CONGRESS leader Mr. Manish Tewari has verbalised what the nation has been feeling about the Government’s passiveness after the dirty 26/11 terror strike on Mumbai. In his forthcoming book titled 10 Flashpoints: 20 Years, he is stated to have criticised the then Government for not offering a “kinetic response” to the ugly experience. He has reportedly observed that restraint is not a sign of strength and that India should have taken kinetic action following the attack. Mr. Tewari, thus, has put in words what the whole nation felt then and has been feeling since that time. The details of his discourse on the issue would be known once the book is officially released a few days later, but it must be said that Mr. Manish tewari has spoken out his mind on what was not done by the then Government -- of which he was a part. The nation has a distinct and disturbing memory of the absolute staid response to 26/11. Instead of taking a what Mr. Tewari calls “kinetic” action, the Government led by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh chose merely to condemn the terrible terror strike. Even though the people cried for revenge, the Government opted the path of passive response. Obviously, Mr. Manish Tewari has referred to that as a disturbing flashpoint.

 

The issue involved in 26/11 was not just about those 60 hours when Mumbai was in the grip of an unprecedented terror strike that shook the world, but also about the nation’s philosophy and policy towards terrorism. Those sixty hours questioned the nation’s sense of identity, dignity and also sovereignty. Those sixty hours actually stretched in their direct impact over five days in a row and shook the nation like never before. And when the Government gave only an incidental response to the incident, the people realised that it lacked a well-meditated security philosophy and policy. They grieved that they had a spineless entity at the helm. In sharp contrast, the nation’s experience to various terror strikes in the past 5-6 years has been in sharp contrast with what it had following the 26/11 terror strike at Mumbai. Not only did the Government respond militarily but also undertook some open-stanced diplomatic endeavours to tell the world that India is headed by people who do not entertainment anybody who wishes to dare the nation’s sense of self-respect and dignity. It was from that standpoint that Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and all his colleagues in the Government roared from rooftop that the enemy of the country would get a real-time response based upon the gravity of his offence in India’s honour.

 

Honour! That is the word -- which Mr. Manish Tewari appears to refer to though possibly without using it. With the passive response of the Manmohan Singh Government, the people had got an impression that the people at the helm were hiding their weak-kneedness behind restraint as a national approach to the challenge. By raising the issue in this manner, Mr. Tewari has, thus, earned the nation’s gratitude. In the past several decades, India has learnt that an enemy like Pakistan does not understand the language of restraint, and that all it realises is the language of arms and of tit-for-tat response. India does not have to indulge in terrorism as the State’s tool as does Pakistan, but its choice in favour of a real-time military response has come to be hailed not just by the people of the country but also elsewhere in the world. By using the word “kinetic”, Mr. Manish Tewari has metaphorised all this cumulative sentiment. Some political observers may see this point in Mr. Tewari’s book as his attempt to get even with the Congress party’s leadership. But we realise that Mr. Tewari has obviously arrived at a point of reckoning in his thought process circumscribed by years of politics at the top level.

 

Hence this frank admission on his part. Therefore, we would rather refrain from putting in words any political observation at this point, but only asses his remarks on the particular issue as his reflection on what happened in those tense times following 26/11. there is no need to assess the political repercussions of his remarks since that would undermine its importance. Therefore, we only say at this point that Mr. Manish Tewari has done a genuinely good job.