The Great Indian Political Circus
What the entire country has been witness to is nothing but sheer political drama darkly unfolding and throwing up not one question but many on the functioning of the second UPA government at the cnetre. The crisis drove a political columnist in the Western press to call it 'a great Indian political circus'. Ever since the Railway Budget was presented by the Railway Minister Mr. Dinesh Trivedi - by now he must have eased out of office - on the floor of Parliament. Mr. Trivedi has been closely associated with Trinamool Congress - a party which cerntre around only one person who is the present chief Minister of West Bengal. Ms. Banerjee is known for firebrand politics and has come to symbolize populism in its worst from! She stakes her prestige and political future in taking up populist issues to derive political mileage as her political adversary the Communist Party of India ( CPM) must have learned at a huge price at the hustings. The Marxists in West Bengal rode on populism and followed a destructive policy which bled the state exchequer white and Ms. Banerjee just stepped into the scenery to outdo her opponents by practicing populism in more lethal form. And the Dinesh Trivedi episode has to be seen in this context.
The Indian Railways is in poor shape financially with its income from operations being gobbled up by ballooning salary bills, it is almost starved of any funds to undertake any major expansion or even renew the existing century-old rolling stocks. The Indian Railways is the third largest network in the world with its rolling stock spreading over 64,000 km with 12000 passenger and more than 7000 freight trains each day spread like veins in human body in all parts of the country.It is comical to see politicians being allowed to do things of their whim and fancies in Indian Railways ever since Independence. All the Railways tried to treat his or her portfolio as a kind of fiefdom completely ignoring the economic realities of the Indian Railways. What is all the more important is the safety issue in Indian Railways. Accidents of major kinds are reported prominently but what receives less attention from us are regular accidents happening almost on a daily basis at different level-crossing which are not manned properly. Similarly railway services in the suburban areas of metros have not kept up with times. Obviously, railways have to find means for raising fresh resources to achieves in keeping with a developing economy. But who cares?
The very budgetary exercise involving the Railways has become more of a show of ego, overreaching ambitions and grand occasions to make promises which are seldom honored. In fact , some analysts continue to raise the question if the Indian Railways needs a separate budget at all as its demands are being met from allocations of general budget!
Now leaving the Indian Railways to its own devices, let us look at the propriety of the actions of both Mr. Trivedi as Railways Minister and his boss Ms. Banerjee. As it is well known that sole prerogative of appointing ministers in a cabinet form of government goes to the prime minister and all the minister hold office as long as they enjoy his confidence. But we have been observing for the past decades that parliamentary elections are not producing decisive results with leading parties leaning on to smaller parties for support and these parties are almost blackmailing them. It is not for the first time that Dr. Manmohan Singh's government has been exposed to be so helpless. In an earlier all we knew how DMK party muscled its way into the Union Cabinet and how its nominee D.Raja involved himself in the Telecom scandal. What has come to light through CBI investigations has been disconcerting enough that the then Telecom Minister did all these behind the back of his Prime Minister but his party boss was fully aware of it. Thus, a new trend is dangerously emerging of dual loyalties to two agencies. One is to the party and its leadership. And another to the governmental head. In the present case Mr. Trivedi swore by his loyalty to the Prime Minister on more than one occasion before he was finally made to put in his papers in the face of the tremendous pressure brought on by the Trinamool supremo Ms. Mamata Banerjee.
These developments bring two things into sharper focus one of which is the negative aspect of coalition government in Indian democracy. There are coalition governments in Western democracies and when major differences break out among partners on issues, the head of the government prefers to step down and even dissolve the government to face fresh elections. But we are witnessing the unedifying spectacle of the Prime Minister expressing open regret to lose a colleague whose services he values honestly. As for Mr. Trivedi he should not have kept his party in the dark about his intentions to take a radically different position however pragmatic and laudable that might be. Both Ms. Banerjee and Mr. Trivedi have caused tremendous damage to our democratic fabric by their respective acts.
In the corridor of power in new Delhi all kinds of speculations are rife. The electoral debacle of Congress Party in UP assembly polls and not so favorable results elsewhere have completely put the party on the defensive and what is likely to unfold in the come days is anybody's guess. With the reemergence of Samajwadi Party in UP , new permutations and combinations are on. How Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress responds to this development remains to be seen. But what one thing looks pretty certain that her relationship with the Congress Party is likely to see more strain and stress in the coming days and in such a scenario what would be her options? Would she return to the NDA fold? Only future can tell that!
The change in guard in the Indian Railways in the form of a new minister is hardly going to change things for it. It is likely chug along creakily as before. The same habits of fudging figures, making tall promises- delivering too little on them, when every sane head knows that only professionalization of Indian Railways would ensure its survival!
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