Weekend Edition: India asks how much is too much

CHANGE WE NEED: Will the country unite against terror? Rajdeep Sardesai and Weekend Edition panel discuss.

                  

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How many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind

-- Bob Dylan (Blowin' in the Wind)

After a 62-hour-long operation, Mumbai was reclaimed on Saturday from the terrorists who held it hostage with the bloodiest and one of the most daring operations in the country's history, but not without paying a price.

Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and National Security Guard (NSG) commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan died in the line of duty as did eight other policemen and commandos.

The bloody siege of 26/11 — as it's now being called — is being compared to America's 9/11, and not without reason. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil's claim that terrorists had sinister plans to kill at least 5,000 people has added to the fear psychosis.

India is angry and is demanding answers. It is the big question: Could more have been done to prevent the Mumbai massacre? Will the country come together? How long will the cycle of terror last and what will it take to put an end to it?

Weekend Edition with Rajdeep Sardesai debated and discussed some of those pertinent questions with a panel comprising IBN-Lokmat editor Nikhil Wagle; celebrity and author Shobhaa De; financial analyst Abhay Aima; former Mumbai police commissioner M N Singh; and MP (south Mumbai) Milind Deora.

FIGHT BACK! BUT HOW?

Underlining the popular sentiment, Shobhaa De began the debate with a "fight back" war cry. “Mumbaikars are burning with rage and are looking for leadership that the city has spectacularly failed to provide. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh says there was information but not specific ones. As if terrorists will call and inform the CM about the locations they intend to strike! I have never heard such a ridiculous statement," she said.

De insisted heads must roll and the CM and Home Minister Shivraj Patil must resign because it was not just Mumbai under attack. It's India under attack. "Let's not make it a regional problem. What are we waiting for?" she asked.

SMSs like "Danger doesn't come on boats, it also comes from ones who give votes" are being circulated across mobile networks and the Internet has been the witness to the outpouring like never before.

Abhay Aima spoke in the context of "impotent rage" and said it was easy to hold hands and have a candlelight vigil or two, it was very difficult to control who was getting voted from where. "India is also MP, UP, Bihar. That's where these people get voted back," he said.

An angry De also called for a ban on candlelight vigils and asked news channels to not play up "inane" sound bytes from "celebrities mouthing platitudes" at these events.

If there's anger among the citizenry, anger was also palpable at Hemant Karkare's funeral where many policemen expressed distress at the manner in which politicians were compromising the police. But can that anger translate into action? Citizens can't surely wield AK 47s. That's the job of the police. M N Singh agreed the problem of terrorism had been so badly politicised that the nation wasn't together in the fight against it. "We have lost some of our finest men. Mumbai police have done a remarkable job. We must salute them and NSG. One should look at overhauling Mumbai's police apparatus," he said.