It has been 13 years since the city of Mumbai fell siege to one of the deadliest attacks that the country had witnessed. Orchestrated by the Islamist terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a total of 10 Pakistani terrorists carried out 12 shooting and bombing incidents in India’s Financial Capital. The 26/11 attacks claimed the lives of 165 civilians and injured over 300 people. The security forces had also neutralised 9 terrorists and caught one Ajmal Kasab alive.
Iconic places in the city such as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, Taj Palace, Nariman House, Oberoi Trident became the target of Islamist attacks. A total of 15 policemen and 2 National Security Guard (NSG) commandos including Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, NSG Commando Hawaldar Gajender Singh Bisht were killed in action. The deadly terror attack gripped the entire nation in a state of fear.
While the entire nation mourned the dead, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi remained in a party mood. The 38-year-old then did not seem to fathom the severity of the situation. “Even before the tears of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s mother could dry up, Congress general secretary and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi went partying with his pals at a farmhouse on Delhi’s outskirts,” read a report by Mail Today/ India Today.
The Congress scion went to the wedding ‘sangeet’ of his childhood friend Samir Sharma at his farmhouse in Rahdhey Mohan Chowk on the outskirts of the National Capital. India Today reported that Samir was the son of Captain Satish Sharma, who happened to be the flying partner of Rajiv Gandhi and a former MP from Rae Bareli.
“Mumbai appeared to be far from her brother’s mind as he boogied at the farmhouse with Samir Sharma…The Prince seemed to be completely out of sync with the mood of the nation post-26/11,” the report emphasised. In the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks, other politicians and restaurant owners had cancelled special events and parties. But Rahul Gandhi did not bother to reschedule his plans or mourn at the time of national grief.
According to corporate lawyer Ajay Bahl, who was trapped at the Oberoi Towers during the terror attack, the actions of Rahul Gandhi made him lose his faith in political leaders.“When everyone is cancelling parties or just keeping them low-key, Rahul Gandhi had no business to be celebrating. His action makes us lose faith in future leaders,” he said. Rahul Gandhi’s presence at the ‘sangeet’ even made an anonymous guest to take objection.
“We were all partying, but none of us is a public person. Rahul Gandhi, however, is. He must be more responsible in his social appearances,” the guest had remarked. While the Congress scion was busy partying, his sister Priyanka Vadra took the terror attack as an opportunity to gloat over the legacy of Indira Gandhi. She went on to claim that the ‘Iron Lady’ would have made everyone proud by her actions in the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks.
While in 2008, Rahul Gandhi cared little for his nation and the aftermath of a heinous terror attack, today, he took to Twitter to pay tribute to the braves of 26/11.
सीमा पर कठिन मौसम में परिवार से दूर रहकर देश की रक्षा करता है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 26, 2021
आतंकवादी हमले में अपनी जान की बाज़ी लगाकर मासूमों को बचाता है।
जान की नहीं, जहान की फ़िक्र करता है।
परिवार की, गाँव की, देश की शान है- ऐसा मेरे देश का जवान है।
26/11 #MumbaiTerrorAttack के वीरों को नमन।
जय हिंद! pic.twitter.com/fFVQTGjMmx
Having been in active politics for the past two decades, the Congress scion has now learnt the art of ‘political tokenism.’ Although he had then disregarded the tragedy that fell upon the residents of Mumbai on the fateful day of November 26, 2008, Rahul Gandhi now does not forget to share a message of condolence (prepared by his PR team) on the anniversary of the Mumbai attacks.
