Leading Astray:

July 18/2011: The intelligence set up in this country is totally defunct. The nation is completely dependent on inept Indian Police Service officials, nay, call them employees, for every kind of security related operations. They are neither interested to excel nor motivated by nationalism. A job holder always wants to play safe. Our Police establishment is a great example of a persistent colonial mindset that percolates from the top most post, namely, Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB)—the IPS equivalent of the IAS’ Cabinet Secretary-- to the States’ Director Generals and downwards to the Superintendents of Police of every district in this country. It must be added that a servant is a servant. Delineation of duty, working hours, postings and transfers guide these people throughout their working lives. The desire to excel is a rare virtue among IPS officers. Forget the virtue of being virtuous. They are completely unaware of any such thing existing on earth. It is therefore a miracle that we still have a semblance of law and order prevailing on our streets. The recent Coimbatore incident where a young man, riding a motorcycle, was purposefully tripped and attacked and killed in broad daylight is but just an indicator of where we are heading. In the same breath it must be added that being such a heavily populated country, our Police forces may not be adequately manned or equipped to handle the responsibilities entrusted to them. Accepting this line of argument also implies that those involved in that work must endeavor to find ways and means to improve efficiency within given circumstances. That is not being noticed at any stage. 

Even when looked at in close quarters, let us accept the morbidity of the situation. Everyone claims the youth will change things. Let’s take a close look at all the young IPS officers heading the district police forces in Orissa. Barring a few, most are incapable of taking any impartial decisions. Nearly all of them are totally dependent on corrupt subordinates to guide them as they do not wish to go to the field. Cop stations, depending on importance and money earning capabilities, are virtually auctioned. The low down officers who bid the highest get the plum postings and of course, in return, they got to take care of the district head’s needs and dreams. Nowadays, unlike previously, police stations controlling highways or liquor prone areas are not the lucrative postings. Areas where industries are coming up are safer and more interesting to make a quick hefty packet for the Police. Industry promoters are openly paying off the Orissa Police which in turn goes all out to suppress and subjugate the local populace. Everyone in the establishment is aware and yet prefers to turn a blind eye. So much for the young IPS officers of our state. Let us understand that it is the same kind of human resource that controls our intelligence and anti terror units at the national level too. Resultantly we saw the Bombay blasts and keep seeing such other incidents on a regular basis. While countries like the US of A have been able to completely thwart any further terror acts after 9/11, we are being plagued with repetitive incidents which are getting worse.

Add to this the dirty game being played by those in power. Rahul Gandhi, whom many assume is the Prime Minister-in-waiting, while on a tour of Orissa on 14 July, the day the Bombay blasts took place, said that it is "very difficult" to stop every single terror attack in the country. "We will stop 99 per cent of terror attacks but one per cent of attacks might get through," he said at a Press conference at Bhubaneswar. It may be arguably a statement close to reality but is it to be accepted that the Indian Nation will be hit regularly and it is helpless, in however small a percentage?

Similar is the case of another prominent Congress loud mouth. Digvijay Singh, a former two time Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh as also a national level Congress functionary, Saturday courted another controversy by saying “he did not rule out the involvement of Sangh (RSS) in Mumbai serial blasts. I do not rule out anything. If they (the investigating agencies) want evidence about Sangh's involvement in terror activity, I have got evidence," Singh told the media. On Sunday, 17 July, the same man says in Ujjain that "I have been saying that RSS was spreading terrorism in the country and it has been making bomb factories."

When people are actually bleeding and dying on the streets and the whole country is shaken, men like Rahul and Digvijay make a joke of all of us. For a common man, these utterances by them show that the investigating agencies are being prodded to take it easy and indications are being clearly given that carry on the search in a particular direction. If some of us refuse to accept the latent danger in these words, who knows where we will all land up in the not so very distant future.