Suparn Verma kick starts non-cooperation movement at Taj

By Bollywood Hungama -

December 1, 2008 - 12:00 AM IST

'I'm sick and tired of being resilient, of living my life like the blood of my brethren spilt on the streets targeted by a bomb or a bullet will not make me stop my life!', comments an angrily sounding Suparn Verma in his recent blog. Amongst all the venom that he is spouting about the current terror situation in Mumbai, he is also leading an initiative where he is urging people to come together to ask for the basic right of living life fearlessly. "Yes, I am deeply anguished and would be standing outside the Taj Hotel on Wednesday, December 3 at 6 pm. I am deeply hurt and want us all to come together to remember the loss of our fellow beings. We should tell the world that the loss of lives that people and their families have suffered does not go down in vain and lessons are learned", says a visibly upset Suparn who also asserts that 'It's time to press the brakes NOW'! While claiming that he is mad as hell and won't take it anymore, he goes on to challenge the lessons learnt from 1993 blasts (when arms had come via the sea route), lack of crisis management infrastructure in Mumbai and politicians traveling 'shamelessly' across the country to give sound bytes without caring about impeding the work of security and forensics. Says Suparn, "I have a lot of questions and waiting to get an answer. I want all of us to come together and make things happen. Rather than just making statements and expect that our voice would be heard, I want some action to take place. For this very reason, I would be standing outside the Taj Hotel on Wednesday, December 3 at 6 pm. I want more and more people to come and join me for this. Let our voice be heard and people see how angry and frustrated and tired we are." He is particularly anguished about the fact that apparently Ministers didn't even know that the Marine commandos are based in Maharashtra, Home Ministry did not even have the blueprints of the Taj and Oberoi hotel, there isn't any NSG in Mumbai while Leaders chose to step into the city when the security personnel would have rather protected the hostages than look after them. "See, we need to be seen to be heard and the only way our leaders will listen to us is when they see a vote bank", explains Suparn the reason behind the method he is adopting to let his protest be known, "I urge this vote bank to show their face. Election Commission calls us voters as 'Pappus' so be it. Let these 'Pappus' come together and stand together. Let the parties realize that we vote them to power so from now on, if they have been assigned a task, let them also have deadlines and deliver accordingly." He doesn't want the people who join this initiative to be restricted to only celebrities or 'aam junta'. "Let people from Corporate houses also come together in this; after all they are also loosing business due to such terror attacks. It's high time we stopped saying that 'Bahaut bura hua'. I don't want us to continue singing praises about the spirit of Mumbai. We should not just sit at home and watch TV. It has to be a revolution now since that's the only alternative." For how long is he looking at keeping the momentum on? "Frankly, I don't mind going there every Wednesday. I don't just want to light a candle because woh toh kuch time baad bujh jaayegi. I want the flame to be on. We have to be proactive rather than just circulating a round of SMSes." Does he not fear the authorities that may object to him leading a crowd gathering in front of Taj? "Is there a law that prevents more than 10 people to come together at a single place", Suparn shoots back, "I am not going there for some 'naarebaazi' or 'jhandebaazi'. Neither is it going to be a speech giving session there. It is just going to be like minded people coming together and showing the world that we are together and we are hurt. I don't see why authorities would have a problem with something like that." So is his decision to stand in front of Taj a sort of non-cooperation movement? "Pretty much so", says Suparn who is one of the first celebrities to be kick starting an initiative of this sort, "We should all show that we won't take this lying down. We want safety of our family, our city and our country and for this all, we citizens should come together. It is high time that we stopped being the silent majority and minding our own business." Remember the date and time: 6 PM, Wednesday, December 3!