For two weeks a horrified nation watched in disbelief how millions were stranded and lives of thousands were put to risk in Bihar.
Strangely, the state government did little to take any action and the surrging water of Kosi river didn't alarm the officials.
Or rather, they chose to ignore it. The plight of ordinary humanfolk hardly affects the babudom or the leaders. Though the army and the airforce swung in action and those marooned are getting rescued, the catastrophe has once again exposed this nation's failure to deal with any major disaster.
If there were no television images, perhaps, nobody would have given a damn outside the state. The photographs of emaciated children clung to their mothers and parents watching their owns sons swept away, evoked shock and horror.
But the ruling coalition JD (U)-BJP government was indifferent. Nitish Kumar looked worried only when situation was already out of control. Nobody knows how many perished in Katihar, Purnea, Madhepura, Araria, Darbhanga, Champaran, Sheohar, Saharsa, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and other flood-hit districts.
Similarly, for days Orissa continuted to burn. The goons of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal attacked Christians. Hundreds of churches were set afire and there was no proper action to stop the anti-Christian violence.
The killing of Swami Laxmanananda had sparked off the carnage but the police woke out of its slumber only when tens of thousands of Christians had already fled to forests and their homes were destroyed.
So, is India, just a nation of bustling metropolises that cares about just the IT, the Sensex, the BPOs and the so-called emerging India? While rural India goes to dogs. Shameful!
