No student can claim marks on the ground that he had prepared very well for the test but could not reflect that effort in his answers. So also in the case of security. Those who are in charge of security should concede that its competence is judged by absence of lapses.
Unfortunately, there are always lapses and explanations– logical and ingenious– as to how the failure came about. The public are not interested in the why of it. They are, on the contrary, most concerned with the fact of it and why that fact was allowed to emerge.
In the Calcutta blast, the explosion occurred just a few blocks away from the police headquarters at Lal Bazaar. How could such a stockpile of lethal ammunition have escaped the notice of the intelligence agencies? Was it deliberate non-cognition?
The latter seems to be the case. Two suspects have been apprehended, Rashid Khan and Abdul Azle Rashid is described as an underworld don who ran two restaurants and a prosperous ‘satta’ gambling den. How could he have thrived except with police connivance?
Already there are allegations that political parties in Bengal have connections with dons. It is alleged that Rashid has links with Marxists and one Mohammed Omar with the Congress. The latter is alleged to have lit the explosive but Rashid had just left the place then and escaped.
The media has always spoken of a nexus between the politicians, the police high-ups and the underworld dons. If someone says that Calcutta blasts were unrelated to those of Bombay, some stringer would allege that Rashid had links with Dubai’s Dawood Ibrahim.
It is difficult to prove or disprove any of this. In a corruption-ridden polity where elections as well as consolidation of power call for huge sums of money to win and retain support, illicit connections are the means for the requisite money.
Obviously, there is no room for holier-than-thou talk because none is holy. It is not a surprise therefore that no one wants any probe that will go into the root of the matter because everyone has one skeleton or the other in the cupboard which he has to hide from view.
The police are roped into this seamy game of power-mongering with or without their consent. The apparatus of the administration and public morale hinge on protecting the morale of the police. No wonder every party plays hide and seek.
It thus becomes a tactic of the party in opposition blaming that in office of prostituting the power of the police The prostitution is always only of the party in power and when the tables are turned, the accused become accusers.
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