The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai have reinvigorated a spectre that was rapidly diminishing in the minds of most – the spectre of organised terror. Even India, long attacked by fundamentalist terrorists for its secularism and democracy, was itself shocked by this brazen raid on progressive thought. Mumbai’s symbol of power and wealth, the Taj Mahal Hotel (coincidentally also one of its easiest targets), along with a group of other buildings including hangouts for the affluent and a Jewish centre, were brutally raided by a group calling themselves the ‘Deccan Mujahideen’ (The Economist 2008).
Groups of well-armed militants, apparently from Pakistan, (BBC 2008 ) forced the city to its knees for over 50 agonizing hours as Indian authorities tried to deal with the situation at hand. After a long siege, the elite NSG commandos, with aid from Army and Navy MARCOS commandos and the local police and Anti-terror squads, cleansed the targets of terrorists (CNN 2008 ). Over 170 lost their lives (CNN 2008 ), including 14 police, 3 NSG commandos, and 31 foreigners. Among the police slain were Hemant Karkare, head of the Anti-Terror Squad, and other senior members of the Mumbai squad, incapacitating the local authorities until the arrival of elite commando forces.
A captured terrorist has made confessions, linking the attacks to Pakistan (BBC 2008 ) and Lashkar-e-Toiba. This has triggered a war of words between India and Pakistan. Promises made by President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan to send the ISI head to help investigate the attacks, a groundbreaking move, was shouted down by opposition PML-N leaders (CNN 2008 ), and the Pakistani response, which was strong and decisive early on, has quickly become slow and tepid as Mr. Zardari has gotten bogged down by the partisan zealotry of Pakistani politics. This in turn has caused India to be more actively hostile towards Pakistan.
This makes it seem as if there is no possible positive course of action that can be taken from this tragedy. However, the horror of the attacks has opened up a new avenue for Indian politics. Across India, youth rallies have been held condeming the partisan antics of Indian politicians and the corruption of the all-encompassing Indian bureaucracy (The Economist 2008 ). This presents the nation with an unsurpassed oppurtunity at much-needed political reform. The old Indian political system of mindless populism may finally be (thankfully) dead. The age of babu politics, if at an end, may spawn a new era of proactive and committed politics. However, true change will take more than a few youth rallies.
If the Indian youth are truly committed to ridding the nation of its corrupt and ineffective old babus, a brand new stream of Indian politics needs to be developed from the ground up. Parties like the pseudosecular-populist Congress Party need to truly stand up for secularism, not be a minority rights’ group. Religious parties, like the BJP (Bharatiya Janata or Indian People’s Party) need to be given the guillotine. The greatest obstacle to a successful India is overcoming the bizarre not-quite-separation between religion and state. India needs to become a true secular nation.
Along with moving to remove all support from religious parties, India needs to give its state politics a direction – either towards federation or towards unison. If the former is chosen, then the state should truly act to restore and protect its culture. What happens too often is ethnic parties displaying xenophobia instead of acting to restore their heritage sites and protect their artistic and cultural heritage. A proper reorganisation of Indian politics while a great dream – is indeed just a pipe dream for now. However, it could be the culmination of the recent youth protests. Perhaps the next generation is finally fed up of bureaucracy and corruption.
With the babus quickly running out of scapegoats, one can only hope that Indians really aren’t a forgiving lot.
