By Narayan Prasad Mishra
Experts say democracy is the best form of government in an educated and civilized society. At the same time, they say it is the worst form of government in an uneducated and backward society. We, too, have democracy. But I do not know if we have an educated or uneducated society; how our democracy is running shows that we certainly have an uneducated and backward society.
Dr Minendra Risal is the sound-spoken, knowledgeable, active, and people-liked leader of the Nepali Congress Party. We know he did not get the party ticket for the election. In a democratic country and even in a democratic party, no one dared to speak openly for his merit.
Dr Bhim Rawal and Ghanashyam Bhusal seem they are among the most active and knowledgeable leaders of the Nepal Communist Party (UML). They both lost the party tickets for the election this time. As for Dr Risal, no one dared to speak openly against it for Rawal and Bhusal in their party. They became helpless. On the other hand, the lifelong royalist turned to anti-royalist Kamal Thapa got the party symbol “Surya” from that communist party as their loved one. That was not intolerable for our justice-loving communists.
After the election of the new government, we heard that the outgoing caretaker government was aimed at issuing an ordinance to release the culprits and criminals from jail to form the government getting their support. That would be a crime for a few of us, but I am sure that would be okay for most of this country. Our history shows that they have done this kind of criminal activity and activities several times before to achieve their goal, and the same parties had won the election in this country. People accept and vote for them.
On the other hand, the activists and protesters against corruption, mismanagement, and malpractice, like Dr Surendra Bhandari, Bal Krishna Neupane, etc., cannot be loved by most people, and they cannot win the election. I do not understand what prevented the people’s conscience from voting for them and what good work urged them to vote for the most winning candidates and parties.
In our present democracy, even the chief justice of this country cannot get justice. Chief justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana lost his position not because of the impeachment, wrongdoing, or legal procedure but because of force and protest by the lawyers and the wicked conspiracy of the government who did not like them. That is clear. I do not see the rule of law in his case.
Everyone knows that mob rule works more than the rule of law in this country. If you were involved in an accident with a motorcycle, motor car, or truck and happened to kill anyone not because of your fault or mistake but because of the pedestrian’s negligence and fault, the law does not work in your case. Hardly the case is settled according to the law. But it settles according to the mob protesters’ demand and force. One needs to pay any amount to the family of the dead not according to the law but by demand and negotiation.
You may get into trouble with criminal groups and mobs concerning your land, house, and financial dealings, which have political connections and power. These criminal groups take the justice and punishment power with pressure and torture. They are more powerful than the police and court in our present democracy. If you do not have a close link to some powerful political party, you are bound to meet their demand, the demand of many forms of YCL in this country. I have experienced it from the case of my friend who needed to pay a lot of money as they demanded. I often hear the story of torture and trouble given by the group to helpless people.
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson once said, “democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not”. But our leaders, not only leaders but even the so-called academicians like Kedar Bhakta Mathema, the Nepali Congress-appointed vice-chancellor of the Tribhuvan University, did not believe in it and enjoyed taking away work from those willing to work and gave the work to those who did not want to work. They did not want to give importance to Thomas Jefferson’s saying. They wanted to have their people (Afno Manchhe) not the good people. Who does worry here whether our democracy will cease to exist?
Justice, equality, and equal opportunities are in the law and constitution, but people hardly see them in practice. Mismanagement, malpractice, and corruption are everywhere. You hardly get things done unless you put the money under the table. You do not know what obstacles they will present in front of you for the work to be done. If you do not fulfill their wishes, you get entangled in the problems and suffer more. Recently, I sent a man to pay my car tax — for this, he had first to go to the insurance office as that work had to be completed first. That was around one in the afternoon. The insurance office man called me from his office and told me that my work would not be done in the tax office as they do that work till 1:30. I said that is okay if that was so, and my man would go to the tax office the next day. To my surprise, he asked me again and said he could get the work done even after 1: 30 if I would pay a little more, about Rs 500 extra. I was astonished and said I would not pay that amount and would prefer to send the man the next day, which I did.
When I compare all these things and many other points of bad governance with the former political system with the king, Panchayat or multiparty system, I think we were much better off from the point of good governance before. So I think this type of democracy is the worst government system in our society, where people have no correct knowledge and judgment to reward the good people and punish the corrupt through an election.
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