People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

Rousing Divisive Passions

BJP's Sinister Diversionary Tactic

HAVING come to the conclusion that its popular support base is rapidly shrinking because of its disastrous performance and policies, the Vajpayee government controlled, as it is by the RSS, has taken recourse to rouse every conceivable  divisive passions amongst the people in order to divert their attention away from its non-governance.

Over heating the  already boiling communal cauldron is, of course, the  staple diet  of the RSS and the saffron brigade to achieve  this objective and further their agenda of converting the secular and democratic republic of India into a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra".  Their eagerness to reap electoral profit over the mutilated corpses of thousands of innocent people in Gujarat  chillingly reveals  their sinister methodology. If they succeed in Gujarat, this is the pattern that will be emulated for the rest of the country.  As we stated earlier, that would be the Modification of India.

Simultaneously, the saffron brigade is whipping up tensions on other issues as well.  In a span of one week, the state of Jharkhand saw four bandhs and the death of over ten people. The issue was a totally unprovoked circular issued by the BJP state government on the question of reservation of jobs  for the domicile people. The BJP in the state does not even have any pretenses in publicly declaring that this issue has been raked up with the sole objective of exploiting it for electoral benefit.  (Elsewhere in this issue is a statement issued by the CPI(M) Jharkhand state committee.)

Apart from the obvious political maneouvre employed by the railway minister, Nitish Kumar, to safeguard his portfolio in the cabinet reshuffle, the decision to create new railway zones is also being exploited to rouse parochial passions.  The Indian Railways is one of the few institutions and networks which plays a  significant role in uniting and integrating our vast country.  Its pan Indian national character is one of India's biggest assets. To compartmentalise this institution within various states is fraught with grave consequences. 

Any decision of creating these new zones should have been based on the opinion of an expert committee and in consultation with all the states.  When the proposal was initially mooted in 1996, the CPI(M) had objected on these very grounds.  The proposal was then shelved.  Now, it has not only been revived, but has also been altered with an aim to generate parochial passions.  For instance, in the earlier proposal, the Dhanbad division, which is a prime revenue earner, was to have remained in the east zone headquartered at Calcutta. This has now been shifted to the new division headquartered at  Hajipur. 

The creation of these railway zones must not been seen as an inter-state issue. There are vested interests who would like to whip up parochial passions as is being attempted in trying to project this as a Bihar vs. West Bengal issue. Precisely, in  order to avoid such divisive passions, the CPI(M) and the West Bengal Left Front government had urged the Vajpayee government to refer this matter to an expert committee before a final decision is taken.  As is its wont, the union cabinet ignored this sane advise and re-recommended its earlier decision.

What is worse is the fact that this decision comes when  the only  expert committee set-up by this minister himself had rejected this proposal of creating new zones.   The railway minister had appointed the Rakesh Mohan Committee to suggest organisational changes and make the railways more profitable.  While accepting many of the committee's anti-people and anti-employee recommendations such as the privatisation of all railway services, including  the privatisation of railway hospitals, the minister has chosen to  reject the committee's recommendations on not creating any new railway zone.  The committee report on railway reorganisation says that the creation of new zones has "no relevance to any of the immediate or long term objectives of railways".

It, in fact, details the new complications that will arise for the movement of the railway traffic and the additional expenditures that will increase.  The report says: "For an organisation like Indian Railways, which is already over-exposed to political pressures, it should be a priority not to open up new areas of political interface.  The scheme for creation of new zones was a patently political one and as expected created new controversies with political overtones."

It is, therefore, very clear that  this government is playing dirty politics, desperate as it is, to recover its  vastly eroded popular support more by crook than hook. It is India's tragedy that we have a government that while  advancing the RSS's fascistic communal agenda resorts to whipping up divisive passions for the sake of continuing to remain in office.  In the process,  it is the people and the country who continue to suffer.  This state of affairs cannot be allowed any longer. For the sake of India, i.e. Bharat,  this government must be shown the door.