Change in Chennai

It is natural, given the position taken by them, that Left union leaders and Airports Authority of India AAI employee activists would want to persuade M. Karunanidhi to opt for an AAI-led revival package for the Chennai airport. But it is vital, given the importance of airport reform, that the Tamil Nadu chief minister doesn8217;t get persuaded. Karunanidhi has started on absolutely the right note, by writing to the civil aviation ministry and expressing his support for privatising Chennai airport management. It would seem he has the same firm commitment to this reform that the Centre had in the run-up to changing the management structure of the Delhi and Mumbai airports. That commitment helped the Centre in tackling the AAI strike.

Karunanidhi, one of the shrewdest politicians around, would have of course looked at the politics of airport reform. It could not have escaped him that AAI8217;s strike over Delhi and Mumbai airports was extremely unpopular. That unions and politicians sympathetic to them got no sympathy. That was not simply a reaction to quotidian inconvenience. Functioning services is something urban Indians have come to see as a basic right. In big cities like Chennai politics of service disruption is not the smartest strategy. More so because Chennai is the capital of one of India8217;s most economically dynamic states and a major entry and exit point for business and tourist travel. It deserves a first-rate airport.

So does Kolkata for that matter. And Karunanidhi should note that the Left8217;s most successful CM, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, has never been dogmatic about the means to reforming the Kolkata airport. The same pragmatism that informs the Bengal CM8217;s approach must guide policy in Tamil Nadu, irrespective of the frequency and pitch of AAI unions8217; and Left leaders8217; appeals. The Centre, for its part, must strengthen Karunanidhi8217;s hands by moving quickly and keeping the state government in the loop. An extraordinary amount of time has been lost since the NDA first proposed airport reform. Still Delhi and Mumbai airport reform represented a huge victory. Change in Chennai and Kolkata must consolidate that gain.