RR Patil

Nov. 30: Union home minister Shivraj Patil has resigned, but why is Raosaheb Ramchandra Patil still in the Maharashtra home minister’s chair?

Patil, also the Congress-headed state’s deputy chief minister, should have been asked to step down after his utterly insensitive comment (“bade shaheron mein aise ek aadh haadse hote rahte hain...”) on Saturday.

To reduce the siege at the two premier hotels of the region, not just the country, and at Nariman House, to a “haadsa (incident),” has left everybody stunned.

Except, of course, those who make and mar political careers and for whom accountability is to be enforced selectively.

Convenience, apparently, is the bottom line.

The shock bit apart, Patil has insulted Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and the other security personnel, including a couple of the most upright police officers, who paid the ultimate price.

Indeed, the Mohammed Akmal Kasabs scripted war, nothing less, and the failure of the agencies under Patil has been colossal.

However, instead of accepting responsibility, Patil (who belongs to Sharad Pawar’s NCP) has tried to indirectly take credit for the deaths being under 200 and not “5,000” as the Kasabs had planned.

Can you believe it?

Patil has been no better than a Narendra Modi trying to make capital of a tragedy which directly affected over a dozen countries.

No wonder, an infuriated Mumbaikar went on TV and warned the politicians not to step on to the streets. Actor Farooq Sheikh’s advice to the Patils was no different.

“Let the politicians’ security be withdrawn and given to us citizens,” screamed that Mumbaikar, a middle-aged lady.

An extreme reaction, perhaps, but only to be expected when Raosaheb Ramchandra Patil and his ilk remain entrenched.

Footnote: Not that anybody has missed his sound bites, but not a word has come from Raj Thackeray or his camp. The self-appointed champion of the rights of Maharashtrians, though, needs to be told that Major Unnikrishnan, a Malayalee, was on deputation to the NSG from the Bihar Regiment.