Sixteen years ago, on 26th November 2008, Pakistani state sponsored terrorists attacked the good people of Mumbai in a cowardly act of hate. The attacks took place at multiple locations including Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, Leopold Café and even at hospitals. The terror continued at other locations including Nariman House (Jewish Chabad) and the luxury hotels Oberoi Trident, Taj Mahal Palace, and Tower Taj hotel.
To this day, and in my opinion, the victims of that attack have still not received true justice. Under the lame leadership of the then Prime Minister,Dr Manmohan Singh, we witnessed events unfolding showing the incompetency of India’s preparednessforsuch terrorist attacks. The Congress party has always sided with Islamists, their vote bank. They have appeased to extremists and in this case, terrorists. And they have bowed to the whims of America who after all are the puppet master behind the failed state of Pakistan.
I visited the sites that were attacked. And on January 20th, 2010, I was with HRH Prince Michael of Kent when we visited the Chabad Nariman house in Mumbai.We were accompanied on the visit by Israeli Consul General Orna Sagiv and Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, director of the Chabad Mumbai Relief Fund.As we walked through each level of the multi-storey building, you could not but be shocked with the number of bullet holes in every wall, in the staircase, and in the ceilings. Everyone was visibly disturbed with the ferocity of the violence that must have taken place to leave behind a building in such total devastation.We also went to the roof to see the menorah. It stood on the exact spot where Indian commandos had landed their helicopter to end the siege.
The attacks left more than 165 dead, and more than 300 injured. That is a heavy toll to bear for any nation.
We have seen in the west how they escalate the remembrance of such tragedies to impress upon their citizens the sacrifices of the nation against the evil of its enemies. India has consistently failed in its duty to its own history of how millions have perished at the hands of Islamists,andalsoduring the British Raj. This history of its enslavement, its abuse and the death toll reaching millions has never been narrated and remembered. India still teaches the history of its invaders whilst those who paid the ultimate price are all too readily forgotten.
I was therefore heartened when last year PM Minister Modi said: "This day of 26/11 also reminds us of the damage that weak and incapable governments can cause to the country. In 2014, you removed the weak government of the Congress and elected the strong government of BJP because of which terrorism is being eliminated from the country today".
The title of this piece is, ‘Lest we Forget’. I hope we don’t forget. I hope we expose the Pakistani terrorists state for its indulgence with evil, each and every year. I hope India finally begins to mark events with remembrance at the national level, and on the same scale as we see for Holocaust Memorial Day. If India does not teach the generations to come of the sacrifices of their ancestors, who else will?
I agree with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar who last year said, "Our quest to bring those responsible for planning and executing these horrific acts to justice continues".Sixteen years on and they still await. Words are easy for politicians to sanitise and manage situations, but what is needed is action.Make the price of attacking India so huge, that those who wish India harm would think multiple times before embarking on such madness.
Aesop: ‘Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin’.
