Shooting ourselves

Everybody loves a good tragedy. Look at the way the Congress and Left politicians are breathing fire and brimstone over the Kalinga Nagar firing, which had led to the deaths of 12 tribals earlier this month. The tragic incident has given them the perfect opportunity to attack Orissa chief minister, and project themselves as the true saviours of India’s tribals. To gauge the cynicism of their stance, consider the evidence of the man who happened to be the district magistrate at that point. In an interview to the Express, he pointed out that local politicians — the very ones now beating their breasts over the Kalinga Nagar killings — had mobilised crowds on the day of the firing, creating a tense situation that rapidly spun out of control and resulted in those totally avoidable deaths.

In the process, the project of industrialisation which a state like Orissa desperately needs in order to buttress its economic stability, is put in jeopardy. And here’s the rub. Orissa — indeed India — needs development. It urgently requires its highways, dams, mines, industries, airports, hotels, if it is to safeguard its economic status and accentuate its growth. And none of it can happen without the displacement of people. Nobody disputes that this calls for enlightened policies of rehabilitation and compensation. But to shelve crucial projects for an eternity, just because politicians don’t have the will, wisdom or strategic vision to see them through, is both an insult to our collective intelligence and a blot on our future prospects.

Politicians are typically double-faced when it comes to development. In power, they try to push projects through; when out of it, they do all they can to stall them. Look at the tremendous cost the country paid over Narmada. A project that should have been completed at least a decade earlier and powered Indian prosperity, found itself trapped in a web of politicking, litigation and futile activism. Narmada’s lost years are an object lesson in how not to develop; in how not to politicise an issue and fall into the NGO trap. What India requires today is bipartisan consensus on the importance of infrastructural projects for the greater common good. Everybody — including the politicians targeting the hapless Naveen Patnaik in Orissa today — agrees that development should take place. If they can now contribute to the process by taking their constituencies, we may not have to witness another tragedy like the Kalinga Nagar firing.