"Aisa nahin hain, bade shahron main aisa ekad hadsa hota rahta hain, is liye total intelligence failure hua aisa nahi hain"
[English - "Its not like that, in big cities one-two incidences can occur, but saying that it is total intelligence failure is not correct"]
This is the sentence that most of Mumbaikars (Mumbaites) will not forget in a hurry and may go down in history as one of the worst quote given. The speaker was none other then Mumbai's Ex-Deputy Chief Minister Raosaheb Ramchandra Patil, better known as R.R. Patil.
Mr. R.R. Patil was forced to resign because of one sentence uttered by him and it seems that it has also spelled doom for his political career. I am told that this sentence was a genuine slip of tongue as Mr. Patil is not very well versed with spoken Hindi and the matter is still wide open for discussions. We could go on arguing the matter, but the point I want to highlight is not whether what he said was an genuine error or his apathy towards the Mumbai attacks.
I just want to highlight one point here and that is when ever any politician is questioned or accused, they create a lot of hullabaloo and racket with the help of their goondas disguised as supporters. They start shooting from the lips and give of statements to the press without putting on any thinking cap and without giving a second thought to their own image or the country's image. The prime example of this are Mr. A.R. Antulay, Mr. Narayan Rane, Mr. Raj Thackeray etc., these gentlemen took the law in their hands for their personal benefit. On the other hand Mr. R.R. Patil, after resignation, went to his home town without any statements or without calling any press conferences or creating a racket. He might have resigned under pressure, but how many politicians can you name who have done the same thing when pressurized? At least I can't think of any.
Mr. R.R. Patil was instrumental in closing down of Dance Bars and we all know he could have made truck loads of money in the deal, but he chose not to and went ahead with the ban. How many politicians you know of who really tried to put an end to nuisance that was harming our society? Mr. R.R.Patil is known for his so called 'honest image', and is known as "Mr. Clean" in his fan circles. He is also affectionately referred to as Aaba (meaning "father") by people of Maharashtra. In the latest crisis his image did take a beating but he put up a brave face and accepted his mistake and resigned quietly and what ever his foibles were this one step of his has earned him my respect.
We have many politicians who are actually wolves in a sheep's skin, doing political rounds looking for a kill to fill their coffers and hunger. All these years we have been mute spectators and victims to this mauling and when the time came to hunt the pack of wolves down, have we ended up killing the sheep in the wolf's skin???
