Mamatadi, ektu bhebey dekhun...

Editor’s note:  An anonymous e-mail was sent to Firstpost, addressed to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Like we have republished thoughtful, smart comments in the past, we thought it fit to republish the letter with its full contents, below.  Dear Mamatadi Aami holaam  (I am), a middle-class Kolkatan. I do not agree with your decision to sack the Rail Minister for the following reasons: If you did lay down the broad guidelines of the direction of the Rail Budget 2012 with your Rail Montri in the last number of months and he consistently disagreed to toe your line, then he should have been removed earlier. Aagey sack korlen na keno? (Why didn’t you sack him before?)  Or on the other hand, if you didn’t lay down the broad guidelines, then it represents the failure of your political party and your leadership. Either way, the captain of the team must own the responsibility. In the last two decades since liberalisation, we have come to recognise that price increases are a function of the marketplace. Daam to barbeyi (Prices will increase). Wherever they are not and the government attempts to absorb price increases with the motive of protecting the common man, there are two fallouts - one, the institutions are bankrupted and two, the government is compelled to tax people by other means. Kono escape nei (There is no escaping this). Koylaar daam bede gechhey (Price of coal has increased) , salaries bill bede gechhey (Salary bill has gone up), electricity tariff bede gechhey (Electricity tariff has gone up). These are used as inputs by the railways. If these cost increases are not passed on, then the railways is being progressively weakened. We do not want the Railways to become what Air India is and the only way to prevent it (as the Rail Montri also considered fit) was by passing some of these cost increases to the public and protecting the health of the national backbone. What could be wrong with that? Because successive populist ministers did not raise railway tariff in the past, this Rail Montri was compelled to do so. So in a way, he was compelled to clean the rubbish accumulated by the previous Rail Ministers. The Railways is too critical a national backbone to not be economically sustainable. The additional taka (money) raised by the railways would not have been parked in Swiss accounts; they would have been reinvested in the railways - for more and better services. The time has come when the average Indian is demanding better service for which he / she is willing to pay a little more (emphasis on the world ’little’). This is precisely what the Rail Minister was proposing. Where was he wrong? The application of your logic should be consistent: just a few weeks ago, the West Bengal State Electricity Board (government owned) raised electricity tariff. That was fair according to you. But when the Rail Minister does the same, you want him sacked. Where’s the logic? What about the other members of your government who need to be similarly sacked for under-performance for not acting in public interest - the Fire Minister following the AMRI tragedy (as his department okayed the premises as safe)? Regards, Azaad (or John Doe or jaa naam ditey chaayben) (Or whatever name you want to give me)