There is an old saying in Hindi that says – Jiski Lathi, Uski Bhains. Loosely translated it means that the buffalo belongs to the person holding the stick. That is the philosophy being pursued by the BJP in ruling the country.
A confrontational and in-your-face attitude is seen in almost everything. They do not believe in a consultative process which is the bulwark of democracy. The latest example of this pigheadedness is the proposed law that penalises truck drivers in the event of accidents involving loss of life, from two years rigorous imprisonment to 10 years with the added possibility of a fine ranging up to Rs 7 lakh. The issue is not whether this is correct or incorrect, whether it is severe or not, but the crux of the matter is that no consultations were held with those likely to be affected by the new proposed law like the truck drivers and the Truckers Association. This led to the truck drivers rising in protest and stopping the plying of trucks since they thought that the new penalties were excessive. The consequence of this was that close to some 2000 petrol pumps in Northern & Western India ran out of stocks and people were put to difficulty.
Thankfully, before the truck drivers strike expanded to disruptions to other essential items, the Truckers Association met the central government bureaucracy and obtained the assurance that the Bill has not been made into a law and they will look into it. With this assurance, the truck drivers’ strike was called off. What stops the present government from discussing these measures with those affected and the stake holders before implementation is something that is not understood.
The BJP government and the bureaucracy are too full in their assumed knowledge about everything that they refuse to talk to others who are likely to be impacted. This also results in the inconvenience to the public and harassment of people. The powers-that-be are least bothered about that. Not only that, the present government consciously avoids discussion and debate on any matter. We saw this in the last session of Parliament when important Bills like the CrPC, the Telecommunications Bill and the Election Commission were hurriedly passed in an empty House with the majority of the Opposition having been suspended.
Those familiar with conspiracy scenarios would believe that the suspension of the Opposition MPs was deliberate with a design to pass these three important Bills without any discussion. On the conspiracy we can take a step back and maybe believe that the BJP deliberately engineered the disruption of Parliament when two persons breached security, since it was a BJP MP who had arranged the visitor passes for them. It was after that that the Opposition MPs protested and were suspended leading to an empty House where the incumbent could have its way without a murmur. One cannot discount these matters since with the BJP anything is possible.
