Commentary
By Yug Bahadur
Most people know that Nepal is an impoverished country though it has ample water resources, which will one day be like precious oil right now. Further, it has a rich historical legacy which brings in thousands of tourists to this country. It has also been blessed with such heritage sights within a small area. But still, like many other poor nations around the world, this country is going through challenging times and is now facing an economic and political crisis, as told to us by our so-called “experts”.
This has helped foreign powers make Nepal a playing field for their own interests and the irony is that our own political parties and other individuals are acting as stooges for foreigners who act in such a blatant manner.
For example, the MCC agreement was quietly passed by the present government, through which Nepal will receive hundreds of millions of US dollars to be spent on infrastructure development of Nepal. Many political leaders had first said that this type of funds will not come without any strings attached and the nation will have to pay back with dire consequences for its sovereignty and other “micro-level” interference by foreign powers in the future. Such leaders later kept their mouths shut after immense pressure from the Americans and some funds given to them from this sack-full of money coming from the generosity of the US.
While some of this booty may be used for the infrastructure development of the country it will also benefit more other NGOs and individuals who have some clout in the media and social sectors. This situation becomes even more deadly when political parties and leaders are corrupt, the government civil servants are equally corrupt, the security system is corrupt and the society keeps mum on how individuals have earned such huge sums for personal benefit!
Now to come to our main theme, the local level elections are going to be held throughout the nation on Friday. We all know that elections are the backbone of any democracy, which our leaders fondly like to call loktantra or a peoples’ democracy. But now, questions are being raised about such intention. Yet, whatever name it is given, or doubts expressed on the intentions of making democracy longer from the grassroots level, thousands of people, representing major political parties whereas others as independents will be contesting for different posts.
The main opposition party the CPN (UML) and the present coalition being led by the Nepali Congress and its coalition partners, especially the Maoist party will be vying for most of the posts. There has been a huge surge in the number of voters, though the Election Commission has said that more than five hundred thousand votes will be disqualified for one error or the other. Furthermore, many voters disenchanted with the political parties will also abstain from voting. But still, the parties in this huge political exercise seem to be very optimistic about the outcome.
Naturally, apart from the US, India, which shares an open border with Nepal and powerful nations representing the European Union also have their own axes to grind in the outcome of the elections and they will play major roles in the aftermath of the present election, yet it is no surprise that they are mum about their roles in this political process.
So now we come to the part of why this election is being held and for whose benefit. We have already said that elections are vital for any democracy to survive, but only a few seem concerned about the results and no one is dwelling about what will happen after this expensive election process where leaders of top political parties are openly flouting the electoral Code of Conduct and they are only busy in slinging insults against their opponents. Hardly any vision is being shown by any leaders for the upliftment of the poor people who are living in poverty. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba along with his wife Arju is leading this pack with leaders of other political parties like Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoists and Madhav Kumar Nepal and the leaders of the present small faction which broke away from the main opposition party UML are cooperating with the PM in staying on in power. Not that KP Oli is clean in this mud-slinging game, he has done his part in provoking other leaders, but the only saving grace on his part is that he has stood alone in facing this important political exercise.
Another aspect of this behemoth political event is that none of the political parties is transparent about the source of their spending, which even the Election Commission has pointed out on several occasions. The main sources for the unimaginable huge funds are local industrialists who will ask for political favours in the future and also foreign powers in this politically unstable Nepal. Does this mean that the elections are only being held for political leaders and their lackeys, rich businessmen and also foreign powers with vested interests and not for the welfare of the general people? It seems so, as such things happened in the past as well and when there were stronger governments than the one we are seeing now. So what is this election being held for? To make Nepal weaker and more chaotic than in the past? And is it being held only for the rich and powerful individuals?
So doubts are still nagging the poverty-stricken people about the elections making for a stronger democracy and making Nepal a more prosperous state still exists. The foreign powers are least bothered about such a dilemma but are own political leaders and some individuals with clout are interested in such thinking of the people who are afraid that the nation will be worse off in the days to come?
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