One of them is our formerly Honorable Minister for Agriculture, Hari Prasad Parajuli. He clearly felt that he was the victim of a media keen to indulge in moral policing and ready to pounce on his slightest indiscretion. But having seen the video in its entirety, no rational person (never mind the media) could or should excuse that sort of behavior from a public official.
It's not like we haven't already cut our politicians enough slack when it comes to their qualifications, getting meaningful results or even setting an example that we are now expected to put up with their boorish behavior. We shouldn't lower our standards to the point where a lack of decorum in public starts to become the norm rather than an exception for our elected officials.
If common decency in public is expected of you and me then we are well within our rights to hold our ministers to that standard too. That he was just going with the 'flow' in boisterous and playful surroundings should not vindicate his behavior. Yes, it wasn't a somber occasion but it wasn't exactly a free for all mud festival either. It was a plantation ceremony in what is still a very conservative country beyond the expanses of the capital. I mean, who goes around hugging middle-aged women asking for 'ashirvad' even if one was (as he is alleged to have been) drunk?
If one of us had attempted it there is a good likelihood that our 'ashirvad' would have come in the form of a well-deserved public beating. The suggestion of a media conspiracy is laughable to say the least. He simply got what he deserved. It's only the women who are justified in feeling aggrieved at being dragged through this mess. But the media only covered what they saw. No one cast aspersions on these women and they just happened to be unwitting and rather unfortunate players in this sorry spectacle.
As if suffering through that circus wasn't enough, we were treated to an international official of the OCHA turning up and (not for the first time) putting his foot firmly in his mouth. Our posturing over his remarks is akin to a child who eventually relents after turning blue whilst holding his breath. This is because food security concerns dictate that we need the WFP here but what we can certainly do without is the pomposity of officials like John Ging.
How in the world is the media to blame for just reporting on the facts? We are inclined to believe the accuracy of their reports because we've lost track of the many times they have uncovered rotten food here. In all fairness, the WFP procures enormous quantities of food from several sources and due to the perishable nature of many commodities some of it is bound to go bad.
It's not so much the 'rotten' rice (and pulses) that irked many people but the dismissive and condescending nature of his remarks at the media in particular and our ungratefulness in general. Instead of efforts at damage control after the facts came to light, he came up with immensely objectionable comments that were hardly befitting a man in his position. He even managed to get the docile NHRC riled up and that does take some doing!
We have always been thankful (in response to one of his accusations) for the good work done by the WFP and the UN that goes largely unheralded. Anyhow, it's not up to him to unilaterally 'decide' to pull out aid from Nepal. We are contributing members of the UN and even though our financial contributions may be insignificant due to our modest size and resources, we do what we can through our efforts as one of the highest Police Contributing (PCC) and Troop Contributing Countries (TCC) to peacekeeping efforts.
A lot of people often form their opinions after reading or viewing content on mainstream media and it's a role that greatly adds to the responsibility of the so called fourth estate. Sure, their opinions may not always be reflective of what all people think, but in these cases I'd be willing to wager that they have done a good job of expressing our general opinion. But apparently, there is just no pleasing some people.
As they say you can't always please everybody.
gunjan.u@gmail.com
Related story
N-REO launches multi-listing system targeting agents to manage...
