The author is an old colleague of Mr. Hemant Karkare. He is a freelance trainer and a consultant sharing his expertise through Management Mantra. Sudha his wife is a niece of late Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan (her Ball Chacha). She was very much moved by the recent events in Mumbai and the deteriorating values in our society. She joins the author in paying her tributes to Hemant and great applause to his family for upholding the best social and personal values. Yes Hemant, Salaskar, Kamte, Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Gajendra Singh, bells are tolling for you from every nook and corner. Your tryst with your martyrdom is complete. All enemies are killed before your funeral. Congrats!
You have left us so poor that we cannot ever repay your debt. The whole country is proud of you. What an unprecedented gallantry! Entering the battle arena to lead the fight from the front! You have taken the front place among the frontline martyrs. Hemant, do you know who all came to bid you farewell? It was a buyer-seller meet. There were buyers who came with big gunny bags of Rs. 1 crore. That was the price to buy your illustrious career, a vibrant life dedicated to the nation, the supreme martyrdom and probably getting rid of you. No more Mumbai Bandh now on 1st December to protest against your Malegaon blast investigation? I am proud of your value system which you handed down to Amruta, Juhi, Sayali and Akash. They all proved that the criminal politicians may buy people and things with the help of their money power but not Hemant’s rock-solid value system. Don’t worry they will always remain happy with this asset you have given them. Shirish will stand by them. The whole country knows it and we are proud of you.
Ministers also came seeking a point of vantage in your house. Holding the wreath in their hands they were seen signalling the cameramen to take snaps to be passed on to media for their publicity. Van ‘manus’ also ventured to come out of his hideout after the flames of terror engulfing Mumbai were put out by our brave army, police and NSG commandos. These ‘VIPs’ didn’t know that your martyrdom has left them like Lilliputians, pigmies and dwarfs.
Later praising your martyrdom your Dy. Chief Minister said such ‘small one-off incidents’ do happen in a city like Mumbai. They should not trigger questions of intelligence failure. Is this the man and shameless people like him whom you fought for? As an Indian I bow my head in shame. Don’t mind Hemant for petty people who cannot conceal their poor family, cultural and educational milieu. We cannot expect anything better from them. They stand nowhere before your noble sacrifice.
A few days before you left us, the Prime Minister said: “Aspersions are being cast on police impartiality and capabilities…You must face up to the reality that many are convinced that police is less than fair… Avoid stereotypes that might enlarge fault lines in our society” (The Times of India dated 24.11.2008). My dear Prime Minister we regret that you did not assure that you will stop bulldozing of the police by your fellow politicians and break the unholy nexus between them and the police by bringing appropriate legislation whereby the police are responsible only to the Law and not to any politician. Why? Because this does not suit you and the criminal politicians. All of you consider police as your privy! The country thought that a blotless person, a genius like you with a clean background and excellent service record will rid us from the clutches of these criminal politicians and bureaucrats.
Hemant, Salaskar, Kamte, Sandeep and Gajendra have done what was expected of them. But now we doubt whether purifying the ‘dirty Ganga’ of these politicians and bureaucrats is a part of your mission. Why Sir? They say that we have a top politician in the country whose worth is Rs 29,000 crores. By a modest estimate, the number of criminal politicians in India who have stashed more than Rs 800 crores each and remitted the loot in foreign banks would be around 1500. What does that amount to? Rs. 800 crores x 1500 criminal politicians = Rs 12,00,000 crores black money. This entire black money has harmed the state exchequer, even by a modest estimate, to the tune of 1:2.This means they have caused a loss to the State to the tune of Rs 24, 00,000 crores and we know well that politics is the best money making business with great potential. You know how many political goons are sitting in your cabinet sharing the dais with you. You know how many criminal politicians should have been facing gallows today instead of becoming Ministers and Chief Ministers.
The Home Minister resigns on moral grounds. Why? He is oath-bound to protect the Constitution of India and discharge his duties accordingly. Thousands of people have lost their lives during his tenure as Home Minister. Should he not be tried in a court of law as any other culprit for his failure to protect these lives? You would have prosecuted any other person for his failure. His resignation is a political gimmick. Will his resignation change the rotting bureaucratic system inherited by us from the British? There is no guarantee that a new Home Minister will be better. Instead of holding the horns of the bull from the front we are shouting at it to bring it under control. The bureaucratic system virtually British has no change since independence. The C of ICS has been replaced with the A of IAS.
