The Red Parties in power in the Government are again going in for a full fledged Bandh in West Bengal on 7th September, 2010. This time the Opposition Parties, the Green Brigade are openly opposing this Bandh on the following grounds:- 1. The issue has been raised in previous Bandhs also and a further Bandh is unnecessary. 2. A Bandh of this nature wastes mandays and hampers business in the festival season (Id and Durga Pujas are round the corner. 3. This bandh will harm the Muslims in observing there sacrosanct 27th day of Ramzan.
Bandhs have always brought mental and physical trouble to the constituted Civil Services of Bengal. A bureaucrat remembers the day when he was a student and always considered the Bandh days as holidays when roads were clear and became childrens’ play grounds. Now a Bandh either meant overwork to ensure Bandh’s failure OR no work but full mental trouble with his conscience day long.
If bureaucracy were to function as per the rule book and logically then on any Bandh Day the Bengal Bureaucrat would have no dilemma as the action path would be simple:- Attend Office and ensure that public do not face any problems. That is what a Government and its bureaucracy is paid for. A government and its bureaucratic machinery cannot turn a blind eye to a Bandh or tacitly support it nor overtly suppress it. It has to be neutral and uphold public convenience and law and order maintenance above all in any Bandh. In any Bandh, it would be ridiculous to conceive that the democratic Government which has sworn by the Constitiution to rise above petty politics and uphold constitutional rights of freedom to move/ express opinion and trade, has gone to Bandh and downed its shutters, for then we have the breach of Constitution and Supreme Court Orders directing Governments to ensure that Bandh do not adversely effect civic life. Alas, despite knowing this to be true and a fact, top bureaucrats and the Government take a funny stand and this leads to the dilemma for the junior bureaucrats.
When I was a Block level head of office and young in blood, in any Bandh Day, be it by Red or Green or Saffron, I took great hardships to personally attend office as I felt it my duty to:- 1. Show to all political parties my neutrality irrespective of Bandh calling party. 2. Keep up communications channel in the office to ensure that minimum government presence for public and coordinate with necessary offices. Well that was when I was independent Head Of Office. For the lower rung of general Government Employees it is always fun to have a Bnadh as they get a paid holiday, so whatever their political affiliation, they always want to enjoy a Bandh.
Now that I have “matured” in experience and played roles second to the Head Of Office at higher levels also and observed the government machinery from various angles, I see that the general tendency is as follows:Scenario1. If Bandh is called by Opposition parties then Chief Secretary will hurriedly rush through the standard Wireless message “ Keep all Offices Open----- ensure Staff Attend------“. All Offices down the line will meticulously pass the message, make police arrangements to open offices, send vehicles to pick up officers, check attendance (which they normally are very lax about on other days), demand leave from absent officers. Scenario2: If Bandh is called by ruling party, then Chief Secretary will give a reluctant media byte that we shall try to keep offices open and all will forget the usual Wireless message and spend a paid holiday down the line with no sending of pickup vehicles, no asking absentee officers for leave application. To keep up the charade, the Chief Minster and his few personal Staff will attend the Government HQ at Writers’ Building for a couple of hours to show that the Government is functioning. This well rehearsed ambiguity and hypocrisy of the upper echelons of the Bengal Government has bred a confused and disillusioned bureaucracy at its middle and lower tires. They don’t know what to do to manage civic life in a Bnadh. If Red Brigade calls a Bandh, they feel it safe to cower at home or at best go to the DM’s Bunglow Office and gossip for an hour or so before the afternoon siesta. If the Opposition calls a Bandh they reluctantly go to office and collect attendance reports. If somehow it happens that the Opposition parties are locally strong and manage to enforce the Bandh locally, then the Red Brigade affiliated Government Employees Union, aptly called the “Coordination Committee” start pressurizing the Office Boss to open the office, putting him under further dilemma. But if opposite happens and Green Brigade affiliated Government Employees Union who are usually a minority in most places clamor for opening Office, then the “Coordination Committee” cowers the local bureaucrat in charge not to open. What a double play! Enough to confuse the Bengal bureaucrat more and make him a partisan accomplice against his will.
Now we come back to the present Bandh of 7th September 2010, Red Brigade is more hellbent to enforce it as the Green Brigade has openly challenged it. So to ensure that the Red Brigade does not lose face, once again the Bengal Bureaucrat machinery will step in. But this time the machinery is very confused as it senses that within six months the Green Brigade might take up power of the Government. Also in 50% of local offices, like in Panchayats and Municipalities, Green Brigade is already now in power and will try to open the Government Offices. So a new issue for dilemma for the Bengal Bureaucrat has arisen. So let us now do what seasoned bureaucrats do----- sit on the fence and watch the game.
