The culture of the blame game is all pervading. In the Parliament the opposition targets the government and blames it for the wrong policies being followed creating unrest, unemployment, penury and privation without even outlining what the right policies should be. No alternatives are suggested and no measures proposed to address the issues, writes Prof HC Pande
‘Never mind the mistake, let us fix the blame.’
Ambassador of Chile in the United Nations, once stated, with tongue in cheek, that no nation has declared war over another nation, it has always been the other nation. So also in India it is always someone else’s blunder not your own. From the politician to the peon it is the same story. And, on the top of it, the damage done or being done due to the wrong step taken or the wrong action or inaction, is no one’s concern. If a house is on fire one should immediately call the Fire Brigade and not just scream for immediate Investigation and catching the guilty. Saving the house. or, whatever is left of it, is more important than, finding out who set the house on fire, or, whether matchstick or cigarette lighter was used or whether the rag was soaked in kerosene or in petrol. The priority in an accident has to be on medical aid to the victim and not just noting down the registration papers of the car and hauling the driver to court.
The culture of the blame game is all pervading. In the Parliament the opposition targets the government and blames it for the wrong policies being followed creating unrest, unemployment, penury and privation without even outlining what the right policies should be. No alternatives are suggested and no measures proposed to address the issues.
Negativism comes naturally without taxing the brain,but it is positivism that requires brainstorming,needing deep study,and hard effort.Constructive criticism is duty of the opposition and not destructive diatribe.The same is true of the Executive.The responsibility of failure of,or delay in implementation of projects or policies,is passed on from ministry to ministry,from department to department and down,as far as as it can be dished out.The buck is always on a Merry-go-round powered by the perpetual motion machine of the bureaucracy,but,how such failures or delays can be countered,or prevented in the future,is nobody’s business.
Politicians love play games,not of 50 overs or five days,but of unending overs,from one election to another.They are more interested in the problems to continue rather than in their solutions so that they always have material for the election manifestos.Blame game is essential for the politicians to survive,and, the bureaucracy,past masters of the game themselves,are happy to watch the play as amused spectators,which is no surprise at all.
But now it seems that M’lords have also entered the coliseum to the sound of their own trumpets.On the horrendous Manipur incident the grandiose announcement from the Supreme M’lords is “ We will act if the government does not.” With over 4 crore cases pending in various courts of law,great many of them decades old,and the apex court being busy granting bail and not having time even to dispose cases concerning acts passed by the Parliament one wonders what action the Hon’ble’s would take other than whimpering a ‘Not me’ and passing the buck.
(Prof. H C Pande is Vice Chancellor Emeritus , BITS, Mesra)
