Patna, the capital city of Bihar, has been flooded since the end of last month. Do you know what the worst part is? The rainwater took more than a week even after the rain stopped to get drained from the capital city. Life of people in Bihar had become standstill as almost the whole place was submerged underwater, and water had become contaminated as well. The residents of the city described the situation as life-threatening with malfunctioning water pumps hampering drainage operations and carcasses of dogs and pigs floating around the town sparking fears of a disease outbreak.
Now, the question is, who is to be blamed?
Of course, the government–they didn’t maintain the drainages before the monsoon — no denial in that. Monsoon is not something new to India; every year it rains. We all know that. Bihar floods have hit 959 villages across 15 districts and relocated around 21.45 lakh people. Almost 45 relief camps and 324 community kitchens have been set up across the city, and more than 1,000 boats have been deployed.
The blame game, amidst such a situation:
So as always the blame game started–and the Chief Minister Nitesh Kumar (JDU) was pinpointed. The BJP leaders didn’t let the opportunity slip away from their hand and slashed the CM and JDU for poor flood management in Patna. Union Minister Giriraj Kishore was seen in the forefront in criticising the JDU government and even stimulating the JD(U) to seek interference from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. He also blamed Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who is from his party, responsible for the water-logging.
The important part here is that BJP had forgotten that their representative had been the mayor of Patna for the past 15 years. Like isn’t 15 years enough to build a proper drainage system in a city? Plus, the urban development minister, both MPs and also five MLAs is also from BJP. So is it always the CM who has to be blamed? Right, the ruling party has the responsibility– if so then what about the mayor and MLA’s? Don’t they have any power to handle this issue?
Is it a well planned political game?
The Chief Minister, who is leading the fragile BJP-JDU alliance in the state, has come under pressure. The Assembly elections are expected to be held next year, also hit out at critics, accusing them of “doing publicity and propaganda”.
“I am dedicated to janhit (public welfare) and not to publicity. I don’t believe in doing publicity and propaganda. Those who don’t work only do publicity,” he said.
Bihar is expected to hold Assembly elections next year, and the floods have shaken the reputation and belief or people in JDU. BJP members who were looking for an opportunity to slash the government took full advantage of the situation. So is it a well planned political game?
Is the government solely responsible?
While cleaning up the drainage of the Patna city, it was found that the free flow of water was disrupted as it was filled with waste. Plastic debris had blocked the free flow of water and thus causing the overflow of drainage throughout the city.
So the question now is, Are people doing their duty? Sewerage is not the place to dump plastic waste, it is basic knowledge–yet we do it. Why?
The flood took the lives of many and left many homeless. Both the government and the public seems to have an equal hand in the worsening the situation. Instead of blaming, do what has to be done to rectify the situation. #BlameGame is not a solution; it’s just a publicity strategy for vote bank.
Hope that people as well as the government of Bihar and other parts of the nation take this as a lesson and do what is needed at least before the next monsoon.
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