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02/05/2005:
"Mumbai's Man-Made Tsunami"
By P. SainathNumber of homes damaged by the tsunami in Nagapattinam: 30,300. Number of homes destroyed by the Congress-NCP Government in Mumbai: 84,000.
How agonized we are about how people die. How untroubled we are by how they live.
Maharashtra's Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, says every Chief Minister would like to leave behind a legacy. His own, he believes, will be that of the man who cleaned up Mumbai. Mr. Deshmukh, in short, wishes to be remembered.
He will be. His Government wiped out 6,300 homes on a single day. This is a record the Israeli army would be proud to match on a busy afternoon in the occupied territories.
The Mumbai mass evictions - now on hold - reflected well an elite mindset towards the deprived that fully matured in the 1990s. It is a lot about how we see the poor today. About a view marked by contempt for the rights and suffering of ordinary people. Unless that suffering is certified as genuine by the rest of us.
Mr. Deshmukh now says the destruction of "some" houses was "an accident". Not intended. Which perhaps places his Government in the category of natural calamity. However, most of Mumbai's beautiful people, some of whom attended `tsunami dinners' after expressing satisfaction over the city's mass demolitions, are firmly with their Chief Minister. No one from that fraternity has `adopted' a demolished slum for adoring cameras. Nor organized relief operations for people, including many babies shivering without shelter, in one of the coldest winters.
Full Article: counterpunch.org
