The Nitish Superfast

Union rail mantri, Nitish Kumar, let out a great deal of steam against an Express correspondent who dared to ask him uncomfortable questions...

Union rail mantri, Nitish Kumar, let out a great deal of steam against an Express correspondent who dared to ask him uncomfortable questions about how the railways could go about building a 123-km rail line parallel to an existing one between Neora and Sheikhpura without Planning Commission approval.

Nitish Kumar8217;s response recalled the famous formulation put forward by Louis XIV so many years ago: 8216;8216;L8217;etat c8217;est moi8217;8217; I am the state. 8216;8216;As a minister, it is well within my power to expand and allot more money to a project,8217;8217; said Nitish Kumar. But of course.

What he did not say, of course, is that this new rail line, which he dismisses as nothing but a 8216;8216;material modification8217;8217; of the existing line, will pass through three politically important pocket boroughs: the constituencies of former health minister, C.P. Thakur; defence minister George Fernandes and his own.

What he did not care to clarify, too, was that this 8216;8216;material modification8217;8217; will cost the Railways a cool Rs 255 crore 8212; a sum not to be sneezed at in these cash-strapped times. So next time someone asks why the Indian Railways is always short on finances when it comes to ensuring safety norms, remember the answer8212; ministerial material modifications. The hallmark of treating a ministry as a fiefdom is the manner in which rules are bent and loopholes exploited. What8217;s patently obvious about the latest scandal from Rail Bhavan is the careful manipulation or veiling of crucial information. The silences in the Budget speech, for instance, or the manner in which Planning Commission scrutiny is carefully avoided tell their own story.

Nitish Kumar would, of course, like to 8216;8216;educate8217;8217; the media about the functioning of the Railways, so that8212; presumably8212;they desist from asking uncomfortable questions about 8216;8216;material modifications8217;8217;. Unfortunately for him, we perceive asking difficult questions as part of our professional duty. No matter what the awkwardness. No matter what the intimidation. So there is no point attacking this newspaper, Mr Kumar, concentrate instead on covering your tracks.