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Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan…supreme sacrifice.

V. K. Madhav Mohan

The assault on Mumbai is like India’s ‘Pearl Harbour’. It has strengthened the resolve of ordinary Indians like no politician can even begin to understand. Millions upon millions are consumed by an internal fire that is no less than that which powered India to Independence in 1947.

What is now unfolding is what I call India’s Third War of Independence: the breaking of shackles that bind us, the chains of despair and cynicism that corruption, incompetent government and indecent politicians have gleefully bound us in for six decades.

In a perverse and humiliating kind of way, we have a lot to thank the terrorists for. They have galvanised one billion people into finally drawing the line for its own leaders. No more will politics be allowed to infect this great country and make it into the softest of obese states.

To strengthen our nationhood and focus on national interest we must ensure the primacy of results in our body-politic. At the same time we need to pursue accountability relentlessly. The searing pain of Mumbai 26/11 necessitates a close look at the implications of this rather uncomfortable concept.

The total subversion of the concept of accountability is visible in politicians who attach themselves to positions, mostly, for life. Sports federations and associations have had politicians and bureaucrats as Presidents for decades so that they could guarantee that Indian sport remained stunted. Given half a chance people who head states, governments and public sector undertakings in India will perpetuate their tenure. People who have been allotted government bungalows as part of their official entitlements will retain them permanently by hook and mostly by crook.

It is quite fascinating that after the Mumbai massacre the ministers accountable clung to their seats until they were prised out.

It is so ironic that peerless, bravest of the brave Maratha warriors like Tanaji Malusare who scaled the sheer walls of Sinhagad Fort had demonstrated the power with which ghorpads (monitor lizards) can cling to smooth surfaces!

Constant reiteration of values by his parents and the Army enabled Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan evolve throughout a lifetime of doing the right thing. His sterling character had been shaped by his family, his training and experiences at NDA, IMA and later on in the Bihar Regiment and NSG to put his country, his men, and his loved ones above himself. So it was entirely natural for him to turn even in the midst of a fire-fight and help his wounded soldier. Though he took fatal fire he was being true to himself.

“Country and principles over life itself” is the proud genetic endowment of Major Unnikrishnan and millions of brave soldiers like him. Selfless devotion to duty is the condition precedent for leadership. And leadership is all about an internal mind-state to achieve results through excellence.

Present day politicians, on the other hand, behave as they do after having evolved over a lifetime of doing the wrong thing; manipulation, accepting bribes and commissions, choosing expeditious alternatives, transacting in half truths, sycophancy and putting themselves first, bar none.

Being associated with one party or the other, they have learnt the dirty arts by observing their seniors, participating in cloak and dagger operations, arguments and exertion of power for vested interest.

So at the “point of delivery” or at “crucial points in life” it is entirely natural for them to cling to positions, shift blame and save their own diseased skins. “Self over all else” is the DNA that dominates their genetic endowment. Dedication to selfishness is the precondition for political success.

The central principle of the politico-bureaucratic system is sycophancy over organisational welfare. Growth in the system has no correlation with knowledge, competence and character. It has everything to do with negative networking; that is, leveraging the weaknesses of individuals. Improprieties are scanned and recorded by each member of the party to use effectively in advancing their own “progress”: a kind of “help me or else I’ll spill the beans on you” kind of blackmail that has been elevated to an art form.

Cash and favours are collected in such large quantities that they can then be deployed copiously to emasculate the tax and legal system.

The idea is to amass so much wealth and power that the legal system can be checkmated. Perfidy is the defining characteristic, not performance. Tenure in public office depends on private agreements between powerful players, not on results delivered.

Accountability has therefore been systematically eliminated from top to bottom of the politico-bureaucratic system. This has evolved into such a complex, venal system over the last 60 years that it would put Sodom and Jericho to shame. It is therefore futile for us to expect either results or accountability from the existing system and its participants.

Be that as it may, we can certainly begin to take some bold and courageous steps. All of us have to resort to public interest litigation, Right to Information Act, criminal proceedings for dereliction of duty and massive use of the web to mobilise public action. This system is adept at ignoring messages.

So a more muscular communication needs to be sent. We need to deliver not just a message but a resounding series of slaps in the face of the politico-bureaucratic system. Mere resignations are laughable, given the enormity of the callous disregard for national welfare.

Public servants and political leaders are tasked with public safety and the welfare of a billion people. They are empowered with resources (budgetary and otherwise), instruments of the State and the armed forces. By their dereliction of duty, incompetence, personal improprieties and professional misconduct they have created, over a period of years, a situation that has threatened the fundamental right to life and safety of the Indian citizen and indeed the Indian state.

Apart from the immediate damage we have suffered from the Mumbai attacks, the country has suffered an incalculably high opportunity cost in terms of the difference between potential and actuals. The “leaders” have ensured that the potentially powerful Indian state is, in many ways, dysfunctional.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a traitor as “one who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty and one who commits treason” ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/traitor).

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