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Sunday Column 30-07-2023

That it is raining very heavily for last few weeks is an understatement of the year. I am particularly happy that I was able to retire at the age of 60 to enjoy watching rain falling through my french windows, or listening to its incessant music on the metal shed over my balcony. I pity my ex-colleagues who trek to the office everyday through considerable hardship, which incidentally, I also endured during my working days.

Since I am having lot of free time on my hand, I am entitled to call anyone anytime on my mobile. I will narrate one such conversation to you.
I called a working friend of mine at around 10.30 am.
“Hi, are you in office?”
“No, at home.”
“Why, what happened?”
“If it is raining heavily at my usual time of departure to the office, I do not get out of the home. Saves me lot of trouble.” “Then, in the evening, if it is raining heavily at the time of your usual time of departure from the office, do you stay in the office overnight?”
The call dropped.

As you all know, most of the roads in the city and state are full of potholes. There is an oft repeated joke which goes as follows.
Mother of the minister of road transport is seriously ill. She is having continuous bouts of hick-ups. A doctor is called in. He does all kinds of tests but is unable to find out the cause of these hick-ups. Finally, he comes up with a gem.
“Sir, we get hick-ups when somebody is remembering us, you know?”
“So??”
“I think every time a passenger encounters a pot hole on the road, he remembers your mother. These hick-ups will stop once monsoon is over.”

The real reason for the potholes is that the contractor spends so much money to get the contract for the repairs of the roads, he is left with no money to carry out the repairs properly. This problem can be easily solved by putting 20-30% of money for “other expenses” while issuing the tender itself.

Have you realised that despite severe rain fall in the city, the local train services are largely running well? I feel that the railway authorities have done well to manage the situation. Their work in setting up large water pumps along the corridor is bearing fruit. Hats off to them! Even the municipal authorities are claiming that even though the water logging does take place during heavy downpour, the water is getting drained much faster. After all, Mumbai city is made up of seven islands and is always prone to water logging, especially during high tides.

Yes, I agree that people do suffer during rains. With so much of infra-structure development work going on in the city, this was bound to happen. Instead of augmenting infra-structure, time has come to shift all administrative offices, private as well as government, out of the city. Is anybody listening?

Speaking of infrastructure development, the work has really picked up during the last one year. Though everyone understands the reason behind this, few people are still in the denial mode.

I really want to start a news channel which will cover all the editorials from news-papers, except one. You know which one I am talking about. Any takers?

Finally, a no-confidence motion against the government, just to make the PM speak. We really are the greatest democracy on earth. For every small or big problem in the country, the opposition wants to hold the PM guilty, even though most of the problems were created by them in the first place. And the ego of the PM is stopping him from giving answers. Stalemate, right?

Though you will have to admit that no other PM of this country has been abused so much. He has been called names which are unpardonable in a democratic setup. After all, he has been elected by a huge majority twice and that speaks volumes itself. That is, if you believe in democracy to begin with.

No doubt you need a strong opposition in a democratic setup. But here you have a splintered opposition, based on dynastic equations, largely trying to hang on to its ill-gotten wealth.

All in all, not a good advertisement for democracy in the world.

Even accepting that I am a nobody, here are a few things the opposition can do to make public sit up and take note.

Allow the parliament to function normally. They can use the parliament as a tool to voice their legitimate concerns.

Stop abusing the PM. They should have realised by now that he is by far the most popular person in the country. His biggest plus point is that he has no personal agenda. It is time the opposition understood this and acted accordingly.

Stop anti-Hindu rhetoric. They are playing into the hands of BJP by doing that. There are 80% Hindus in this country and you cannot come back to power by constantly attacking them.

Focus on issues like inflation and rising food prices. This year is going to be difficult for everybody, if prices continue to spiral. Already food production this year is going to be less than what it was during the last few years. This is going to be a huge test for the government.

They should publicly denounce convicted criminals like Lalu Prasad Yadav. This of course, is not going to happen.

They should start a campaign to re-write anti-defection law. After all, they have suffered the most!!!

All this is easier said than done, given the personal agenda most of the opposition leaders carry. Best of luck to them!

Shashank Purandare 30/07/2023