Road carnage

What happened at Muzaffarpur in Bihar was not an accident, but an act of carnage. It was nothing short of fatal netagiri. For netas, driving rashly is almost a wanton sport. Were it an accident, it would not have caused public outrage on this scale. The lives of nine school kids were lost to the recklessness of a drunk and power-drunk leader. VIPs have become law unto themselves. The Muzaffarpur tragedy exemplifies how netas attach no value to lives and regard ordinary people expendable. All nine children who were mowed down hailed from poor families. The mere fact of being poor makes the children less precious and more vulnerable in the eyes of some insolent netas. It is now clear that prohibition in Bihar is only for the common man and does not apply to the rich and powerful. The incarceration of members of subaltern communities for drinking and the consumption of liquor by the affluent without being booked manifests the dark side of the prohibition story in Bihar. The JD (U)-BJP government initially tried to hush up the ghastly crime and shield Manoj Baitha. With the pictures of the BJP functionary with prominent BJP leaders and the party flag on the car’s name board in the public domain, it could not deny his political affiliations. The delayed surrender was orchestrated to render alcohol test redundant.

Nitish Kumar (pictured) needs to do more than staying away from Holi celebrations to provide justice to the families of the victims and prevent the recurrence of hit-and-run incidents. The ugly rise in crimes in Bihar does not impart “sushasan raj” as promised by Nitish Kumar, but “jungle raj”. Given BJP’s grip over the administration, Nitish Kumar cannot act on his own. To cling on to power, he has stilled the voice of his inner conscience. He is on his way to political oblivion.

G David Milton Maruthancode