IF TERROR KILLS, WE GO TO WAR: IF CORRUPTION KILLS, WE MUST DO THE SAME

This is white-collar terrorism.

- SAVIO RODRIGUES

When 26 innocent Indians were killed in Pahalgam, the nation did not hesitate or hedge. The act was identified for what it was-terrorism-and the Indian State responded with resolve. There was no debate about domicile, no dilution of responsibility, no attempt to soften the crime with bureaucratic language. India went to war because Indian lives were taken. That response established a simple moral principle: when the lives of citizens are destroyed deliberately, the State must act decisively. Today, that same principle demands to be applied to Goa, where 25 innocent Indians lost their lives not to guns or bombs, but to corruption operating without fear or consequence. If the killing of 26 people justified war against Pakistan-backed terror, then the killing of 25 people must justify war against corruption. Anything less would suggest that some Indian lives matter more than others.

The people who died in Goa were not all Goans, but that fact is irrelevant.