Yes indeed, how safe was Saif?

A successful film star, married to another successful star, the son of the late Nawab of Pataudi, how safe was he that a thief could scale his compound wall, climb up the staircase to the 11th floor, enter his baby son's bedroom, ask for a crore of rupees, injure Saif seriously, then escape?

How safe was Saif Ali Khan? How safe are we?

Very steadily, first in whispers, then in sporadic, though hoarse shouts, we keep hearing the law-and-order situation in the country has deteriorated.

A few months back, an MLA was killed, then another film star even more famous was attacked in the city, and the saga continues.

What about the common man? Is his life in danger?

Are the policemen sitting in police stations just dummies in uniform?

Have we been lulled into a false sense of security that if temples are built and other religions attacked, all's well with our country?

Because, that is exactly why we are not shaken out of the deep trance we have moved into in the last ten years.

When violent talk spills from the mouths of our elected lawmakers, then that same violence becomes active down the line.

In the murder of Cardinal Thomas Becket, it was just a spoken line of distaste from King Henry II, who aired his grievances about Becket to four knights. The knights interpreted the King's distaste for Becket as an indirect order to kill the archbishop, and horror of horrors, a dastardly murder, took place in the cathedral.

Today, it's not just distaste, but venom our top leaders spout at the drop of a hat.

That's the venom that has kept Manipur burning. Those are the hasty words that are seeing bursts of violence throughout the country, and such loose talk is the ones terrorists showcase to justify their spreading of terror.

That same rhetoric is also making us the rape capital of the world, and those same loosely flung speeches make petty thieves think they can knife a film star and get away with it.

Those same words laced with ridicule and laden with mockery will soon make you and me unsafe in this country.

Watch your words, dear leaders, because your words are the makings of bullets, bombs and brutality!

Watch your words, dear leaders, because to stay in power, you may split neighbours and neighbourhoods, families and friends, but one day, to govern the same people after your victory may prove an impossible task because your murderous speeches, your hate-filled rallies, have blossomed into uncontrolled violence.

Like a petty thief, breaking into Saif's home and stabbing him is soon what you and I can expect if we allow ungoverned, unbridled, unrestricted poisonous talk to continue spilling unstopped from the mouths of our political leaders..!