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Resentment against hike in bus fare mounting in Bhopal

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NK SINGH Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public. However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services. But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city b...
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Attempt to Assassinate Jyoti Basu

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Jyoti Basu. Pic courtesy Getty Images

NK SINGH

The details of March 31 attempt on the life of Mr Jyoti Basu (at Patna railway station) are well known. At the time of writing, police sources are claiming to be hot on the trails of the assailant.

The den of a group of “extremists” has been raided at Jamsehedpur. The Anand Marga, a socio-religious organisation which is bitterly hostile to the CPM, is also a suspect.

The CPI used the occasion to attack the RSS, the Jana Sangh, the Anand Marg and, of course, the CIA. The parties of right reaction emphasised the point that violence bred violence and that Basu was not only the target of violence but also an instigator of violence.

The meeting of the Bihar State CPM and Kisan Sabha which Basu has come to address was attended by about 15,000 people.

Their 13-point demands include: land reforms, abolition of contract system of labour in coalfields and release of CPM’s MLA A. K. Roy and action against those indicted by the Aiyer and Mudholkar Commissions.

Thanks to the efforts of the kisan leader Ganesh Shankar ‘Vidyarthi’ and labour leader A. K. Roy, the CPM has still some mass base in certain areas.

In the last mid-term poll, the CPM got three members elected on its ticket in a House of 318. One of them defected. So now the party is being represented by two members only – one of whom is in jail.

Excerpts from Frontier 11 April 1970

Editor’s note: Later, Anand Marg's conspiracy was identified behind the assassination attempt.


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