To

Dear Mr. Shivraj Patil

Home Minister

Government of India

For past few years whenever I see you on the television a hundred questions come to my mind. This time again when you were on TV after the heinous Mumbai blasts the questions were back in my mind. It’s just that today I want to put them down and want you to answer them.

After the Mumbai blasts the Prime Minister, the President and every politician worth a mention was in Mumbai trying to comfort the blast victims and the shaken Mumbaikers. You too were present in Mumbai with your party’s high command. But why is that your words sound hollow and your actions provide no relief?

I am reminded today of my mother who is the home minister of my house.I am amazed despite being a working women, how she knew exactly everything that happened in her house, right from our school homework, to the bills to be cleared, what will cook today, the money to be sent to my relatives in villages, meeting our tuition teachers etc. A thousand things to remember, to be answered and the home minister of my house seem to have solutions for everything and when she did not, she had the ability to reassure us that things will work.

I know that you have much larger game plan to look at and a country as huge and as diverse as India to manage. Sir, I do not expect that you will have quick solutions for every terrorist attack on our country, but how can we fail time and again so miserably?

What do we make of your latest statement after the Mumbai blasts:'we had some clues. I don't need to disclose all those things to you. We knew some such thing was going to come, but didn't have any idea as to the place and time,'

If you as the home minister of the largest democracy in the world and with agencies like CBI, RAW, Intelligence Bureau and many such organizations at your disposal do not have a clue then who should we look at?

Each time such cowardly act is forced on India the government screams from the rooftop that it is the ISI who is themastermind behind all the ghastly attacks. What perturbs is how come our intelligence agencies cannot sense it? What about our own intelligence networks, why can’t they penetrate the enemy network just like they do ours? Is the common man’s money spentto maintain all such high profile agencies only to see that terrorist attack India’s length and breadth? Earlier the terrorist had presence only in Jammu and Kashmir, but today they have spread the web through all the corners of India and our intelligence network seems to be totally at a loss in curbing this

As the home minister of my country I would like to know what measures is your ministry taking for the security of the common man and to foil/avoid such ghastly acts.

I would also like to ask why I should have any faith in you as my country’s home minister? Leave aside finding solutions, sir, you are not even able to reassure my countrymen and me!!