The pronouncements made by Delhi’s top muddle-heads – Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his retinue of oddball AAP colleagues, Commissioner BS Bassi and sundry supporters of the ludicrous odd-even formula for city vehicles – is making the odd campaign sound, and seem, even odder.
Delhi’s motorists are in dread and confusion prevails over how the formula will work out across the city beginning January 1. It is in a sense a grim reminder of America’s experiment with the odd-even gasoline purchase rules of 1979, in the backdrop of a severe global fuel shortage forced by the 1973 Arab oil embargo. Energy-hungry America did not care. The experiment lasted 79 days. It failed and Jimmy Carter, who called on Americans to conserve energy, lost his re-election bid in 1980.
On New Year’s Day, when the chief minister’s mindless formula comes into effect, many of Delhi’s motorists will rue why they had voted overwhelmingly for the AAP in 2014. Arvind Kejriwal, the maverick who Delhi adored, is today a shadow of his former self – appearing more and more as a reckless politician prepared to let chaos rule Delhi’s roads for cynical political ends.
Bonanza for Cops
In tow is the over-rated Commissioner Bassi, who, since his running battle with the AAP began, has thrown in his lot with the BJP-ruled Centre (and on occasions has appeared to be a BJP spokesman than a neutral, thinking police officer), and has now sensed an opportunity to unleash his brutes in khaki on Delhi’s denizens.
Bassi, who increasingly sounds like a constable and not an officer, has merrily jumped in support of his arch enemy Kejriwal’s hare-brained scheme. Perhaps he and his callous subordinates sense some gains to be made.
Political Move
If you thought that Kejriwal’s intentions, to rid Delhi of the canopy of poisonous gas, was honest, think again. His objective is more political: adding 10,000 more autos will mean enlisting the support of 20,000 heads. Then there are 3,000 buses (from the proposed 6,000). Kejriwal perhaps expects the arithmetic to go in his favour, come January-February 2019.
There is absolutely no doubt that for a greater part of 2015, India’s capital reeled from terrible air pollution. The fume-choked city needs immediate relief, but the grand odd-even vehicle restriction plan is not the only answer to cleaning up Delhi’s noxious air. And if you care to go through the exempted category of vehicles, Kejriwal’s experiment will sound as if it is all set to fizzle out within days of its starting.
Inexplicable Exemptions
The Delhi government notification exempts, among others, the president, vice-president, the prime minister, chief justice of India, Lok Sabha Speaker, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, Lok Sabha deputy speaker, governors of states and lieutenant governors. The list also includes Union ministers and judges of the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. The president doesn’t use Delhi’s roads much and neither do the vice-president or the prime minister.
What is inexplicable is why vehicles driven by women, with only women passengers, are exempted but not doctors/physicians who attend to emergency cases in hospitals.
Since the inane experiment will begin in the midst of school holidays, people’s plans to leave the city on vacation, or return, will go haywire. Many will have to cancel their holiday plans. But an obstinate Kejriwal believes that operationalising the odd-even experiment is the moral equivalent of another anti-corruption campaign.
No Collective Spirit
But very few Delhites are genuinely willing to heed the call. Thousands, if not lakhs, are not ready to listen because we know Delhites are essentially selfish and nobody will recognise the common purpose if the odd-even formula is indeed one of the ways to achieve that common purpose.
Delhi lacks the spirit that is essential to achieve the objective of assisting/contributing to the efforts made by government agencies to cleanse the city’s air so that future generations get the quality of life they deserve.
As Delhi braces for the two-week, one man-made chaos, Kejriwal must ponder on more achievable targets: while automobiles are indeed one of the worst polluters, adequate control will require further advances in vehicular engine designs and fuel composition.
He must work with other chief ministers to push our automobile manufacturing plants to intensify research, set increasingly strict standards and strengthen enforcement procedures. He must do these things now and back-off from the potentially suicidal mission.
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