Dinesh Trivedi, former railway minister, spoke to a packed audience on his brief but highly eventful tenure as a the minister, when he tried to effect many fundamental changes but was stymied

“I am surprised that it took a Supreme Court to sack A Raja, who has shortchanged the country of billions of dollars and I was sacked in a few minutes when I have acted for the country, ” quipped Mr Dinesh Trivedi, former railway minister. He was speaking at a seminar titled ‘Country, Before Party and Self’, organized by Moneylife Foundation.

 “The Parliament may not represent real India and may be out of touch of reality. Indians out there know more about the state of affairs” said he.
In a short speech and highly inspiring speech, Mr Trivedi spoke on why his railway budget was important after presenting which, he had to resign. He said, “I don’t have any regrets or complaints. If I were to re-present my budget, I would present exactly the same one. I have, however, wondered what went wrong.”
 
He said, “I don’t know how it happened. Every state, every minister got something. The whole Union was happy. But when they talk about the Budget, everything but my proposals get discussed. No technical aspects, no safety measures, no financial concerns.”

He said, “The railways badly needs modernization, and I told the Planning Commission that I required Rs25 lakh crores for that purpose. One can raise the money through the following ways: public private partnerships, public funds and fare hikes.” In the short term the option was to raise fares.

Mr Trivedi said that he consulted all the top advisors and experts and they were unanimous that fares should be hiked. He said this budget started the say after he witnessed the horror of a train accident in Kanpur. He got in touch with two of India’s top nuclear scientists – Dr Anil Kakodkar and Dr K Kasturirangan. He also reached out to R Sreedharan, who set up the Delhi Metro against all odds on improving the operational aspects and Deepak Parekh on railway finances.

These experts presented their report, which showed that the Railways were in a huge mess. “After that what did you expect me to do? Throw that report out? I did whatever I had to do. I was confident that the railways would achieve its targets. And with that confidence, I prepared my speech.” He defended his decision to raise the fares, saying that people don’t travel long-distance every day, so the impact would have been minimal on the individual.

He said that there is an urgent need to modernize the railways for the people. “The way people travel in general class compartments is a human rights violation.

Everyday people lose their lives.” But this can be changed radically. After all young Indian scientists and engineers are innovating in the US which are used by foreign governments. Indian railways could have profited from their expertise too.

He also spoke about the consequences of coalition politics, where portfolios are distributed like fiefs to allies. Mr Trivedi said that now political compulsions and interests have taken precedence over the country, and that has to change. “My Budget was for India. It was not for any particular region or any state. That may have been my undoing,” he commented.

Mr Trivedi talked about his unrealized plans about Mumbai Railways. “I had plans about renovating the stations and integrating the three different lines.

Mumbai got the most from my Budget. But now, everything will be rolled back. I was rock and roll he quipped. I was rocking and they will roll. ”

He said that the felt that the media was wrong to highlight only on his ‘losing the chair’. “People die everyday, and they lay down their lives for their country. If I had done something which is good for the country, why should the focus be on a chair? Politics cannot become your profession,” he asked.

“We take a sacred oath of discharging our duties without fear, and to look at only my country and my people. Some of us have forgotten that. It was fear and favour behind my sacking. There was the fear of losing the government and someone had to be favoured,” he said.

He said “I have great respect for our Prime Minister but I think it is time for a generational change in our administration and politics. Now, people are scared of approaching the police or the authorities. Why should that be? The Vora committee report says that the country is now run by a parallel mafia administration, and general government has become irrelevant,” he said.

However, he said that he is overwhelmed by the response he got, and expressed his optimism. He said, “I know things are in a turmoil right now. But I believe that this is a great country, and things will look up.”

His talk was followed by a lively interaction with the members of the audience.