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23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Hostage City

For a city that prides itself on never stopping, Mumbai has been brought to a grinding halt by the stoppage of one of its most indispensable services. The indefinite strike by employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has effectively paralysed the city’s bus network, leaving millions of commuters stranded and exposing deep fissures in the management of one of India’s largest urban transport systems. BEST ferries around 25 lakh passengers daily through a...

Hostage City

For a city that prides itself on never stopping, Mumbai has been brought to a grinding halt by the stoppage of one of its most indispensable services. The indefinite strike by employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has effectively paralysed the city’s bus network, leaving millions of commuters stranded and exposing deep fissures in the management of one of India’s largest urban transport systems. BEST ferries around 25 lakh passengers daily through a fleet of nearly 2,800 buses. Yet over the past three days, the city has witnessed the near-total collapse of this network. On the first day of the strike, only a few dozen buses operated. By the weekend, not a single BEST-owned or wet-lease bus was on the roads. Local trains, Metro services, taxis and autorickshaws have been forced to absorb the shock and are predictably straining under the burden. The strike may be illegal under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA), and the industrial court may have ordered employees back to work. Yet laws and court orders cannot substitute for sound governance. When a public utility reaches the point where thousands of workers are willing to risk disciplinary action and legal consequences, it signals a failure that predates the strike itself. The demands raised by the unions are hardly new. Employees have long sought implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, settlement of retirement dues, an end to contractualisation and the merger of the BEST budget with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Whether one agrees with every demand is beside the point. What is striking is that these issues have been allowed to fester for years without a credible roadmap for resolution. Equally troubling is the government’s reactive approach. Ministers and officials rushed into negotiations only after services collapsed and public inconvenience reached intolerable levels. Such crisis management has become a familiar feature of governance. The unions, too, must recognise the wider consequences of their actions. Public transport is the bloodstream of a city. Every day the strike continues, daily wage earners lose income and ordinary citizens bear higher travel costs. The disruption disproportionately hurts those who can least afford alternatives. Holding Mumbai hostage may attract attention to legitimate grievances, but also risks eroding public sympathy. Mumbai has spent years celebrating new Metro corridors, coastal roads and grand infrastructure projects. Yet the humble bus remains the most affordable and accessible mode of transport for millions. Policymakers often treat BEST as an ageing institution to be managed rather than a vital public service to be strengthened. The increasing reliance on contract workers and wet-lease operations may reduce immediate costs, but also weakens institutional stability and labour relations. A city of Mumbai’s scale cannot afford a public transport system perpetually balanced on the edge of financial distress, labour unrest and administrative uncertainty. Nor can it depend on emergency measures whenever disputes arise.

The Saffron Truce

Ahead of the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, a bruised BJP mends fences with the AIADMK.

Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu

Few states have proved as electorally impenetrable to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Tamil Nadu. With its fiercely proud Dravidian identity and a political culture suspicious of northern impositions, the BJP has long been a fringe player in a state dominated by the Dravidian duopoly of the DMK and the AIADMK. Now, ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, the BJP has pragmatically revived its alliance with the AIADMK while engineering a leadership reshuffle to soothe bruised egos on both sides.


The changes were the handiwork of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who in his recent visit to the southern state, declared that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would contest the 2026 elections under the leadership of AIADMK chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) and that the two parties would form a coalition government if victorious.


This was a signal of détente after months of visible strain. Central to this détente was the fate of K. Annamalai, the firebrand former IPS officer who, as BJP’s Tamil Nadu president since 2021, had become both a symbol of the party’s grassroots energy and a source of friction with its ally. Annamalai’s combative style, unafraid to criticise AIADMK icons (including a controversial remark about the late J. Jayalalithaa) had alienated senior AIADMK leaders. Matters came to a head in 2023 when the AIADMK quit the NDA, accusing the BJP’s state leadership of disrespect.


Though Amit Shah publicly maintained that Annamalai remained president at the time of the press conference, his symbolic sidelining was hard to miss. Within hours, the BJP announced Nainar Nagendran, the party’s Tirunelveli MLA and current vice-president, as state president of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit.


Nagendran’s elevation is not accidental. A former AIADMK minister who crossed over to the BJP in 2017, he is seen as a more conciliatory figure, someone with the credibility to mend bridges. His links to EPS and his measured tone have already reassured allies. Earlier this year, when he declared that there was no need to ‘intimidate’ the AIADMK into an alliance, it was viewed as a coded message to both sides that diplomacy was back in vogue.


This leadership recalibration is also an admission by the BJP high command that its solo strategy in Tamil Nadu has reached its limits. Despite Annamalai’s high-decibel campaigns and impressive visibility, the BJP failed to make significant electoral gains. In the 2021 Assembly elections, it won only four seats in alliance with the AIADMK. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the parties went separate ways and the DMK-led alliance swept the state.


Shah’s remarks made it clear that the BJP would fight the upcoming elections under Narendra Modi’s leadership at the Centre and EPS’s at the state level. This dual-leadership model offers the AIADMK the primacy it desires in Tamil Nadu, while preserving the BJP’s role as a national umbrella. The two parties, Shah said, would craft a common minimum programme and go village-to-village highlighting the corruption of the DMK government, which he alleged was mired in scams.


Notably, Shah insisted that the AIADMK had placed “no conditions” on the alliance. But party insiders acknowledge that EPS made Annamalai’s removal a tacit prerequisite for rapprochement. By crafting Annamalai’s exit as an elevation to the party’s “national framework,” the BJP preserved his dignity while mollifying its ally. Shah’s diplomacy was equally deft in refusing to be drawn into discussions about expelled AIADMK leaders like O. Panneerselvam or T.T.V. Dhinakaran, saying such matters were internal to the party.


Still, the alliance is not without its risks. Nagendran’s ability to balance the BJP’s ambitions with the AIADMK’s sensitivities will be tested in the months to come. Meanwhile, EPS, now firmly back in the driver’s seat, must convince voters that his alliance with the BJP is a principled stand against DMK corruption, not an opportunistic recalibration.


The road to Fort St. George is long and fraught. But for now, Tamil Nadu’s saffron alliance is back on the rails.

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