The Supreme Court has called it “an act of war” against the nation. Yet, when India observed the fifth anniversary of the December 13 terrorist attack on Parliament last week, everything the UPA government said suggested that it disagreed with the apex court’s characterisation of the incident. Indeed, all constituents of the UPA have thrown their weight behind the campaign to save Mohammad Afzal, who has been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for his part in the conspiracy.

This has prompted the angry widows of the martyrs of December 13 to return the President’s bravery medals posthumously awarded to them. How shameful! Rubbing salt into the wounds of these families, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil insensitively remarked that they were being “instigated” by certain political elements.

Well, the only political person who rallied the martyrs’ families was Maninder Singh Bitta, former Youth Congress president and himself a victim of terrorism. Patil also startled many in the country by stating that the government’s decision on Afzal’s mercy petition may not come for another six-seven years. Why? Because that’s the average time-frame for deciding on mercy petitions.

By saying so, Patil tacitly admitted that, in his government’s assessment, the attack on Indian Parliament belongs to the same category of ordinary crimes in which many convicted persons have sought presidential clemency. No further proof is needed to know that we are being governed by a breed of politicians ever ready to sacrifice national honour and national security at the altar of narrow electoral considerations.

... contd.