[Assam] Time and tide wait for none - Khaleej Times

[Ram Sarangapani]

Time and tide wait for none
S. N. M. ABDI

24 June 2007


THE BJP is opposing separate time zones in India on the grounds that it will
break the country into pieces. But I refuse to buy this nonsense from LK
Advani and company. Since India has survived BJP's divisive politics, it can
also take multiple time zones in its stride.

As things stand, the sun rises in Khonsa, India's easternmost village in
Arunachal Pradesh at 4.30am, Indian Standard Time (IST) and sets at 4pm IST,
a good 90 minutes before Mumbai. But government offices in the seven
north-eastern states must remain open until 6pm — 1.5 hours after sunset.
Obviously, power consumption would drop if the north-east has a separate
time zone. As an energy-saving measure, time zone division is a fantastic
idea. [And the idea has been mooted by wise lawmakers of the Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Energy to save electricity in a nation plagued by
power shortages and blackouts round the year.

But BJP is propagating that if the north-east gets a separate zone, the
restive region will acquire a new identity which will culminate in
secession. A separate time zone, Advani's party insists, would add fuel to
separatist fires in the sensitive, far-flung region bordering China, Burma
and Bangladesh.

I say that if the BJP is so concerned about the balkanisation of the
north-east it should despatch top RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders to the
region to convince separatist leaders to lay down their arms. And the
saffron brigade should not find the job too difficult. All the north-eastern
outfits demanding independence from New Delhi are Hindu-run whether it is
the United Liberation Front of Assam or Manipur's People's Liberation Army.
These outlawed organisations are run by high caste Hindus. So the BJP has
the best credentials to bring them around. I have a suggestion: the BJP
should brainwash them into giving up fighting for independence and focus
their energies on building Ram temples in Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. True,
the Naga separatist movement has a distinct Christian character but the
former head-hunters have already signed a ceasefire unlike ULFA or PLA. So
BJP should deal with ULFA and PLA.

The BJP is so disoriented by the loss of power that it has ceased to be
sporting. I say this because it was a Sri Lankan cricket umpire who had the
good sense to start a limited overs match at Guwahati between India and New
Zealand at 8am a few years ago. Play at all other cricket centres in India
begins at 9am. By starting an hour early, the umpire ensured that the game
ran its full 100-over course before the shadows crept in.

India's single time zone stretches 3,000km. Compare it with the US which has
six zones in 5200 km. Canada too has six time zones. And Russia has 11.
China is much broader than India but it has a single time zone for reasons
best known to the Communist Party of China. Which begs the question: is BJP
toeing China's line? IST is 5.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Bangladesh, which is to the east of most of India and to the west of the
northeast of India, is six hours ahead of GMT. It doesn't take much
intelligence or mathematical skills to calculate that since Bangladesh is
six hours ahead of GMT, the proposed new time zone for the northeast should
be 6.5 hours ahead of GMT, or an hour ahead of IST.

The northeast is ready for the day a full 60-90 minutes before the mainland,
but IST demands that it wait. IST is forcing the northeast to wait for the
rest of India to wake up before it can get down to business.

It also means people stay up an hour longer than they should — keeping
lights on and increasing peak power requirements and going to bed an hour
later than they should. Will the BJP wake up please!

*S. N. M. Abdi is a distinguished Indian journalist and commentator. He can
be contacted at snmabdi at yahoo.com*
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