18 died in Uri Attacks: Do We Really Care About Our Jawans? I mean Seriously.

In a recent attack on an army camp in Uri, Kashmir, India by 4 terrorists, 18 army soldiers have lost their lives. Many are injured. In January this year, we had lost 7 army personnels and 1 civilian in another terror attack which is better known today as Pathankot Attack. Before that there were other attacks and other deaths. How easy to sum things up right? State there is attack, numbers of people died, give attack a name, you’re done. And yes, add RIP or ‘my thoughts go out to’ or better ‘bomb Pakistan’, etc. If you are from government, then you’re in for luck. You express yourself in certain templates, if you are Prime Minister you tweet this.

We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 18, 2016

We strongly condemn because last time we only ‘condemned’. Plain simple condemn without stressing it ‘strong’. Make no mistake oh neighbor across the border, we condemn, we condemn strong this time. And yes, also we will not let them go unpunished. We will punish them. But wait, who? The 4 fidayeen terrorists who came? They are already dead. You mean their bosses will be punished? Oh! I doubt that. At the most we can invite ISI and let them tour Uri camp this time like we allowed them to tour Pathankot airbase after January attack. In case people forgot, here’s how our PM responded back then.

In Pathankot today, our security forces once again demonstrated their valour. I salute their sacrifice.https://t.co/jqcIYiflzE

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 2, 2016

If you are Defense Minister you tweet,

Condemn the cowardly terror attack on Army camp at Uri. I salute the brave martyrs for their supreme sacrifice.

— Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) September 18, 2016

Now sacrifice is sugar coated word. He means 18 deaths. 18 humans killed for no immediate cause of their own. Perhaps because they decided to join armed forces and not find any other job or better, just sat home or in TV studios and preached on patriotism and likes. They erred. Erred big and lost their life. We condemn their death. We condemned it in past and we will continue to condemn. Theek Hain?

In case you forgot what he said after Pathankot.

Can assure that without my permission no one can come. Those terrorists who came in were last:Def Min on Pathankot pic.twitter.com/5vKuO6gJlI

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) January 16, 2016

Does that mean the four terrorists entered with his permission? This question may never be asked to him. It may sound stupid but was it right for a Defense Minister to talk such pompous nonsense without checks on ground?

If you are Home Minister among the usual I met PM, I briefed CM,

Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such.

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016

Some tough talk there. Does this mean we will call off all our diplomatic ties with Pakistan? I assure, we won’t. We have seen worse and we are used to all this. Deaths happen when you have a hostile neighbor — somewhere in hindsight is our thought. And unless it is anyone in my immediate family, I condemn. I condemn it in strongest possible words. You dare forget what Rajnath Singh said after Pathankot attacks apart from his careless updates back then. Sample this.

Border ki security hum aisi ensure karenge ki chooha bhi ghusne ki koshish na kare: HM Rajnath Singh pic.twitter.com/J57zuT9SRO

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 22, 2015

He will so ensure the border security that even a mice would find it hard to enter our borders! Did he?

The tweet and reaction list is endless. They all tweet, do press conferences and tell us how they will act next time or better, crash the enemies, reply them in their own language. Some in media in days to come will take us on a tour of families of soldiers who are no more. There will be emotion-filled bites. If your memory is sharp, this will remind you of Pathankot attacks and subsequent coverage forget previous attacks.

The truth is we care less. We cry (mostly on social media platforms). We outrage (again on SM mostly). And we forget. We move on to our cats and pizzas and whatsapp chats where every other day we plan our next trip. Does anyone care what happens to the families of the martyred? How much they suffer? And for what? For whom? And why? It isn’t that Modi government has failed but everyone. Every government in past and present have done not enough. Not just in India but across the borders.

Recently all hailed Modi when he raised Balochistan issue to hit back at Pakistan and corner it as it claims Kashmir from India. It was in twitter parlance a tit-for-tat. You raise Kashmir and we will raise Baloch. But was it well thought out? Time only will answer that. But if US reaction to it is any clue then it has failed to impress. Not only has US ruled out any sanctions on Pakistan for promoting terrorism or pitch for India’s Baloch cry, US has also denied to believe that Hafiz Saeed was the architect of the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008. So much from ‘my friend Barack’.

One can go on and on and on. And mostly all this is repeat of all the things that have already been said during previous attacks. Do we really care for the lives lost? It doesn’t look like we do. We are happy it hasn’t hit us. Political powers know that in worst case they will go out of power but also that they will return after 5 or 10 years. The voter’s memories are short. We forget the dead too soon. We forget those who came knocking on our doors to slaughter us. We forget. Look at the riots that happened, look at the madness that occurred inside our ‘safe’ borders. If there is anything that’s certain, it’s our spirit to move on. For good and bad. Deal with it. Your outrage is short lived.

Most of all, it is easy to shout, roar and talk nonsense when in opposition. It takes guts, courage and mind of our own to act same during power. Sample this from Narendra Modi’s ‘interview’ with Rajat Sharma.

It also proves for umpteenth time how irresponsible BJP was in opposition. For instance, just look at the flipflop they have done from when they were in opposition and during power. Calculate the hours of house we lost because of their need to ‘oppose’ without substance. Calculate the public money that went into drain. They played it all well but at whose cost? That doesn’t mean the present opposition is any better. They are not much different too. But what do we care?

We need a responsible government and more responsible opposition. Also an ever more responsible Citizenry.