The Blame Game

Chintito

You cannot blame this guy Bush for feeling and behaving haughty. With so much crime being committed first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, and Muslims in America being treated as lepers were at the time of Hazrat Issa (peace be upon him), people are still queuing like mad to get to the States. Billboards and banners of DV 2004 lottery in Dhaka are competing strongly with that of the Eid market.

One near Kataban advertised in bold font that their company filled DV forms without any mistake in shalap expense. What they meant perhaps was shalpa, the Bangla for less. You can now go ahead and see whether they can be as nirvool in filling a form as they publicise.

Nor can you blame Khaled Mahmud, our cricket captain, if he starts feeling supercilious. You cannot throw out the captain nor can you include him in the team, such has been his performance in the just-concluded humiliating series against England. After Pakistan I was certain that the former Raj would be our first Test victims. But, the visitors did not want to add another momentous defeat to that suffered in 1947.

You should not also fault BCB for racking its brain in their search for a new captain. Players, I have heard, you had to scout for, but not being able to find someone among the eleven who can think cricket on the field and lead his side means our cricket is on reverse gear, even if momentarily.

You cannot blame Jamat-e-Islami for not making a big hue and cry about cricket matches at the Bangabandhu and simultaneous Taraweeh prayers at the national mosque Baitul Mukarram, and that too within yards of each other. After all they are in power and it would not have been wise to upset the system. A question though to the self-appointed so-called guardian of Islam, what would you have done had this happened when Awami League was in power? Silence is not always golden.

You must not blame former president Dr Badruddoza for opening his mouth last week. Two years is a long time for any Bangalee who has not completed his five-year term. That is why Biswas and Shahabuddin have remained quiet. Some of the ideas he expounded were good, especially about the constitution of the parliament, 200 elected and 100 from among the professionals, eminent personalities and political leaders. Some may even appreciate his frankness in blaming the government for failing to run the country (The Daily Sstar 15 Nov). A question to you, Daktaar Shaheb, had you still been president and the situation was as it is today, what would have been your remedial measure? As a person having volunteered to respond to the need and call of the people, why don't you offer your valuable advice to our present president? Daktaar Shaheb, the country has never been this ill before. The people of this country seek your magic potion now.

You cannot blame the government for not trying to give us relief from the present situation. According to press reports, the government is about to not only finalising a list of smugglers but will be bold enough to soon release that very dreaded list. Smugglers have not slept a wink since the news appeared. In some southern and northern districts the sale of sleeping pills have gone up so much that it may soon be added to the list of preferentially smuggled items. One wonders though, would it not have been easier for the government to arrest those criminals straightaway and not bother about making the list public? We do not want to know who they are; we want to know if you have put them behind bars. Please, that is not to be confused with places that serve alcohol.

You cannot blame the bus operators for increasing the price of tickets for homebound passengers during the Edi festival. They too need to buy clothes for their family. While the rest in the country, excepting the majority who are below the poverty line, go about in new clothes, you do not expect the bus owners to take their wives and children on a bus ride. On the same count, you cannot expect onion owners to have only onion bhajee for Eid.

The moral: During the Holy Month of Ramadhan, do not blame anyone; look on to the brighter side of things even if DESA is making it difficult.