The response so far of the ruling Congress Party and its NCP ally to the Mumbai shocker has been to take the deadwood out of the system. They had become too much of a political liability. The Union home minister as well as the home minister of Maharashtra have thus been frogmarched out of office. The Maharashtra Chief Minister is expected to follow suit shortly.

These changes are certainly well merited. The trouble is that they should have been effected a long time ago. Over time these gentlemen had shown themselves to be inept and insensitive to the demands of the high constitutional positions they occupied. Over and over again they have conducted themselves in a manner that brought forth demands for their departure.

But their political masters kept them on for reasons only they can understand. It is a pity that it needed a disaster of the magnitude of the recent terror strike in Mumbai for such sloppy servants of the people to be turfed out. It is quite clear therefore that the easing out of the undeserving that we have so far seen is more in the nature of spring-cleaning than an authentic response to the tragedy we have just witnessed.

Their continuance would have been a red rag to the bull of public opinion when general elections are only a few months away. Aside from the political sector, the government needs to turn its attention to all state functionaries at the highest level charged with handling security matters. In this area, the only action so far has been to change the Coast Guard chief. What about the others, for instance the chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing respectively? True, the departments in their charge did not fail to provide timely intelligence.

This shows the basic template worked well in spite of the many constraints it labours under. However, the intelligence bosses have direct access to the Prime Minister at any time of day or night. In fact, the IB chief is supposed to be the first high official the PM meets every day for an extensive briefing on national security threats. Did the intelligence czars impress on the Prime Minister the highly sensitive nature of the information that their departments were producing, which turned out to have a direct bearing on the horror that played out in Mumbai?

This is a sensitive matter, and the government needs to weigh all options before effecting any changes. However, it need not be swayed by the consideration that the two intelligence chiefs are anyway meant to retire over the next two months. Their case is only indicative. The role of the civilian bureaucracy at top levels involved with national security matters also needs to be carefully appraised.

Needless to say, all changes and replacements must be made strictly on merit, with political considerations playing no part. If this does not happen, the country will not be in a position to project the right response in dealing with those who sent the terrorist demolition squad to Mumbai.