Advantage terrorist

turn is met by lame excuses by the authorities. At the same time, a large section of social and political leaders along with eminent educationists and other influential personalities remains apathetic. We do not make an effort to understand or study such terrorism. Consequently, we fail to fully appreciate that such terror cannot be fought by security agencies or by government alone. The terrorist is invisible, alone or in small, tight groups, and secretive. The target is always open, exposed, largely unsecured. The advantage of timing, place and weapon is with the terrorist; the success of the attack lies in the element of surprise and swiftness inherent in such attacks. Yet no terrorist can mount an attack, much less succeed, without some sort of local apathy or support, overt or covert. The people of India need to fight terrorism as one people. Our war against such acts of terror has to be fought by the people as a whole. For such an effort, leaders, irrespective of parties and ideologies have to come together and act together.

But this is not happening. Before Independence, there was an all pervading spirit of patriotism across the country. Men and women, of varying age and circumstance, were ready to make any sacrifice for our freedom. In less than a decade after Independence in 1947, this spirit of patriotism has withered. How? Why? What and who contributed to this decline, this apathy? We, as the representatives of the people in one area or the other, need to introspect. We need to look back into the role the political parties have played down these past decades — more in dividing than in uniting our people, more in generating cynicism than fostering patriotism.

Recently, Lok Sabha proceedings of the two-day debate on a motion of no-confidence against the government were nationally televised. The vituperative exchanges and ugly scenes drove home the current reality: The leader is more important than the party, the party is more important than the nation. How can such leadership, this form of statecraft, inspire patriotism or further the spirit of sacrifice among people which is an imperative for progressive nationhood? I do not say that nothing good has been achieved in the five decades since Independence. But I feel that for India to achieve her destiny, we ought to think deeper about our situation.