Lhendup Dorje, a traitor in Sikkim
By L.D. Pulami
Are all the Nepalese ready to sell off Nepal as a sovereign and independent nation like Lhendup Dorje did to Sikkim about five decades back? While there was only one Lhendup in Sikkim, which is now a state of India, there are many Lhendups in Nepal, who are very eager to please India on one pretext or another.
Even now, two delegations of the House of Representatives are on a visit to India. One delegation is led by a Madhesi member of Parliament, which is understandable, but the other is being led by Arju Deuba Rana, who is the wife of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and all the things, they are going to a state in that country to learn about the ‘family planning’ methods of the monkeys there. This is laughable, as the MPs, probably know nothing about this procedure or the menace of monkeys in some areas of Nepal. It would be surprising if they knew about the mischief of monkeys even in the holiest site of most Hindus, Pashupatinath, where worshippers are harassed by these animals.
As said by one observer, if people involved in the veterinary field and experts about monkeys had gone on such a trip, probably they may have been able to learn new things and contribute their expertise in this subject back home. ‘But what are the MPs going to do after they come back from this jaunt, which will definitely cost money in giving perks and other facilities to the parliamentarians?’.
It was said in a media report that MPs do not only attend regular meetings of the parliament, but they do not also attend meetings of the parliamentary committees to which they belong. But nothing was said about whether these same MPs take the perks and other facilities by being either the head of such committees or not. Arju Deuba Rana probably does not need such petty amounts, as her husband has become the prime minister of the country five times, but one cannot be sure whether she has a big enough heart to give her pay and perks for some noble cause and help the poor people. After all, she always speaks of how she is working for the cause of women and the downtrodden. As far as this writer remembers, only P.L. Singh, a then MP had refused to take any salary after the defunct parliament was revived by the then King.
The situation is so bad that, as long as they get their salaries and perks, the people’s representatives don’t care anything about the fate of their voters nor about the huge dent they are making in this impoverished country’s economy. It is the same with the bureaucracy as well as the security institutions. As long as individuals make profits, they don’t care anything about the welfare of the common citizens or the interests of the nation. Here again, this writer would like to mention one MP, who was elected in the 2048 general election from Tanahun district, but who lived in virtual poverty while in Kathmandu, who later became a mere porter after he was not given a ticket by his party to contest in the next election. Such people are really few and far between. But now, the parliament is dominated by those who influence the party to which they belong and who are also involved in corruption.
Two issues which have come to the fore in recent days are the investigation of the selling of the shares of NCELL mobile company and also the involvement of the government in making the Nepal Army a mere commercial tool.
So what can we expect from these individuals who are at the helm of things at present? But the people are to be also blamed for voting for these very party leaders time and again, when they know they are only involved in making personal gains through corruption and who care the least about the voters who voted for them. The biggest irony is that these very people are in the committees which direct the government to look into cases of scams in land deals, gold smuggling and even corruption. When these very people are involved in many such scams, what sort of investigation will they carry out?
There have been many cases which directly involve political leaders and bureaucrats in different scams in the past year alone, about which present prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal boasts that much has been achieved. In fact the achievements have only been in letting free political leaders belong to one party or the other and punishing only small-time lawbreakers. At this time, it would not be inappropriate to also talk of the Nepal Army, which has been used only for financial gains, of course for the high-ranking officials themselves as well, and this institution seems to have no role in protecting the independence and sovereignty of the country. Is this institution there for only renting out shutters, running petrol pumps and now as has been announced by the government itself, to run a clothes industry? Yes, they can do this and also build roads, no matter how much corruption takes place, but the main work of the Nepal Army is to protect the borders of Nepal and see that the nation’s independence and integrity are not trampled upon by outsiders. Is this too much to ask? Yes, we understand the fact that it cannot fight any wars with either China or India, but protecting our borders should not be difficult because Nepal is recognized as an independent nation worldwide.
But first, we must have more leaders with farsightedness and vision and also other government officials, including those in the security institutions, who don’t indulge in corruption, then only can we expect to see a better Nepal and also the common people of country living in peace and prosperity without having to fear from outside intervention or threats from their own leaders and government officials.
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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