Vehicles do not vote but people do

It is not often that a government sees reason. Certainly rare if it admits a mistake. When it does, even though in a round about fashion, and gracefully changes a decision, it ought to be lauded. The chief minister surely deserves praise for bowing to public opinion and dropping the plan to build a war memorial by chopping trees.

His announcement in the legislature that the war memorial would be moved from the proposed location at the Indira Gandhi memorial park came as a bit of a pleasant surprise for several reasons. First, the state had won a verdict in its favour in the High Court to build the memorial. Second, the lobby that was keen on building the memorial in that particular spot seemed to be growing stronger. It was pretty close to the ruling party and therefore one expected work on the memorial to go on even though a petition challenging the High court verdict was before the Supreme Court.

The fact that the petition was still before the apex court and the fact that it had not stayed further activity in the park would have emboldened those who were keen on the project. That is why it is surprising to find Yeddyurappa giving in to public opinion and deciding to move the memorial elsewhere.

Whatever may have been his motive in doing so, it is good to see our rulers finally listening to what people are saying and taking necessary corrective steps. It might appear to be a climb down by the state in the eyes of some. But it is, at the same time, an acknowledgement by the powers that be that people matter.

Not all people in the city have the ability to launch a public campaign the way those who live in the neighbourhood of the Indira Gandhi Park had. Individually, each one of them may not have been powerful, but together they could concertedly lobby against buildings in the park and pool enough resources to fight in the courts.

Those whose properties are to be taken away and whose homes and shops are to be broken up, because the leaders in the ruling party with a huge stake in the city are bent upon widening roads to find a solution to traffic woes, are certainly lesser mortals.

The powerful lobbies that want roads to be widened do not think it is necessary to hold public consultation on how to shape the city.
It would probably do the city immense good if the chief minister were to look into the eyes of such people to fathom their pain instead of approving plans to take part of their property by force. He might then realise that this is a mistake too.

After all, if a city is congested, planners try their best to keep vehicles off roads. That you might say is a no brainer. But the government seems to believe that the solution lies in making it possible for more vehicles to pile into the city. Once wisdom dawns that cars and two wheelers do not vote but people do, politicians may change tack. They ought to do that and if Mr Yeddyurappa decides against such wasteful projects, he would surely earn more respect.