Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde with Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.
Credit: PTI File Photo
On the night of September 25-26, four persons died in Mumbai. While three were struck by lightning, 45-year-old Vimal Gaekwad, who worked as a security guard to support herself and her disabled husband, died because of the negligence of those who rule Mumbai. Making her way home, she fell into an open drain.
Why was it left open? The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), whose duty it is to ensure that the roads are safe, neither knew nor cared, going by what its officials told the media. They were of the view that the lid (which was meant to be covering the drain) might have been carried away by the rainwater, or, maybe it was never there.
At any rate, they added, it was not their responsibility, because that portion of the road had been handed over to the Metro Rail Corporation.
On their part, the metro authorities denied all responsibility, claiming that not only had they finished their work and restored the road, but also that the part where the tragedy took place was beyond their work area.
The reason for Gaekwad’s death would never have been known were it not for two witnesses who alerted the police, as both streetlights and CCTV cameras were non-functional (for which, again, the BMC blamed the Metro authorities).
One of the witnesses, an auto-driver, having seen what happened to Gaekwad, stood in the heavy rain warning pedestrians about the open culvert. No cop thought fit to do so.
In 2017, a well-known doctor lost his life after falling into an open drain. Many more lives have been lost in this manner.
So, for the BMC, such deaths are routine. This blasé attitude may have changed had Asia’s wealthiest corporation been held accountable for the deaths of those it’s supposed to keep safe; but, apart from the usual condemnations, no Opposition leader has done anything for Gaekwad.
Interestingly, in 2020, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya did file a police complaint against the BMC for such a death, but then, it was the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) that was in power.
It’s unlikely that Somaiya will act as conscientiously this time, considering that the BMC is being run by his party along with its coalition partners as civic elections have not been held since 2017.
Another horrifying incident that took place last week, in Pune, can also be directly attributed to negligence by the authorities. A woman was gang-raped after the rapists tied up her boyfriend. The same spot has seen incidents of molestation and robbery in the recent past, and cops have even nabbed five men after laying a trap for them.
Yet, it is only now that they have increased patrolling and are considering installing CCTVs. Will the BJP, which went to town over the Kolkata rape case, protest or at least pull up Pune’s cops? Unlikely.
The party has weightier issues at hand: should Ajit Pawar be allowed to fight elections on his own to cut into his uncle’s votes? Should Raj Thackeray be included in the ruling Maha Yuti alliance? Not that the Opposition is raising hell about women’s safety — instead, it is waiting for the stars to align to announce its candidates and seat-sharing arrangements.
What do they care about the trauma of 5,000 students who were allotted a precious medical seat and then could not take admission because the Maharashtra government has not paid private medical colleges the scholarship amounts due to them.
Does the tragedy that befell Sadique Shaikh, on September 29, trouble those in power? What started as road rage, ended up as a hate crime because the motorists who chased Shaikh for five kilometres and ran over his motorcycle, killing his wife and daughter, shouted religious slurs at them.
Over the past weeks, BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has been threatening Muslims at rallies, undeterred by the FIRs filed against him over the last year because no action has followed these FIRS. Did the targeting of a Muslim family (Shaikh’s wife wore a burqa), have nothing to do with Rane’s speeches?
In August, an elderly Muslim was roughed up on a train for carrying buffalo meat. The police did nothing till the video went viral. Significantly, the assailants were going to appear for a police recruitment exam.
Knowing that BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis won’t stop Rane’s hate speeches, will the Opposition do anything beyond writing letters to the police commissioner?
As the Assembly election approaches, it’s time to acknowledge the sad reality: the suffering of the ordinary Maharashtrian is not a concern for the state’s political establishment.
Jyoti Punwani is a senior journalist.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.