How long do you want the people of India to witness this melodrama without a poetic justice? What about the Chief Minister, the Dy. Chief Minister, police, IB, RAW, Costal Guards and other concerned departments of Maharashtra Government for gross dereliction of their duties? Was it not a total failure of the system due to inaction on various inputs provided by foreign countries and our own sources? Are they less responsible? Should they not be tried? They derive the sadistic pleasure in claiming to protect the remaining 4817 people targeted by terrorists without taking the blame for 183 avoidable deaths.
There are reports that our martyrs and the police force in Mumbai were provided with sub-standard bullet-proof jackets which could not protect them from AK-47 and AK-56 bullets. Are these politicians and bureaucrats not chummy with the suppliers of these inferior bullet-proof jackets? There must have been a deal between them with monetary or other considerations. Without holding criminal investigations into this most horrendous crime and prosecuting the criminals you have taken the simplest course of asking them to resign. What a shame? Should these ministers and the people associated with these departments not be prosecuted under Law? All this is happening in the biggest democracy of the world.
You expect people to retain their faith in democracy which has been exploited to the hilt by these dirty politicians. You expect martyrs like Hemant Karkare, Salaskar, Kamte, Sandeep, Gajendra and others to protect this democracy for you and the modern Gandhis to enjoy its fruits at the cost of their lives. Did you hear the voices of the men in the street demanding military rule in the country so that the criminal politicians are stashed in gunny bags and thrown into the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal? Today our forefathers would have felt ashamed that they gave freedom to their unworthy sons in a silver platter six decades ago. I think these unworthy sons are worse than British. Doubtless our systems of governance have become obsolete, outdated and non-operational. Politicians have no accountability to the people of the country.
Look at our corporate world. Accountability of even their Chief Executives is fixed. Are they not sacked immediately for any dereliction of their duties? Can’t we develop a similar sustainable system for every individual including the politicians and bureaucrats and implement it properly? Can’t we make the effective use of the Right to Information Act, 2005 by furnishing pertinent information to citizens who volunteer as NGOs to monitor regularly the performance of the government and its accountability? It is of paramount importance not only to make our people safe and secure but also to make them feel that they are safe. Each city has a civil defence system. We could make effective use of it. We may equip them with the required equipment and training. To keep people alert, mock drills could be conducted frequently with the involvement of civilians. This will make even the citizens more responsible.
It seems that terrorism has now become a reality and we should accept it as a part of our social system. The best way to deal with it is to remain prepared to face it. Passing on the blame to our neighbours is not going to help us. We should also remember that the Western countries are not going to help us except to pay lip sympathy. We will have to devise our own strategy by making our doors strong enough so that every outsider presses the bell aloud before entering our courtyard. Police have waited long enough for the political powers to initiate the moves to bring about a change. It is time the police acted to effect the change.
Before this country turns into total anarchy and the precious democracy is buried in the country by our present day politicians, Police Chiefs act now! Prove that the martyrdom of brave Hemant, Salaskar, Kamte, Sandeep, Gajendra and many others will not go in vain. Act truthfully, lawfully, impartially and with integrity in all your activities.
The politicians have forgotten Mahatma Gandhi because the modern Gandhis are their idols now. Since they have a borrowed conscience they justify brutal killing of innocent citizens. They eulogise the principle of bullet for bullet. They consider the death of 183 persons in Mumbai blast a ‘small one-off incident’ because the figure 183 is smaller than the 5,000 targeted by terrorists. Eschew violence and force without legal authority and abjure verbal abuses. Recognise the right of the people to express their views peacefully in a democracy. Treat people with respect and courtesy at all times and respect their human rights. Refuse to obey the illegal orders of your political and administrative bosses as provided under the Law.
A refurbished people-friendly police, judiciary and media seem to be our only hope to protect the citizens from these criminals. Do what Bapu called Daridra Narayan Seva. Stop pruning the leaves and ignoring the root. Uphold the majesty of justice. Serve as a social worker in uniform and implement social legislations with vigour. Your ethos should be ‘enablement’. Remove the guilt from your conscience of helping the criminal politicians in escaping the gallows and becoming the chief ministers and union cabinet ministers. Just convict one criminal politician and the whole country will bow before you in glittering confidence. Please do not show any mercy on these criminal politicians who have become billionaires by exploiting the illustrious names of their mentors like Mahatma Gandhi, Baba Sahib Dr. BR Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia and Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan. These national luminaries had no schools to train their so-called followers in the art and science of loot, hoodwinking, committing successful ‘ghotalas’ (scams), rapes and murders without being caught.
If you follow these principles all over the country, public will rally behind you, salute you and your martyrs and compel the criminal politicians to effect the much needed reforms in your organization. This will be the real tribute to your martyr colleagues. Jai Hind!!