Thiruvananthapuram: The famed wit of Birbal, the legendary Hindu minister in Emperor Akbar's durbar, resonated in the Assembly on Tuesday.
The issue was the dangers posed by potholes in Kerala's roads, and the occasion was the adjournment motion moved by Congress MLA Eldhose P Kunnappally on the issue.
PWD minister P Mohammed Riyas made a Birbal-like remark when he said that there were less number of potholes this July than in July 2021.
Opposition Leader V D Satheesan then threw a poser that sounded similar to the one Akbar is said to have asked his favourite minister.
One day, irritated by the racket made by crows circling over him in the sky, Akbar wanted to know how many crows there were in the sky. Birbal did not even pause to think. " Five crore thirty three lakh, jahanpanah," Birbal said.
Akbar looked mighty impressed but suddenly grew suspicious. Realising that his master had doubts, Birbal said: "If there is even one crow more or one less, you can order my beheading, jahanpanah." Akbar quickly got the mischief and is said to have found it difficult to stop laughing.
If Akbar looked up, Satheesan's gaze was directed below. On Tuesday, after Riyas spoke about lesser potholes in July 2022, Satheesan asked: "Since you made the comparison, can you tell us how many potholes were there in Kerala's roads last July and this July."
Riyas was seen with his hands up, like a student who knew the answer. Perhaps fearing that Riyas might have the numbers, Satheesan refused to yield and give the minister a chance. Even if Riyas had given random numbers, the way Birbal did, there would have been no way Satheesan could have verified their authenticity.
It is not clear whether Riyas had attempted to count the craters but, in 2009, Thomas Isaac had initiated a kind of pothole census. The former finance minister did this when he was briefly given charge of the PWD portfolio by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan. However, Isaac's census was left incomplete and the results were not published.
On Tuesday, there was more to the Riyas-Satheesan spat than just pothole numbers. The adjournment motion turned out to be a battle of wits between Riyas and Satheesan. After giving out the record figures his Department was spending, Riyas used the occasion to question the Congress's commitment to fight the BJP. Riyas's charge was that not even the Opposition Leader had criticised the union ministers who were using their visits to Kerala to play politics. "He did not respond even when Smriti Irani came to Wayanad and exhorted people to throw out Rahul Gandhi," Riyas said.
Satheesan expressed wonder that the minister was unnecessarily talking about the BJP when the UDF's only intention was to highlight the issue of potholes and the dangers that result from such bad condition of roads. "Why bring in the BJP when we are speaking about a public issue like potholes," he said.
Satheesan said the problem this year was that pre-monsoon maintenance works started late. This, he said, was the result of unending disputes between the PWD Roads division and the new maintenance wing created under the PWD. "Now, there is no consensus on who will do the maintenance and this has resulted in the absence of maintenance," Satheesan said.
He also said that the PWD had also stopped the supply of tar and other materials for maintenance. "The contractors are now supposed to find these maintenance materials, which they are not doing," Satheesan said. He also said that the state government had also ended the practice of providing funds for the patch work of national highways. He also said it was wrong on the part of the National Highway Authority of India to deny funds for the patch work of existing highways.
After making his points, Satheesan returned to politics, to the charges Riyas levelled. "You said I did not respond to the visits of BJP ministers. Fact is, I held a press conference in Wayanad itself following the visit of Smriti Irani," he said and added: "However, it was you who carried out her plans by sending SFI goons to vandalise Rahul Gandhi's office."