Burdened by Nothing

Mamata ruined the arteries of the nation, Pawar ruined its food system.

How long should a country pay the price for having ministers who are  so pre-occupied elsewhere that their respective ministries become mere afterthoughts? The recent train accident at Sainthia, killing nearly 70 people, is just one more reason to ask this question—again. 

Railways, agriculture, and food, civil supplies and consumer affairs—all extremely significant ministries for the aam aadmi—have suffered acute negligence under UPA II. 

If Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee, the railway minister, is preoccupied with West Bengal politics, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, in charge of agriculture as well as food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, unabashedly says that he wants to devote more time to the ICC. And yet, the PM is sitting pretty as if things would improve on their own.

Of course, the two ministers are backed by compulsions of coalition politics. Pranab Mukherjee has even backed Mamata by saying that “nobody can predict accidents”, but her tenure as railway minister is too disastrous to gloss over. Ever since she has taken over, there have been nearly 200 accidents in which 428 people have died and over 600 injured. Such is her neglect of the ministry—primarily because of her absence from Delhi— that over 90,000 appointments related to railway safety remain pending.

If Mamata has ruined the arteries of the nation, Pawar has completely damaged the food system. After demanding the crucial portfolios and then thoroughly mismanaging them, the Maratha leader revealed,  “I met the Prime Minister today and have requested him to reduce my burden.” This he said on 5 July, the day the opposition staged a countrywide protest against rising prices. With crucial ministries under his charge, Pawar is supposed to be among the Government’s principal fire-fighters, but he has been more interested in cricket. In fact, whenever he did intervene, prices worsened further. Any strong government would have ejected Pawar and Mamata by now. There indeed are certain compulsions of coalition politics, but they stop operating if—as is obvious today—there are parties waiting in the wings. So, what is the PM waiting for?

About The Author

Dhirendra K. Jha