Kiran Bedi was both right and wrong
Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi’s comments criticising the governance, politicians and people of Tamil Nadu for the ongoing water crisis in Chennai have been roundly condemned by both Dravidian majors in the state. While the matter rocked the Assembly on Monday, the comments of leaders from both the DMK and ruling AIADMK were expunged by the Speaker. Nonetheless, the AIADMK issued a statement condemning Bedi’s remarks. For her part, Bedi attempted to qualify the comments she made on Sunday by attributing the criticism to the “people’s perception”.
The controversy raised two critical issues. First, is it correct for the L-G of a Union Territory to level such criticism against the governance and people of another state? Bedi was well within her rights to express her personal views, but as a person holding a constitutional post should she air views using such harsh language on social media? Perhaps not.
Politically, Bedi is seen as the BJP’s representative in the South. She already has a contentious relationship with the Congress government in Puducherry, which has accused her of overstepping her authority. Her comments will do no favour to the BJP, which faced a wipeout in Tamil Nadu during the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Second, was Bedi wrong? No. It cannot be denied that the state’s governments, politicians, bureaucrats and some of its people have contributed to the city’s crisis. Unregulated and uncontrolled construction has led to the shrinking of water bodies. Without monitoring, even useful initiatives like compulsory rainwater harvesting have become useless. Citizens who should know better turn a blind eye to rules as long as their housing, water and transport needs are met even as scores of others suffer.
Where Bedi was wrong was in restricting this criticism to Tamil Nadu. The situation in virtually every Indian city, especially metros, is the same—people and governments fighting floods and droughts, both man-made, often in the same year. It is time for India to wake up and make some difficult decisions.