By L.D. Pulami
The political scenario has been shaken by the bold speech given by former King Gyanendra when he was on a visit to Lumbini of Western Nepal. There were thousands of people to greet the former king, like we have seen in many other parts of the country as well, and most of them were pleading with him to come back and save the nation.
Maybe two generations of people have already passed away after the forced manner in which the monarchy was thrown out and a republican system was introduced here in the country. Among those in the older generation, more than ninety per cent of them believed in the system of monarchy, and this writer has personally seen some of them literally cry when even just a photograph of the former King was shown on TV channels. It is another thing that many channels preferred to black out any news of the former King, no matter what sage advice he gave or how popular he was among the people. That is how much partisan our media outlets are.
But the truth is the truth, and we saw thousands of people thronging to any programme of the former King, whether when he was in Eastern Nepal, or, like recently, when he has been touring Western Nepal. The only thing is, the political parties have been badly rattled by the popularity of the King, and the leaders now have more fodder to blame all the wrongs they have done to the nation on the former King.
The political leaders have virtually sold the nation in the name of loktantra, secularism, and republic, and they are even at this difficult moment engaged in not only promoting their kith and kin and staying in power but also looting the country. How badly they have been shaken by the recent address of the former King can be seen from the reaction of the top leaders, starting from prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, to former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba, KP Oli and Madhav Nepal, who have spoken against the monarchy despite its popularity and blamed the ‘regressive’ elements, when actually they are at fault themselves for not only damaging the nation but also milking it dry at the same time. They really don’t care about what happens to the sovereignty of Nepal and its independence, and they care less about the hardships faced by the general people, as long as they themselves are in power and are making more and more money along with their family members and close supporters. That is why the majority of the people are disgusted with the once-established political parties, and after voting for newer parties, they are now turning their hopes towards the former King. The total blame for the dismaying situation of the country definitely goes to the present lot of leaders who have shown no vision, farsightedness or made any efforts for the national interest. For all their wrongdoings, they just shift blame and the easiest target for them has been the former King.
This writer himself was there with Sher Bahadur Deuba, when he had completely sidelined any talk of a Constituent Assembly when the Maoist movement was on and they had called for a bandh in Kathmandu. He had said to this writer and some other journalists in his room that this sort of demand was ridiculous and only a ‘few irresponsible youths’ were involved in saying such things. But now, he seems to be a bigger ‘Messiah’ than the Maoist leaders in making big talk of a republican system protecting loktantra and dismissing the former King.
From the late Girija Prasad Koirala, who first made Deuba a powerful home minister, most of the present-day political leaders have been involved only in looting the country and making strictly personal gains only. Starting from late Koirala, he sold not only two aircraft of the then Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation, now called Nepal Airlines, but he also sold many industries established by late King Mahendra for national development at dirt cheap rates, where not the nation but a few greedy businessmen and the daughter of late Koirala, Sujata Koirala and her cronies, made immense money, not giving a thought to what damage they were doing to the country.
Here, one must also mention that like former King Gyanendra was betrayed by the generals of the Nepal Army, late King Birendra was also deceived by the learned secretaries he appointed, like for example Chiran Sumsher Thapa, Ranjan Nath Khanal, Narayan Shrestha among others. None less than the late Tek Bahadur Rayamajhi told this writer how these secretaries dominated the system in the Palace and how even he was barred from meeting the King when he was actually one of the pillars for making success of late King Mahendra’s plans after 2017 BS. ‘Forget meeting the King; it became difficult to meet even them, who were all involved in corruption’, he told this writer.
These people are all culprits in bringing more misery to Nepal in the name of modernizing it and presently ushering in a ‘loktantra’, secularism, and a republic system, at the behest of foreign powers. Only those who have stayed back here in the country, come bad or worse, know the tough and rough times the ordinary people are facing for just existing here. Those who are able, have chosen to go abroad for better opportunities, whether they are skilled or unskilled. An old Brahmin told this author how there were no youths in his village and his land was left fallow as there were no workers around. This is a story of almost all villages and even in Kathmandu, it is hard to find workers to do any household work or just tending vegetable gardens.
Who is to be blamed for such a condition of the country when all the youths are ready to go abroad and the country is left in the hands of some cunning and greedy politicians? Is it the kings? No. It is the band of greedy politicians, corrupt bureaucrats and even greedier businessmen.
We can only hope that, like asked for by lots of people, the former King will come back, and save the nation, whether the politicians or their foreign masters like it or not.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
Login to add a comment