By Narayan Prasad Mishra
As human beings, we all are the same creatures, different from other creatures. We all have human feelings and sentiments. We all eat the same way and sleep in the same manner. We all feel pain and grief in similar circumstances. But we are different in some other ways. Among us, some are educated, and some are not. We do not have the same personality. We do different jobs and professions. Some of us are sincere, honest, kind, loving, and cooperative, whereas others are crooked, dishonest, cruel, and selfish. Some are intelligent, dynamic, knowledgeable, active, and diligent, but others are dull, naive, and idle. Among us, the best ones in knowledge, serving attitude, and activity play a significant role in building the nation.
People with leadership qualities in their activity, speaking, oratory, attraction, presentation, charm, and knowledge can lead the country and people to their aims, objectives, and goals. Among them, the top ones become the top leaders. The war and struggle for unifying the country or independence in various countries have produced unforgettable leaders who played remarkable roles in their history. In this context, Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation in India; Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of an independent India, Subas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Bhagat Singh, the freedom fighters, and many others are still remembered with dignity and pride in India.
In the same way, Muhammad Ali Jinha, the father of Pakistan, is revered in that country. Winston Churchill, the prime minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, is a person well known not only in his country but also abroad for his spirit and oratory skill, and he is known as the person who led the war to victory. In the USA, George Washington, the first president, and other presidents who played a remarkable role in building the nation are respected and remembered as majestic figures in its history. The following 60-foot-tall carved statues of the heads of top nation builders—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln—the US Presidents in stone on Mount Rushmore in the black hills of South Dakota in the USA tell the world how the nation builders should be respected and revered by the patriots and nation lovers. More than two million visitors come to visit this magnificent place annually. The mountain’s elevation in this memorial park is 5,725 feet above sea level.
We know from our reading and experience that not only the top leaders who were or are involved in the unification or independence of the country but many people of different fields who put their education, knowledge, skill, and labor play a pivotal role in shaping the destiny of a nation. They may be educators, scientists, engineers, medical doctors, administrators, politicians, economists, social workers, dedicated and honest civil rights workers, journalists, writers, entrepreneurs, etc. In fact, in an actual sense, the progress and development of the nation rest on various types of professional nation-builders. They are the backbone of nation-building. A country where you have honest, dedicated, educated, intelligent, and innovative people is highly developed. So, in developed countries, they are all respected and honored according to their level and status of contribution to the nation. They are encouraged and inspired in various ways to remember and recognize their service and contribution with awards, medals, felicitation, appreciation, and giving the names of the institutions, roads, and streets with their names.
We mostly see the pleasant and notable example of the system honoring the notable professional nation-builders in the USA. When we visit, we can see those things easily on any university premises in that country. Just this year, I had the opportunity to visit many universities in the USA regarding the admission of my grandson, Gaurav Adhikari. In this context, I was also at Indiana University, Bloomington. I was so pleased and thrilled to see the people honored with their pictures, names, and contributions attached to the electric poles in the street in the university compound, as in the following picture.
As other countries have, we also have the nation’s founder, creator, and father. We also have unforgettable warriors, saviors, and protectors of the nation. We also have many nation-builders who put their brains and untiring effort into developing our nation. We all know from our history that our country was divided into many tiny states called 22 and 24 states, ruled by many kings. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the king of Gorkha, consolidated them into one and created Nepal, making Kathmandu its capital. The British colonial rule in India could and would have easily conquered our tiny states if Prithvi Narayan had not unified them. One can easily imagine it would not have been easy to save this nation when the British colonial rule attacked, won, made under their control, and ruled the hundreds of princely states in India if Prithvi Narayan had not created a unified Nepal. That is why we consider and revere Prithvi Narayan as our founder and symbol of the nation’s unity.
In the same way, it would not have been easy to be safe and victorious with our northern neighbor Tibet supported by the big country China if we did not have wise and farsighted military leaders with skill and bravery. In whatever condition it is – developed or underdeveloped, we have a sovereign country created, preserved, and protected by our forefathers, because of which we can be proud to be the citizens of this country on earth. That is an undebatable fact. Despite this, some ungrateful parties and followers who are in power today played a condemnable role in demonizing the nation’s founder. They dismantled and removed his existing statues in different parts of the country instead of remembering him and his contributions with pride and respect, as other countries did to honor their historical figures.
On the other hand, a large number of people in the country who are concerned about it and lament it do not dare speak against it. In these circumstances, we must say we have an unfortunate situation in the country. We will have to wait a long time to create an atmosphere for recognizing and honoring our thousands of professional nation builders, as seen in the electric poles on Indiana University premises. Once, I dreamed of the builders of Tribhuvan University, the nation’s first university, where I spent my life with profound love and dedication, for the development of which I wrote dozens of articles, including my book Tribhuvan Bishwabidyalaya Raw Sikchhya (Tribhuvan University and Education), which would be honored and remembered as Indiana University, as mentioned above. But I am sad not to have any hope of seeing the probability of honoring and respecting dozens of Tribhuvan University builders, including my wife, Shanti Mishra, the first woman professor and Chief Librarian I saw at Indiana University. I am afraid that the traitors of this country would honor the fake builders instead of the actual builders of the nation. I am afraid that instead of honoring the deserving people as Indiana University did, they would instead honor those who are killers, kidnapers, looters, and gangsters who worked according to their wishes. We are all witnessing how our honorable president pardoned the murderers in our country, which is the talk of the town.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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