Turning Morbi tragedy into an event for Modi

By abhay mokashi

The aftermath of the collapse of the suspension bridge exposes that the Gujarat Model is a fascade and its creator an illusionist.

The collapse of the bridge at Morbi and the death of over 160 men, women and children, exposes the lack of planning and the absence of the administrative controls in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in Gujarat, as well as at the Centre, and its leaders suffer from paranoid persecution complex, so when the party or its leaders and elected representatives are questioned about their failures, their immediate reaction is to ask what has the Congress done in 70 years.

This attitude is seen during debates on television channels, where official spokespersons, divert the debates from the topic of discussion. One such spokesperson was on a channel during a debate on the collapse of the bridge and the death of such large number of innocent people. When asked to speak about the tragedy and the failure of Prime Minster Narendra Modi to visit Morbi for two days after the tragedy, he counter questioned why Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi was on his Bharat Jodo Yatra. This is not a good defence, especially from a person, who is also a Supreme Court lawyer, for the party’s failure to handle the situation, before and after the tragedy.

While the accident and the death of so many is tragic, the behaviour of the government, its officials and the leaders of the BJP is more painful. There seems to be no remorse on the part of any of them, over what happened.

The tragedy was avoidable, going by the reports. The bridge had the load bearing capacity of around 125 persons yet, tickets were issued without giving a thought to the overcrowding that was expected after the issuance of over 500 tickets within a short span of time. While it is prima facie clear that the suspension bridge came down because of overloading, some BJP leaders and their cronies, including those in journalism, have been advocating that the real culprits responsible for the tragedy, are some youth who kept pulling the steel wires of the suspension bridge. They also went on to give ‘scientific reasons’ to claim that such pulling weakened the wires! It is like the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back.

Even if hypothetically this ridiculous argument is accepted, the question that is to be raised is not about the so-called mischief by the youth, but the absence of proper strength of the steel wires.

That those in power in Gujarat are more concerned about protecting the high and mighty or wish to ensure not to antagonise the Patel community, in the light of the ensuing Legislative Assembly elections in the state, is clear from the fact that the top officials of the company, which was given the contract to repair the bridge have not been booked for the offence of death due to negligence. The contract to carry out the repairs was given without inviting tenders and was given to a company, whose experience is in making wall clocks and not building or repairing bridges.

The act of the government once again exposes the BJP’s pro-rich or pro-capitalist and anti-poor approach. Those named in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged regarding the accident, include the clerk, who issued the tickets for entry to the bridge and the security guard. They have been made scapegoats, while the real culprits have been let off.

Narendra Modi, who was in Gujarat at the time of the tragedy and the day after, was busy with his compulsive hobby, of making speeches, often with incorrect information, and cutting ribbons. At a function to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the day after the accident, he said that he was caught between his duty and the tragedy, and he chose duty. What he was doing for over 50 hours after the Morbi accident was not something where his presence was essential, failing which the skies would have fallen. It is not necessary for the Prime Minister to visit the site of such an accident, but he should not give false reasons for not going there.

Modi attended at least four functions after learning about the accident and changed his clothes as many times. It needs to be mentioned that the media and the leaders of the BJP had criticised the then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, for changing his attire while terrorists attacked Mumbai.

Modi is a showman and a bad one at that. For him everything is an event, so was his visit to the hospital where those injured in the Morbi bridge collapse are being treated. Modi takes care to see that everything about him is in order, except the nation and its economy. Since Modi decided to visit the injured, the local administration swung into action and got the hospital painted and the interior redone overnight. New bedsheets were brought for the patients from a distance of over 150 kilometres.

If reports that rescue operations were suspended for few hours, for resumption during Modi’s visit are true, the decision has to be condemned in the harshest words. The visuals of the rescue operations, being supervised by the Prime Minister, show the operation being carried out in synchronised manner and more of a mock drill.

All in all, Modi’s image is more important for the Gujarat Government and the BJP, than the lives of a few ordinary people.