Column

Two issues stand before the newly formed Maharashtra government for immediate resolution. One is the appalling behaviour of the newly elected legislators of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in Vidhan Bhavan. To attack Abu Asim Azmi of the Samajwadi Party because he took his oath in Hindi carries language chauvinism too far.

Hindi, after all, is the prime national language and no can be stopped from speaking it. Nor was Azmi — or anyone else for that matter — bound to follow Raj Thackeray’s diktat that all oaths had to be taken in Marathi.

The behaviour of the MNS legislators — four of whom have been suspended — ironically was no better than those of those much-maligned legislators from Uttar Pradesh who are infamous for their ruckus-causing skills in the assembly. This behaviour should lead voters to ask whether the MNS is ready for the responsibility put on it by them.

The spotlight however is on the new home minister, RR Patil. There was an underlying feeling during Patil’s last stint that he was soft on the MNS when it went on its violence-against-Uttar Bharatiyas spree. Since Patil had to relinquish his post in haste and ignominy after the November 26, 2008 terror attacks, he has a double stain to clear from his name.

But apart from the shenanigans of the MNS,which must realise that rule of law has to prevail, the litmus test is the first anniversary of the terror attacks. This government has to give a full account of what has been done to change the ground situation since then. We do understand that we have had two elections and two swathes of time when the code of conduct was in place. But that is a limited excuse.

It has taken a year to find space for the NSG commandos to set up base in Mumbai. Finally, they were allotted some part of Aarey milk colony and even that is under dispute.

This would be funny if it wasn’t so painful. Is this how a government fast tracks its response to a terror attack? The Mumbai police’s coastal patrol abilities have only just augmented and even then the first boats were so high-tech that several policemen had expressed apprehension about using them! We already saw the fiasco with bullet proof vests and firearms during the attacks.

Then there are usual complaints — victims have not got compensation, the rescuers have not got their rewards, those who helped have been forgotten and so on. In many of these cases, it is the bureaucratic stranglehold which has got them in its grip. Once they are out of public sight, they fall into that grey area of red tape and clause XI subsection C of the Chief Obfuscation Operations of the Government of India.

These are only some of the problems which this new state government has to tackle as it gets down to work. It has already wasted enough time organising itself and sorting out its petty political manoeuvre and machinations. In the ultimate analysis, we the people are marginally interested in which politician owes what to whom and expects whatever else as a reward. The key issue remains work and results. Will the first anniversary of the terror attacks give us some answers?

The future looks troubling. At the ground level, there are still operational problems to be worked out. The Mumbai police, for instance, remain in the mess of infighting that it has been for the past few years. Various factions gain ascendancy, try to vanquish their internal rivals, then some change happens and some other faction comes to power.

The senior-most police officials in Maharashtra have been fighting each other in court to get promoted. This is not a scenario which inspires confidence. If the police force itself is so divided, can we expect it to come together in case of — god forbid - another attack? People get the government they deserve, or so the pundits keep telling us. When it comes to this government, we clearly have to raise the standard.