Generally, are bureaucrats more powerful than politicians?

Some of those who voted  YES had this to say:
•    At face value, it is always convenient to blame the politicians because they are the ones that are on the news. Most of us will be able to name the politicians, but I bet you, most of us will not even know who the top bureaucrats are. This itself is a worry because its the bureaucrats that are responsible for giving the politicians advise and suggestions. In Nagaland the bureaucrats are too smart and too experienced for the politicians. The bureaucrats can do a lot of good things, and they can also mess up big time. I say at the end of the day its the bureaucrats that are more powerful and they function without accountability.
•    Yes, for them ministers recommendations are laughing business. They come after 11:00am and leave before 2:00pm to attend their wives and girlfriends. Funny bureaucrats…!
•    Yes, bt they are controld n used by d politicians.
•    Yes the bureaucrats are more powerful than the politicians, but there is a catch. While the politicians are tested every five years when they go through the rigors of elections, the bureaucrats function with almost complete impunity. This is a concern because bureaucrats can often protect themselves behind the skirts of politicians. It is a fact that bureaucrats are responsible for the running of the system, no matter what the politicians say it is the bureaucrats that run the government with almost complete authority. This is especially true in cases like Nagaland and other smaller states where the politicians are not well educated.
•    Bureaucrats are the brains behind the face of politicians. Behind the curtains and unseen by the public, it’s the bureaucrats that run the government. They are the real power.
•    Politicians are more temporary then the bureaucrats.
•    It should be , but its the other way round in Nagaland & India.
•    Since most of the bureaucrats are more educated and knowledgeable than the politicians, it must be said that the bureaucrats are more powerful than the politicians. Also bureaucrats have a strong lobby and though they do not function in the open like the political parties, the bureaucrats lobby at a covert level and that is also the reason why politicians have a tendency to fear the bureaucrats. Most politicians have been undone by bureaucrats.
•    Yes, bureaucrats secretly sponsor upcoming politicians. Once their candidates win an election, they automatically start pulling the strings to get whatever they want.
•    Yes, generally the bureaucrats are more powerful than politicians. This is particularly true of parliamentary democracy. Just look at India, the bureaucrats are in power till they retire, whereas the politicians have to really fight it out to stay in power. The fact that politicians keep transferring bureaucrats from one place to another is another example how much politicians are afraid of bureaucrats. Ideally, the politicians are the representative of the people, but what are the bureaucrats? They do not represent the people, but their job is governance and administration. In places like India its the bureaucrats that run the government, not the politicians.     

Some of those who voted NO  had this to say:
•    Nah, politicians are the most powerful, bureaucrats just follow whatever they say instead of giving gud advice. Many Bureaucrats are spineless, coward yes men who just wants their share of the moolah. We need quality and honest bureaucrats who can give their honest opinion to the govt for the welfare of the public instead of trying to please their political master for own favor and self interest.
•    Politicians are more powerful because they have more black-money. If the bureaucrats exercise their rights, politicians chain them by force. See the example of Gujarat IAS officer who spoke against Modi, killing of whistleblower officials in many other states. The irony is, there is no drastic action from the Court of Law which is also politicized.
•    In ground reality, they are bureaucrats just because of one or the other politician...in present time!
•    In Nagaland No. They are just a puppet of their masters i.e. “Politicians.” Have you ever seen a puppet show, it would never move until or unless the master pulls the string.
•    I don’t think so…bureaucrats are powerful than politicians..but they are afraid of the  politicians. They are the husband and wife of corruption..they are a “childless couple” who fool the innocent people. They blame each other for their childless problem…
•    No, in fact both our bureaucrats and our politicians are the most corrupted in the state. They are the two greedy hands of the state that grabs at everything for their own self without any second thought for their people. I believe one days a true Naga leader will rise up and spew them out. They are the real cowards who shouts aloud but does nothing.
•    The politicians are the drivers while the bureaucrats are the navigators of the vehicle. So who do you think is more powerful? The driver or the navigator, the bureaucrat or the politician. This is a tough question. But I would say the politician is the more powerful person. He is after all the driver of the car. The navigator is equally powerful, but the driver need not listen to the navigator, though it might result in an accident, because the navigator can mislead the driver in the same way that the bureaucrat can mislead the politician. So a wise and clever driver will learn about the direction of the road before hand so that the navigator will not get an opportunity to mislead him. In the same way, those politicians who are smart will not completely depend on the bureaucrat. A driver is a driver, no matter what and so is the more powerful of the two.
   
Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say:
•    I think they are both equally powerful in different ways. They need each other. If one is corrupt there is almost every chance that the other one is corrupt as well. They need each other if they are to indulge in corrupt practices. They may share an uneasy relationship, and only they know how they much they have been corrupted. To protect themselves, they have to also protect the other one. They are different sides of the same coin.
•    Bureaucrats and politicians shares are both powerful….but they doesn’t know how to serve people who approach them…if you and me are place in their category we would be same like them…using power only for corruption..not for a good deed. Bureaucrats are the shopkeepers and politicians are the customers as they goes and come…we all knows that even the devil are not happy with them..so we better talk about human power not for the animals power….
•    Both are powerful. The bureaucrats are like the wife in a Naga family, while the politicians are like the husband. They make all the decisions and can influence the politicians. So like the wife, the bureaucrats make all the decision behind close doors, and the politician like the husband comes out and announces to everyone the decision as if he made it. So behind the scene the bureaucrats are much more powerful and they have many different ways of seeing that their opinion and position is taken into account. The politician like the Naga husband, grumbles and shows his discontentment but in the end always gives in.
•    They are both powerful and they have both abused thei r power. They are also afraid of each other and so the politician and the bureaucrats are in a relationship of convenience as long as they satisfy each others interest.
•    Generally, one may perceive the former to be that way so but practically it doesn’t seem to be so as the common public perception clearly indicates how indispensable and undeniable the latter are in any reality of situations by taking practicable aspect of life into account in the current context. Besides, the bureaucrats while working side by side with their political masters may gain some upper hand in technical matters along the way but that’s a redeeming feature on their part of being no better than playing second fiddle to the political powers that be. But at times I really don’t make sense why the bureaucrats inspite of being indispensable often find themselves like sheep in front of those superficial and larger-than-life politicians who love being haughty and officious. The bureaucrats having a mind of their own need to be more assertive and fair and right minded in their own way of is it like if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.  



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