Almost all newspapers are behaving as if Mamata Banerjee is the first railway minister to present a populist Budget, that she is the first minister to not raise passenger fares! Almost all ministers have done the same thing, so what is wrong if she follows suit? “Professor” Lalu, whom the media adored and portrayed as a great reformer, never raised rates either — if he did well, it was because the economy did well and he increased the loading factor. Well, the economy did badly in Banerjee’s first year, but it is poised to do better now, so maybe that will raise the revenues for the railways.
Sanjiv Bhalla, New Delhi