By Devendra Gautam
How is it going, readers?
Going great guns? Firing on all four cylinders, like our very own government?
At times, I wonder if this is a near two-thirds majority government or Carnot’s engine that has materialised, thanks to tremendous efforts from ingenious minds in the government and the vicinity.
How is it going…
I am pretty sure that all gas cylinders are full and so are all stomachs. If someone claims that not all people are happy and well despite the government’s guiding principle, then he sure is a rank propagandist from the opposition camp who needs to be brought to justice as he is a serious threat to national well-being.
In my salad days in the 90s, the parliament used to be the place where vigorous intellectual debates used to take place on core national interests. No wonder, the house brimming with best minds ratified the Mahakali Treaty in the 90s with a two-third majority after days of vigorous discussions.
But ungrateful people don’t give credit to the old guard for their good deeds.
Even now, they claim that the treaty sold the country down the river, one more time.
Wonder of wonders, these people do not see the sun of progress and prosperity rising from Sudurpashchim (Far-West), Nepal raking in billions of rupees annually because of water-sharing arrangements with the next-door neighbour that has given fisheries, off-season farming, navigation, flood control and several other aspects of life in the region a huge boost, hasn’t it?
How a leadership with a sense of the future can make a huge difference in ordinary lives is also evident through earlier agreements like the Koshi and Gandaki agreements of the 50s.
These agreements have turned our barren fields into a huge grain basket, improved navigation, water supply, controlled floods, boosted our fisheries and brought about tremendous ecological gain, haven’t they?
Don’t go after the sceptics and critics, go and visit the places yourself and you would be pleased to know that these regions have become Ramrajya of sorts.
Imagine the progress and prosperity the works of our contemporary visionaries like deals over the Arun, Seti, West Seti, Upper Karnali and Fukot Karnali will bring, not to mention the Belt and Road Initiative and the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact.
So, to those who are packing their bags and leaving this country in search of the promised land amid the return of a seasoned politician, a big cat in his own right, with a roar, I have a word: WAIT, for Nepal is all set to become the land where milk and honey flow, even as we keep twiddling our thumbs endlessly while waiting for a hero to change our destiny as a nation.
Back to the house full of great minds, which is working day in, day out.
For example, a member of parliament from the ruling party argued, albeit vigorously, that Singhdurbar, the federal government secretariat, should be renamed as Singh (the Lion) signifies violence.
What an idea, Sirji!
Last year, the old lion living in the palace for decades breathed fire and gutted his own palace, almost entirely.
Were it not for our competitive defence-security apparatuses and the supreme figures presiding over them, not to mention the powerful divinities in the vicinity, the palace could easily have gone into the annals of history. Were it not for these competent organs, the Rana-era palace, considered one of the largest and most elegant in all of Asia, could have turned into a hill of ashes in the 70s as the resident beast breathed fire then as well.
What name does the lawmaker prefer for the palace? The Monkey Palace, the King Rat Palace, the Furrows, the Burrows or something else?
Meanwhile, the executive organ of the state is not sitting idly by. With rains intensifying, the government is busy issuing weather alerts, appealing to people living close to the river banks and floodplains to move to safer, higher places. Thanks to weather alerts from the government, I do not leave the house without a raincoat or umbrella these days.
On the diplomatic front, things are going great. Bored with his self-imposed splendid isolation, our Prime Minister is busy in his meetings with diplomats and other powerful figures from the neighbourhood and beyond. The Finance Minister is busy distributing prizes to taxpayers, who have hit the jackpot, other ministers are also busy as bees with myriad governance matters.
The judiciary is busy delivering justice, as ever, and the watchdog — the fourth estate — is not acting as the lapdog.
With the country functioning like a well-oiled machine, a humble writer does not have much to worry about, leave alone write about…
Well, that’s a serious crisis, isn’t it?
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