections. The elections involving a few key State Assembles to be held this year, are being touted as the semi-finals in the run up to the big one which will decide whether Narendra Modi rides into 7 Racecourse Road as its occupant for the next five years in 2014, or does this dream remain unrealised. It seems that the blasts are just the beginning of a series of unsavoury happenings which will crop up every now and again as the political players dig deeper and deeper to find new lows in our political discourse.

Nitish Kumar, Bihar CM, has said, “Different political parties had been opposing each other on the basis of policies and ideologies, but there was no history of confrontation at such a level. Today's blasts indicate a conspiracy”. He goes on to add, “We should remain united at this hour and work together to suppress the elements bent on vitiating the atmosphere in Bihar."

It may be mentioned that as soon as the blasts at Modi’s Hunkar Rally in Patna occurred, we heard reactions from both BJP and Nitish Kumar’s party JD(U). Nitish Kumar was responding to the BJP allegations of “lax security” and “criminal negligence”. Former deputy of the Bihar CM, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, “Despite our repeated warnings to the administration, the government did not take required measures”.

In all these verbal slugfests what is being forgotten is that this sordid episode has left half a dozen men dead and many more injured. The reaction to this immense tragedy is not human from the political parties, it is political. Even when one’s worst enemy meets a bloody end caused by as violent an event as a bomb blast, the first reactions are always ones of sympathy. It is astonishing that the political parties seem to be looking at only the vote-dividend in it. What is even more disturbing is the disposition which displays a refusal to learn lessons from this sad happening.

The patently inept Bihar Police has once again lived up to its infamous reputation. It completely failed to search the rally venue and render it sanitised. This is what happens all the time not just in Bihar, but in other parts of India as well. We can never be sure about safety at public places, places of worship, transport stations and large congregations. This happens more due to inadequate manpower and out-dated equipment than due to lack of proper training. There is a lot of experience that police forces all over the country have in making arrangements at venues where popular leaders have to make public appearances. The uniformed policemen in any such public gathering are successful only if there is adequate intelligence back-up. Indian Mujahidin (IM), who are now being suspected to be behind these blasts, were also responsible for the Bodh Gaya blasts a few months ago. Yasin Bhatkal had, in his statements, mentioned that about 60 youngsters have been recruited from Bihar to participate in different terrorist attacks in the country. It has also come to light that the activities of IM are aimed at creating a climate of distrust between Hindus and Muslims. The idea is not to cause major explosions, but just to keep the trepidation alive so that the two communities do not feel comfortable with each other. It is evident in the Patna incident that the intention was not to target Modi ar a very large number of people.

There are two areas of failure by Bihar Police in the episode at Patna:

1.      Failure to gather intelligence about the conspiracy to cause serial blasts, especially in the light of what had happened at Bodh Gaya recently and the facts as were learned from the statements by Yasin Bhatkal.

2.      There was an inadequate screening of those who came to the public meeting. Granted that all those who come to a huge rally like the Hunkar Rally cannot be frisked, and the metal detectors are known to be ineffective at venues like the one in Patna, there is no explanation for having totally missed out on half a dozen locations where the bombs had been planted.

Another question that must be settled after all the sad experiences that nation has had: should leaders be allowed to disregard warnings from intelligence agencies. We have lost a serving Prime Minister, one ex-PM and, above all, the Father of the Nation even when they were warned about imminent danger to their lives.

Unfortunately, the blasts in Patna have led to a disturbing discourse, in which anti-Modi activists are charging him with staging the explosions himself, and BJP supporters are claiming that the terror attacks were a plot engineered by political opponents. This indicates a very perilous trend in Indian political life. The nation needs statesmen who can rise above party-politics and the greed for vote banks. It will suit outfits like IM, LeT and Pakistan’s ISI perfectly if activities like the one at Modi’s rally are allowed to sully the communal atmosphere in the country. Should such a trend be occurring, as it unfortunately appears to be happening, then all the major political parties must get together in meeting a challenge which will become only more critical as we move closer to the General Elections 2014.

*****