Are the politicians to be blamed entirely?

Travelling in Mumbai immediately after the terror attacks has been a strange experience. In many places, I hear voices of great anger against the politicians and the willingness to be a part of an uprising. Alternatively, if you carefully read the sign boards of various local mandals and political parties, you will notice the strong sense of regionalism that still exists within the hearts of many.

I have read many signboards that intend to show any group's solidarity only towards the Maharastrian martyrs. They specifically call out - Hallyat melelya marathi mansana bhaavpoorn shraddhanjli. This means - Our deepest condolences for Marathi people who have lost their life and loved ones during the attacks. Now, where do the sacrifices made by Major Unnikrishnan, Havaldar Singh or others go?

Most sign boards put up by the political parties do not even mention the names of the two martyrs from NSG. Again, we can say that the political parties are leveraging the local emotions by condoling the local martyrs, but is it fair? Even local mandals are also promoting the same propoganda. It makes me very sad to say that although we are experiencing a major angst against the system, but major part of the population is still sticking to the regional elements and once the mood sombers a little, our leaders would be back with their regional or communal propaganda.

If I introduce the demand-supply concept of economics, which states that – As demand for a commodity rises, its price increases and producers of the commodity produce more of the commodity to leverage the growing demand and gain maximum profit.  Now, consider the regional or communal card sold by the politicians as a commodity and the politicians as the producers of the commodity. Replace us as the buyers of the politicians’ commodity (divisive politics),  then what we are left with is – The reason politicians are selling such divisive politics is because they have enough buyers in the market. All of you who read the blog might not be influenced by the politicians, but would surely know some people who buy such thoughts.  What I request you to do is try to pacify such thoughts in your friends or family members. As a result, it is not only the politicians who need to be blamed, but also the people who have been buying their thoughts and many of us who have not done anything to change the thinking of such people over the years. We might not be able to lead an uprising, but we can surely make such a small difference.

To make an additional point – Even I deeply condole the sacrifice of our policemen and the police force will surely miss such officers. Even I know some honest and senior officers who have now opted to serve as Indian envoys in foreign countries due to the corruption and politicians in India. Hence, I salute Karkare, Salaskar and Kamte who opted to stay in the system and fight. However, I also salute the NSG commandos who were thorough professionals and performed their duty whole heartedly.