Don’t politicize tragedy
Wednesday, 12/06/2019
https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/06/11/dont-politicize-tragedy/
The five-day rescue operation of two-year old Fatehveer has finally ended in tragedy. Nothing can be more traumatic for the parents of the toddler than to wait in acute anguish and anxiety only to learn that their child had not survived the ordeal. For the parents it has been a greater ordeal of despair and frustration. Knowing their son was trapped in the bore-well and they were not able to do anything. There cannot be a worse sense of helplessness than this. The desperate sense of helplessness cannot be put in words. The Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was monitoring the rescue operation from day one as was indicated in his regular updates through social media and public statements. Every source and avenue of the state was put on job to rescue the two year old toddler. Be it the local administration, the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) or the army; every instrument was put in the rescue operation. It is unfortunate that it took five days to take the toddler out of the bore well. Sadly, he could not survive. While whole of Punjab has been in shock and mourning over the tragic death of Fatehveer, some political parties are actually trying to make political capital out of this tragedy. How fair is it to blame the Chief Minister for the tragedy? Those trying to involve and blame the Chief Minister over this tragedy are not doing any good to anyone, much less to the bereaved family. Nor do they have any sympathy for the family, which lost it precious child. The political parties, particularly the Shiromani Akali Dal and its leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal should have avoided politicizing such a tragedy. There actually was and there actually is no lapse by anyone in the matter. Nor can anybody be blamed for this tragedy, much less the Chief Minister of the state. Fatehveer’s fall into the bore-well was as much a man made disaster as it was an accident and fatal one at that. Holding the Chief Minister responsible for it is not only ridiculous, it is quite outrageous. The Chief Minister has already taken the remedial measures and issued strict orders and instructions of ensuring that there should be no such open borewell anywhere. The government organs at the grassroots level are implementing the orders. While this will not bring back Fatehveer, this will at least ensure that there are no more such man made disasters and no more precious lives are lost.
Cutting across their partisan differences, the political parties, instead of trying to blame the government or the Chief Minister, should come out with a practical proposal to ensure that such manmade tragedies are not allowed to happen. Let Fatehveer’s tragic end not go in vain. Let us learn some lessons from it.
