Vocal Demands

Public anger must translate into action, says Alyque Padamsee, the ad man, who planned to lead a rally called 'Anger to Action'. Several groups, both on the ground and online, talked of banding together another "civil disobedience movement". "Right now, people are furious with politicians, but it has to be channelised if it is to become a catalyst for change," says Deora. "Undirected anger, fanned by the media, can turn dangerous, but if this is the start of public demand for accountability, it will have served some purpose."

The pressure showed in the defeated countenance of Shivraj Patil, who, as India's home minister, was singularly blamed for not addressing the threat of terrorism or creating collective confidence across the nation. Patil, left with no choice after the heated CWC meeting, handed in his resignation. From Sonia Gandhi downwards, Patil came under flak. The weight of "moral responsibility" that he had not felt after the Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Delhi blasts earlier this year seemed to have finally sunk in.

Maharashtra's deputy chief minister and home minister R.R. Patil seemed to have pushed himself into a corner with his statement that "such incidents do happen in big cities". Patil did not seem to realise the magnitude of the tragedy. He handed in a terse one-line resignation to the CM on December 2 and fled to his hometown Tasgaon.

The pressure also showed in the dilemma that prevailed in the Congress over Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Some Congressmen wanted Deshmukh's head to roll too, especially after he had tagged along his actor-son Riteish and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma to inspect the bombed hotels. Others wanted him protected at a vulnerable time. However, on December 3, after consultations with the Congress high command and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Deshmukh was asked by Antony to submit resignation. He did so, and it was immediately accepted.

"We should have had someone like Rudy Giuliani, the New York mayor when 9/11 happened. Or at least someone like the late police commissioner A.S. Samra when Bombay saw its worst terror strike with 13 serial bombs in one afternoon killing over 250 people. Samra, backed by Pawar as CM, was the face that calmed people down," remembers a top cop who was then Samra's junior and saw his damage-control operation from close quarters.

Kumar, like many others, was rather surprised by the force of public anger this time. After all, this is a city that has seen March 1993, and as many as eight bomb blasts of varying magnitudes in the last five years. It is also a city that sees 20 fatal accidents a day. "I was this angry in July 2006 too (serial train blasts). So were my friends. But a few days later it was business as usual. I don't want to be cynical, but the anger is a catalyst this time only because the elite were hit," says R. Sriram, a young media professional. Yet, the outrage has been unprecedented in spread and scale.

"For the first time in 15 years, the anger is among the upper middle class and upper class. Much of it has found manifestation in the English media. Call it the angst of the elite if you wish, but this is an important ally for the middle class people who have been angry a long time. It's they who are lighting the candles and going on peace marches, they are letting it out now because they believe the authorities now have to take note," explains Kumar. Cynics ask if socialites like Shobha De and Simi Garewal had bothered to stand as one with blast-affected people in the past. This is a strange sort of social coalition, say sociologists. It will take time to understand and unravel it.

The most telling gesture reflecting the public sentiment was in the sombre meeting of Muslim clerics and the Muslim Council last week. They reached a consensus to declare the terrorists, wherever they had come from and whichever faith they may have practised, as "non-Muslims" and asked the authorities of the Bada Qabrastan in south Mumbai not to allow the nine terrorists gunned down to be buried there. "These terrorists killed so many innocents and shed streams of blood. They cannot be Muslims or followers of Islam. They cannot have a final resting place anywhere in sacred Mother India, nor will any of us offer namaz for them," said Muslim Council president Ibrahim Tai. Despite this, the banners and posters across Mumbai have labelled the terrorists "Islamic". It pains Tai and others. "We Muslims are as angry as you. We want to be as safe as you. There were also victims who were Muslims," he hastened to remind.

He, and those like him, hope the anger does not take on a communal colour in the days to come. Others hope that the anger will indeed become the catalyst of change.