RR Pattl being reinstated

RR's homecoming: Vikram Bhatt cribs to Rahul
Prithwish Ganguly / DNAThursday, November 19, 2009 3:05 IST

Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has taken on NCP politician RR Patil, who has been reinstated as the state's home minister after losing the job in the wake of the 26/11 attack a year ago. Bhatt has written an open letter to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi expressing his frustration at this move.

Patil had had to quit in late 2008 after coming under heavy fire for making statements that were widely seen to be insensitive. "Only a few people died, it could have been worse" and "big cities do face such small problems" were two of the gems from the home minister of the state about a terrorist attack in which 173 people were killed and at least 308 were wounded.

"I am writing to you because you are who I see as the future of this country, you are, I can see, a person who wants to make a difference, you are, I can see, someone who gets pained and hurt; you are my generation..." Bhatt wrote to Gandhi, who is widely seen as the heir apparent in the Congress.

"We have seen the dossiers go back and forth from India to Pakistan and back, we have seen the Lashkar chaps arrested and freed... We understand international politics and we understand that these things take time, but I am hurt about the reinstatement of RR Patil."

Explaining why he feels hurt, Bhatt wrote, "He [Patil] said something that hurt us deeply and was asked to step down, and then, even before a year is gone, he is back again and that means I am supposed to have a weak memory and I am supposed to forget."

He continued, "It does not matter what I feel and what I have gone through to see my city scared. What matters is that I have been given a pat on the back and the tag of being
resilient and RR Patil sits here as the symbol of the impotent rage of a nation. RR Patil is the government's way of telling us, the citizens, that we and what we feel does not matter."

"It does not matter what I feel and what I have gone through... What matters is that I have been given a pat on the back and the tag of being resilient and RR Patil sits here as the symbol of the impotent rage of a nation."

--Vikram Bhatt


The above is from DNA, Mumbai.

I would like to thank Vikram Bhatt for reminding the people of the insolent remark made by R R Patil.
Public memory is very short and the politicians depend upon this lacuna to start their old games once the dust has settled down.
I hope the next step would be to reinstate our well dressed former Home Minister, Shivraj Patil.
Chidambarm looks like a rustic in front of Shivraj Pateil. Shivraj appeared so well in TV interviews, a new dress for each interview. Chidambaram, agh! looks so plain in white.
As I said, these politicians depend upon us to forget.
That is where the public make a mistake.
I suggest the public awakening be kept alive on this corruption front.
On my part I am keeping up the pressure through our blog.
We should all through Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and blogging keep mentioning the hot corruption topics and prevent it being swept under the carpet.
One current topic that could be kept in focus is the Koda Corruption Case.
You can rest assured the Congress and the NDA will try to sweep it under the carpet for both are equally guilty.
It is for the public to keep the movement against corruption focussed as an ongoing battle.