Rahul Gandhi, aap RML mein kyon?

Yet another terror blast. Eleven lives lost, scores injured, hundreds traumatised, millions wondering whether we will ever again live with a sense of security in the land of our birth.

The Prime Minister and the Home Minister have made statements that one does not really need to hear because, tragically enough, the very same statements are made every time a terror blast takes place.

Rahul Gandhi is visiting the RML Hospital, where the injured are being taken to receive medical care. Is there a single good reason for his visit? Is the RML Hospital not equipped to take care of the injured? Will the doctors and other medical staff  discharge their duties better because Rahul Gandhi is visiting? Will the injured get any relief from pain? Will those who have lost their limbs get them back? Will the family members forget even for a millionth of a fraction of a second the pain of their loved ones ?

Does he not realise that his visit throws all arrangements at the hospital awry, and that the police force will have to step up security measures, move away relatives and friends of those injured in the blast and others receiving medical care at the hospital? Are the doctors to attend to the patients or to brief him?

When will our leaders cease to make empty gestures? 

If Rahul Gandhi is so concerned about the victims of the terror blasts, why does he not ask the government to take concrete, meaningful measures to improve internal security? Why does he not press for police reforms?  

There ought to be a statutory requirement that so long as the police authorities do not publicly declare that a visit to the site of the terror attack or the hospitals will no compromise the investigation or the interests of the victims of the attack, no one who is not directly connected with the investigation will visit the site or the hospitals, including Ministers, Members of Parliament and other VIPs.