The Real Terrorists

I have been giving deep thought as to who should actually qualify for the tag of “terrorist”. Are misguided and brain washed youth with weapons of destruction who come once in a while and wreak havoc on an unsuspecting populace better deserving of this tag or is it the PWD workers / bureaucrats / politicians / cops who in the guise of serving the people end up making life miserable on a daily basis to almost the entire citizenry more deserving of the tag? Do give it some thought.

I do agree that killing people through violent means definitely qualifies as an act of terror as and when it happens. In such a scenario unknown people kill wantonly and sometimes escape and in other cases are either killed or arrested – after their arrest what happens – is justice delivered? Is it seen to be delivered – in fact by the time it is delivered the act of violence invariably has faded away from peoples memory.

What about those people who make life a daily living hell for the vast majority – the citizens are dying in their minds, leading to more and more suicides and accidents - whether of students, businessmen or farmers – who is responsible for that? Is responsibility ever pinned down on the workers/bureaucrats/politicians/policemen where it is established that people have lost their lives through either active or passive negligence? Are these people ever punished? In fact the fast track way to escape punishment for most of these guys if ever caught is to fake a heart attack and get into a hospital on medical grounds or to get elected to Parliament!

The reason for today’s post is because the road once again has caved in at Jacob Circle (Saath Rasta) – third time this year – at least no lives lost. Such shoddy work paid for by tax payers who get jack shit for the money spent. The people responsible for this mess should be asked to rectify the situation personally – by personally I mean the culprit should be taken to the site physically and asked to do manual labor to repair the damage. Exemplary punishment of a similar kind where the suffering public can see and taunt the offenders is likely to bring some kind of attitude change in these thick skinned morons. The ordinary citizen suffers on a daily basis for basic necessities – water, electricity, decent roads, decent public toilets etc. The water mains are the site for hutments - water from which is accessed daily by the hutment dwellers – so where is the hygiene; electricity is always in short supply, for more than 15 years not a single additional megawatt of power has been added by the government, excluding the expensive scandal ridden, mostly non-functioning Enron power; decent roads - those are available only if you travel to Gujarat (Mumbai has got a mother lode of gold, hence almost all roads are always dug up); decent public toilets – who needs those when you have roads, footpaths and railways to defecate or pee (the modest guys use an umbrella to hide their face – but can’t do that to their base!).

Rs. 127 crore was sanctioned by the State Government for purchase of various arms and ammunition. The purchase was to happen in March, but the fiscal year has passed and probably the budget lapsed, but the purchase has not gone through - can you guess why? It is because some bureaucrat sitting in Mantralaya thought the right forms were not filled, or something to that effect. Now tell me who is the real terrorist!

So who are the real terrorists? You decide. It is very important to know the difference as elections are just round the corner. Will you be voting for “terrorists” or for someone who is worth voting for – someone who can make a difference to our daily lives?!?