PATNA, 12 July — Sworn political enemies in Bihar are sweeping their differences aside to unitedly take on West Bengal in a battle over railway zones. Never before have Bihar’s ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) buried the hatchet and joined hands in Bihar’s interest.
The aim is to present a united face while locking horns with West Bengal, which is bitterly opposed to the breaking up of the existing Eastern Railway (ER) zone to create the new East-Central Railways (ECR) headquartered in the Bihar town of Hajipur.
West Bengal — particularly its firebrand leader and former Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee — is putting tremendous pressure on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to stop the ER’s dismantling.
Mamata, who is a partner in the Vajpayee-led ruling central coalition, has turned the railway zone battle into a high-pitched West Bengal versus Bihar issue.
An all-party delegation from Bihar is going to New Delhi to meet Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar to express their support to for the decision to create a new ECR zone. “The all-party delegation is nothing but a move to counter the pressure of Mamata Banerjee and CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) leaders of West Bengal on the prime minister to reconsider the creation of the ECR zone,” said a senior Bihar minister who is part of the delegation.
An all-party delegation from West Bengal has already met Advani and Nitish to press them to rescind the decision to break up the Calcutta-based ER zone.
The railway minister, who hails from Bihar, is an archrival of RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav. Yet he has been in regular touch with Laloo on the ECR zone’s creation. Sources said Laloo had a long telephonic conversation with Nitish on the issue and they decided to work in tandem for Bihar’s interest, keeping their past rivalry aside. Laloo’s wife and Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi has threatened to launch an agitation if the central government changes its mind to create the ECR zone.
Last week the Bihar Assembly unanimously passed a resolution thanking the railway minister for the creation of the ECR zone. It was an apparent move to neutralize the effect of the resolution passed by the West Bengal Assembly opposing the ER’s bifurcation. Bihar politicians believe the ECR’s creation would boost development in their economically backward state.
“Bihar will earn two billion rupees a year from the new railway zone as sales tax at the rate of 20 percent,” senior RJD leader Ramkirpal Yadav said. Besides, it would create opportunities for direct and indirect employment in the state. West Bengal is opposing the move as the ER zone would lose control of the lucrative Dhanbad, Danapur and Mughalsarai divisions. Dhanbad, a coal-rich belt, contributed the highest freight earnings in the ER zone.
