For Vijay Surve, chief of five Shiv Sena shakhas (branches) in Colaba, South Mumbai, 26/11 was the day he narrowly missed being mowed down by an AK-47 belonging to either Abu Umar or Babar Imran at Nariman House.
For his support to the National Security Guards, during Operation Black Tornado, to flush out the Pakistani terrorists from Nariman House, he received a certificate of commendation from the NSG.
Today, Surve is both elated and sad.
Happy, because the sentence handed out to the surviving Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab was finally honoured.
And sad, because he wished it had happened just a few days earlier. He speaks to Rediff.com in fiery, blistering Hindi:
I wish this execution had happened when Balasaheb Thackeray was still there in our midst, he would have felt a lot of happiness. He was a genuine desh bhakt (patriot).
And for him it was a big problem that the government was not allowing Kasab to be hanged. (He wondered) why are they delaying? They should have executed him long ago. There were enough people unkey khilaf (who witnessed what he did). Why were they scared to hang him?
And they have hanged him today
But in such a fearful, hasty way!
Was he Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who the British had to hang quietly, because they knew that desh mein gazab ho jayega (the country would be in an uproar)?
Why
Image: Vijay R Surve Photograph: Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
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