Of Ganpati's benevolence and Pandey's courage

Mumbaikars bade a happy farewell to Ganpati bappa on Tuesday. Every Mumbaikar heaved a sigh of relief that the benevolent lord''s 10-day visit was peaceful and without any incident.
Two major bomb blasts in the metro prior to Ganesh Utsav had cast a shadow of gloom and fear. Many feared that the explosions were only a prelude to more devastating attacks during the festivities.
With lakhs of devotees visiting over 10,000 ''Sarvajanik Ganeshotsavs'', Mumbai police had a mammoth task maintaining order. Metal detectors were placed in almost all puja pandals and volunteers, too, kept a hawk eye on the proceedings.
The attractively decked up puja pandals drew huge crowds. The common theme this time was - Mee Mumbaikar and problems of the metro. A few pandals recreated the blasts that shook the metro in the past few months.
The message being sent out through these reconstructed scenes was the need to restrict influx into Mumbai. Influx is causing tremendous growth in population and leading to all kinds of shortages.
But in an ironical twist, the Shiv Sena has decided to felicitate an outsider. A cash award of Rs 5 lakh and the title of ''Veer Mumbaikar'' (Brave Mumbaikar) will be conferred on cabbie Shiv Narayan Pandey, in whose taxi the bomb was kept that went off at the Gateway of India.
Pandey escaped unhurt as he had stepped out of his cab for lunch minutes before the blast. The brave cabbie has been fully co-operating with the police in the case. His description of the terrorists who had hired his taxi has led to their arrests within a week of the blast.
A migrant from Uttar Pradesh - the very group Sena has been gunning for - Pandey has now become an unlikely hero for the Sena. Ironical indeed! But the Sena''s gesture is admirable.
However, disclosure of his name has put Pandey''s life in danger and due to this Mumbai police has now come under fire from human rights organisations, which have blamed it for disclosing the identity of a key witness, in violation of the law.
Recently, there were reports in some newspapers that Mumbai police were thinking of launching a witness protection programme. But given their dismal record, witnesses are certainly not going to find it easy to trust the police.
Forget witnesses, even a complainant is unwilling to lodge a complaint on public matters due to fear of his name being leaked by the police to the troublemaker.
Pandey has taken a big risk and the police should go all out to give him and his family complete protection. If they succeed, the police can win the confidence of witnesses in other cases.
We can see more and more Pandeys coming forward to save the city from the scourge of terrorism, the underworld and corruption.
Sena in that case will have to felicitate many more ''Veer Mumbaikars'', be they ''real'' Mumbaikars or outsiders who have made Mumbai their home. As long as he or she considers himself/herself a real "Mee Mumbaikar" and acts like one, it should be fine with the Sena, I think.