By L.D. Pulami
Much has been written about the one year in office of the present government. Mostly, it has been criticism, while the common citizens don’t care much what the political leaders or others say about its performance.
First of all, present Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been proven to be a liar. He had said in his address to the nation that he would not go to any function that was not absolutely necessary or important for the nation, but the very next day after he made this statement he, along with his family members went to Gorkha in a Nepal Army helicopter for partisan and family interests. He even visited the new home of his granddaughter, who was recently married in a lavish manner, which has received the ire of the people in general.
That is the commitment of no less than the chief executive of the country, so what can we expect from other lesser-ranked ministers, bureaucrats and even civil society leaders among others?
Meanwhile, the country seems to be rocked by scandals of different kinds and cases of corruption and cheating are on the rise as per media reports. Forget the older generation, the younger people on whom the people put faith in the last general election also are reportedly involved in only fooling the voters.
Take for instance the case of Ravi Lamichhane, he has made a lot of promises, but he himself, as alleged by a certain section of the media, is involved in taking illegal loans.
The Nepali Congress seems to be doing nothing better and has not learnt any lessons from the past. For example, this so-called most democratic party has forwarded the name of Krishna Sitaula, to be its leading candidate in the forthcoming Upper House elections. Sitaula was soundly defeated in two elections, but he is the ‘Blue Eyed Boy’ of the Nepali Congress. As alleged by a prominent TV channel, he was the very person who incited the Tarai violence when he was the then Home Minister, and he kept silent when dozens of people were killed. He even did not instruct the security forces to step in and stop such carnage when the nation stood divided and Nepalis were killing other Nepalis.
It is sadder that not only politicians but also government officials, like for instance former chief of Nepal Police Achyut Kharel, incited more violence at a time when better planning would have helped to make the nation more peaceful. Kharel was a person who was considered a bully and he had joined the Police Force to play football. So he was not a good planner and he tried to subdue local goons by threats and violence. But he sadly failed when he tried to do the same when the Maoist movement started and he was the IGP of the Nepal Police. He provoked the otherwise tame locals of districts like Rolpa and Rukum by killing them, but as most bullies usually do he retreated when these locals also turned to violence. Not only that, but he along with the then Home Secretary Padam Prasad Pokhrel, allegedly also took huge commissions in fake helicopter rides and also buying small game hunting rifles to fight the violent Maoist movement. If the so-called leaders are really sincere, why do they not check the property of individuals like these persons and put them in jail? But the networking these people enjoy just because they belong to a certain community makes them immune from any prosecution. This writer is not communal in any manner, but the dominance of certain communities in this tiny country is definitely destroying it steadily. Like in many parts of the world, including the constantly preaching United States of America, racism rules the roost here in Nepal as well.
Just appointing a few ‘chinky eyed’ individuals and a few persons of the so-called backward community to some posts will not make the ‘affirmative action’ as preached by the USA and several of its allies, complete. The whole mindset of the society should change. Each human should be respected and treated equally, no matter what the colour of their skin, what faith they believe in, what gender they belong to or what work they do. This will make the whole world more harmonious and a better place to live in. We need the same sort of tolerance here in Nepal as well, where individuals feel they are superior to others just because they belong to a certain community and mostly they make rules and regulations just to suit their own interests. In fact, conflict has been invited in Nepal, because of such selfish interests which have been instilled by greed for money and power and also further goaded by foreign powers who talk of good governance, transparency and freedom of expression among other such slogans.
This double talk of our own inefficient and greedy politicians, bureaucrats and so-called civil society leaders as well as the destruction-loving foreign powers is something which the media does not talk about, but still, it is a disgusting development for many patriotic Nepalis.
Forget the conservative countries in the world, even the ever-preaching America gives harsh punishment to anyone who is considered a ‘traitor’ by them. For example in Iran, several people were sentenced to death just a few days back because the authorities believed they were helping the intelligence agency of Israel, Mossad. But in liberal Nepal, when one person was accused of treason by a popular weekly, there was no response from the government. Either the accused person should have been given punishment or the weekly should have been prosecuted for making false allegations. But no, the case just faded away and the authorities forgot the incident. So no matter who comes to power, whether they have completed a year in office or not, they must seriously think about the interests of the nation and the general public, if they want to be successful. Just rhetoric and false promises will get them nowhere, no matter how much they might beat their own drums.
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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