FROM BLAMING TO CLAIMING

The irony about the predictable and widespread political situation in Nepal is how every political party and group concentrates on blaming others for their inability to perform their respective duties. They forge time and again that they too were the ruling party in the past and the mistakes they made were also the same.

Whenever I drive through the busy and chaotic streets of Kathmandu, I find the situation similar to the driving forces behind the political situation. A street vendor to bike rider to cab driver and even pedestrians contributes equally to the chaos. Just like the political leaders blame each other, we indulge in pointing fingers at one another for the chaos and forget where we stand.

Have you ever, when riding a bike, blasted the horn so loud that you irritated pedestrians or other drivers on the road? Have you ever force-stopped a cab of a public vehicle in the middle of a busy road? We have all done it will not stop complaining when somebody does the same.

I was once taken aback when a biker, when asked for his licence for riding on the wrong lane barked in defence,"Why should I hand you over my licence when the white mid-line is not visible?" He was clearly out-of-lane but was defending himself from the awkward and embarrassing situation. It seems that whenever somebody is in such position, dodging blaming others is the ultimate defence mechanism. The blame game generally marks Neapli politics and pervades our everyday life too.

The government is the biggest blame-taker, from the chaotic traffic to parliament not functioning properly. The situation would be very different if the political parties said, "We are all responsible for the unfavorable situation of the country" or all riders claimed, We are also responsible for the traffic jam."

Imagine how beautiful the world would be if everyone played the 'claim game' instead of the 'blame game'. We would have no jams regardless of narrow roads. The opposing party would say, We will support the government constructively because we faced a similar situation in the past." IF all claimed responsibility, our country would truly be a heaven on earth. If we want our country's situation to improve, we need to take the leadership role in our own hands- so stop blaming and star claiming.