Non-Playing Captains

          By – Pamarty Venkataramana

Armchair pundits have mushroomed with advent of social media modes. Earlier, coaches of sports teams would don the role of a non-playing captain. On the sidelines of a football or hockey tournament, you could watch these whistle-wielding know-alls ambling to catch a ear of the players concerned to turn the tide of the match going on in the playing-field.
Later on emerged the non-playing concept with lawn-tennis taking the lead. Retired champions of the game would accompany the playing team and help in practice sessions:both practical approach and attitudinal coaching was given.
However, as ubiquitous as the air we all breathe around us is the flair for babudom and bureaucratic bosses to don the cap and steer a ship(any ship of society for that matter). They began to formulate subordinate legislation delegated to them by peoples’ elected representatives and tinkered with the rules and loopholes contained in them. To their advantage, although most comprised of only graduates, they began to trample over the bunches of illiterate and semi literate politicians who were their captains of the department they served in knowing fully well that bureaucracy was not answerable to the voting public even as their bosses’ future depended wholly on the cooperation ( or non cooperation of the babudom).

So emerged the class of ‘non-playing captains’ in desi political spectrum. The ‘aya Ram gaya Ram’ syndrome further enhanced the prestige attached to such dummy positions of pelf and power.

Even as non-playing captains came to be accepted like the nowhere mentioned in Constitution term called ‘NOTA’, the innovation of women empowerment at the grassroots-level surfaced:illiterate chulha handling wives were nominated and often elected as village sarpanch even as the oftener brigand husband would control the whole village through his proxy spouse.

Hullabaloo and he’ll let loose?

A certain clown leader was found guilty by court of law in a corruption case. Advice was tendered to bring in his spouse and prove himself not guilty as well as get her voted within the six month period laid down by law. He did. She came. He tried to be the ‘non-playing captain’ but no sooner than she got elected and began to let the air and aphrodisiac of absolute power over her fellow citizenry sink into her senses, she nudged her doting husband to national realm and hung on to the State. Her goon sibling was the ‘non playing captain’ for years to come.

This is what many experimented across our vast nation. Soon to discover that the ‘non playing captain’ always had a hidden agenda of self-aggrandisement and dictatorial tendencies. The captain would be ousted or retired with or without the connivance of a high command.

These diabolical games soon took shape to anoint the actual dull-head or red-herring as the captain so that weaknesses and foibles of non-playing captains would not catch the eye and mind of sting operators or the not so gullible masses. The bonus of such a refined game theory would be political-appeasement and political-opportunism.

A Non-playing captain can thus be double entendre’s reflection: both as a proxy of as a bait. Such a gambit often works only in the short-term because as with the blue fox in the Panchatantra tale, the hiccups or squeaks of the mentor-tormentor faction would unnerve as also expose the captain who is or was a non playing captain. Anointed or otherwise!

We, the people should stop directly sponsoring or tacitly supporting such immoral and unconstitutional practices that are reprehensible to the conscience of every right-thinking citizen.

One other such glaring practice is that of a high command of any given political party ‘issuing a whip’ gagging the freedom to cast vote in any issue in the August Houses of Parliament. There is no provision for this questionable practice that reflects fragility of a people’s democracy where although all are equal before law,all laws are not equally applicable to all citizens. An uniform civil code alone can reknit a much divided land and a multi cultural society as India.

It is not out of place to remark that most handles on social media fora like @twitter who boot for a government’s policies are non-residents. As much as a non playing captain who desires victory for his team but is not liable in fact at any adverse result. Natives of a land ought to learn from these noble souls who long for homeland although distanced due to various personal reasons.

The opposite of a non-playing captain is certainly the ‘one-man show’ gamester who is often the judge-the witness-the litigants-the lawyer(and does not allow accomplices or associates to speak out in open). The luckier ones though are the studio-talk show hosts who can don such a role without anyone complaining.

No complaints:only due compliance – all ways,always! Be it on the sports field or the political arena. 

 

But, who wins?