December 6, 1992 :
A dark day in the history of India. A blot on Indian democracy. The day on which lakhs of Karsevaks under the umbrella of various factions of Sangh Parivar of course exhorted by the latter thronged Ayodhya and turned the 16th century mosque Babri Masjid into rubble in the full glare of television channels across the nation. The Indian citizens held their breath, fearing and often wondering the consequences of such an infamous shocking thuggery of a group of venomous ‘snakes’- religious fanatics- who actually went out of their senses in the course of destruction of a historical and sacred monument.
Ruling mandarins of Indraprastha with the late Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao at the helm as usual expressed shock for namesake condemned the wanton act and kept quiet. The erstwhile Chanakya of Indian politics was already alleged to have a soft corner towards Sangh Parivar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, must have been happy on being kept abreast of the dark developments across the nation.
The communal venom spread like wild-fire across India and the Hindu and religious fanatics inflamed by communal passions directed their anger, outburst, vandalism, destructive tendencies with murderous weapons in hands went on a killing spree.
The shocking attacks and murders enacted in Mumbai with both communities closing in menacingly against each other resulting in hundreds of deaths and about thousand maimed within no time soon after the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid, ie; in 1993. Since then the cosmopolitan city couldn’t remain calmful, peaceful and tranquil with communal forces and terrorists ruling the roost. Occasionally, sorry, frequently is the ‘apt’ word, the terrorists who sneaked into the financial nerve-centre of our country struck at their will leaving the Mumbaites panicky with paranoid delusions haunting them.
Our leaders, both national and state level, often fly to Mumbai with tight security around them- precious lives certainly- whom we common citizens cannot afford to lose- and exhort the average Mumbaite not to lose calm, mental presence, tranquility and to remain resilient typical of a Mumbaite against any cruelties of wanton elements and with satisfaction our leaders fly back to the capital city of Delhi which has over the years turned into another hotbed of terrorist elements. They need not worry about the only ones who are forced to live in perpetual fear - common citizens of India either in Delhi, Mumbai or for that matter any other State in India.
The Babri Masjid episode is gradually fading into oblivion, the nightmares still dormant in our minds nevertheless, as new sordid developments like Godhra massacre in Gujarat under the behest of Narendra Modi, ironically he is safely enconsced in power to the horror of minority communities. The man is looking impatiently for a ‘historic day’ when he may or will be able to capture the throne in Indraprastha, the grim consequences of which we can very much imagine.
It is often said- time is the great healer- to certain extent true, otherwise for years since December 6, 1992, the secular minded people of our nation took care to commemorate that fateful day across India, pledging to uphold the sacred values like secular dramatic traditions in future for the welfare of our nation and youthful generation so as to keep them away from fissiparous tendencies and to guide them to lead a life of love and harmony irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
The preaching, pledge taking, passing resolutions to lead a life of amity, candle lighting across the nation all turned out to be mechanical, that also by a miniscule of the population at only a few places in India.
Nov 26, 2008
Another fateful day in the history of our nation especially our financial hub of Mumbai again bearing the brunt of terrorist menace. Ten LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) militants armed with sophisticated weapons to the shock of even our Security and Intelligence agencies, reached the shores of South Mumbai, in rubber dinghies and within no time entered the famous landmark of Taj Intercontinental, at GateWay of India, Oberoi Trident, Cama Hospital, Leopold Restaurant, Chaba house held the inmates hostages, gunned down them cold-bloodedly, many fell to the bullets and died on the spot, leaving many of them maimed for life including the security men and not satisfied with their thirst for blood, two of the assailants proceeded to CST (Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminus) wreaking havoc along the way and entered CST and went on with their gunning spree, massacring and maiming many innocents leaving a trail of blood.
More than sixty hours of hostage drama, cold-blooded killings, bitter fighting with the security men lasting for hours, nine of the militants succumbing to bullets, only one caught alive- none other than Ajmal Kasab who is still on trial. The faces of brave, resilient, do or die minded security men, Hemant Karkare, Sandeep Unnikrishnan and other heroes laid their lives for the security of their people are etched in our memory. The nation as a whole wept, the citizens across the world watched the blood-chilling happenings in Mumbai with shock and horror sitting in their drawing rooms’. The mind-numbing incidents must have left deep fears in their minds.
Nov 26, 2009
The first anniversary of 26/11 was commemorated across the nation in a solemn manner. To spread the message of unitedly fighting against this horrible threat our citizens converged at different locations of our nation, took pledge not to allow such menace recur again holding candle-lights paid tributes to those who laid down their lives- Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai ,New Delhi, and Thiruvananthapuram, to name a few.
This is the first commemoration of 26/11. More commemorations are to follow. Unlike Dec 6, 1992, let us hope and pray this noble and courageous service of our security men and their near and dear ones will be indelibly imprinted in our minds in the years to come. The several unsung ones who risked their lives to save other innocents like the employees of Cama hospital, Taj Intercontinental, Leopold Restaurant, Oberoi Trident, Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminus (CST) and Chaba house should not be forgotten at any cost. The reports coming to light about the non confirmation of many employees in their jobs who risked their lives to save the patients still remain unconfirmed. Similarly the kith and kin of several victims have yet to receive government assistance are shocking and painful to say the least. Our politicians are yet to learn their lessons to be humane. Will they? Or platitudes as usual which are always in abundance in their kitty? Further more providing more equipments to the security men won’t be sufficient and the government should take care to impart proper training, attractive salaries, employ young men, provide ample leisure time to these brave men.
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