Pay or die

Since Laloo Prasad became the Union Railway Minister, he is trying to expand his profile in Delhi as his wife lords over Patna.

While the motormouth with views on everything goes around abusing the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Sangh Parivar, George Fernandes, Ram Vilas Paswan and George Bush in Delhi, the state that has made him what he is today sinks to the depths of anarchy.

This piece of outrage has been triggered by the near total breakdown of whatever was left of the public health system in Bihar. Doctors, those who are alive and haven’t fled to Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore, are on a strike after another doctor was murdered a couple of days ago.

It’s not unusual to see doctors going in strike. They are regularly killed in the state notorious for a parallel ransom industry. In fact those who live have at some point paid ransom or continue to pay to stay alive. Many have migrated to place where they can stay alive.

That the kidnap-ransom-killing industry flourishes with the support of big-time politicians and agents in the state set-up is no secret. Ask engineers, doctors, teachers and other professionals. Ask traders. One was killed yesterday morning. A professor was killed the previous night.

Pay or die is the rule in the state Laloo’s wife rules, while he rules over the railway ministry.