BSNL on deathbed

In a lecture delivered at the closing rally of the World Social Forum in Brazil in 2003, Arundhati Roy said, “The two arms of the Indian government have evolved the perfect pincer action. While one arm is busy selling India off in chunks, the other, to divert attention, is orchestrating a howling, baying chorus of Hindu nationalism and religious fascism. It is conducting nuclear tests, rewriting history books, burning churches, and demolishing mosques. Censorship, surveillance, the suspension of civil liberties and human rights, the questioning of who is an Indian citizen and who is not, particularly with regard to religious minorities, are all becoming common practice now.”

Vajpayee was the prime minister then. He was quite benign in comparison with his successor who strutted up the Rajpath a decade later. Today, that successor has almost sold the entire country to his cronies. The sales are going on. And nationalism is also marching royally all over the country with quixotic fervour. Soon BSNL and MTNL will be no more.

When BSNL was formed in 2000, it was making an annual profit of Rs 10,000 crore. For about a decade, it continued to make profits. When the 3G spectrum was auctioned in 2010, BSNL bagged it in 20 circles. Bharati Airtel, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Idea, Vodafone and Tata won it in others.

A year after Mr Modi took charge as Prime Minister, Reliance Jio entered the scene with a bang. A year later, Jio won the 4G spectrum and offered freebies to customers. When all the private players switched over to 4G, BSNL continued its romance with 3G. The government was not interested in improving the services of BSNL for obvious reasons.

BSNL has little chance of surviving now. The fate of about 200,000 employees hangs in the balance. We know who stands to benefit. The beneficiaries are already in the top positions in the Forbes list of the wealthiest Indians.

India is being bought off by these richest people. Six airports have been auctioned away. Another 25 will follow soon. 150 rail routes are going to be auctioned. Roads, ports, power stations and so on will soon become private properties in the country.

It is treason to question the sales. We are being told that the enemy in the neighbourhood is going to attack us at any time. That is a usual ploy to divert attention. As Hermann Goering, a Nazi, said, “People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders… All you have to do is tell them they’re being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism…”

The country’s economy is staggering. More and more people are losing their jobs. There is unhappiness and discontent everywhere. But nationalist fervour helps to sweep all that discontent under its passionate slogans and mumbo jumbo. What if people are losing jobs? They will get more temples and gods.