26/11 hero Jillu Yadav’s excitement was short-lived after he only managed to shake hands with US President Barack Obama. Incidentally, Yadav was one of the heroes of the 26/11 terror attack who was invited for an interaction with Mr Obama. But much to his dismay, the US President did not speak a word with him or any of the other 26/11 heroes that he was scheduled to “interact” with.
Yadav, the Railway Protection Force’s head constable, was the only one to fire at terrorists Ajmal Aamir Kasab and Abu Dera Ismael Khan, who had sprayed bullets all over the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the night of November 26.
“After his speech, Mr Obama just shook hands with me and Tukaram Zende,” said Yadav. “He neither said anything to us regarding the attacks, nor did he praise our work. He spent more time talking to Ratan Tata and other people from the Taj,” Mr Yadav said.
“Even in his speech, Mr Obama did not mention the martyrs, the police officials and the Army personnel who lost their lives. In fact, we were surprised that none of the widows of police officials who lost their lives in attack were present at the function,” Mr Yadav added.
Even Mr Zende, who was the announcer at the CST railway station and was credited for saving hundreds of lives, agreed with Yadav. He said, “Mr Obama did not speak a single word to us. He did not mention anything about the policemen who died in the 26/11 attacks. It’s very sad that none of the police officials widows were invited by the US consulate.”
On the night on November 26, when two gunmen — Ajmal Aamir Kasab and Abu Ismail, entered CST and started firing indiscriminately, Mr Zende’s fervent pleas in Hindi and Marathi telling commuters to avoid going a the exit gate on the main line side, saved many lives.
Mr Zende was on the 3-11 pm shift when he heard a loud explosion from the side handling long-distance trains — at around 10 p.m.
He immediately called out to the Railway Protection Force and the Government Railway Police personnel asking them to rush to the spot.