On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
Last week, the Nepali Congress observed the memorial day of its founding leader B.P. Koirala. The next day, different communist parties and groups observed the Nepal Communist Party’s founding leader Pushpalal’s memorial day. The question is that whether they are recalling their founding leaders by heart or just for maintaining formalities!
Today, the Nepali Congress has already given up B.P. Koirala’s ideology of socialism and two pillar democracy – multiparty democracy with the constitutional monarchy. The NC party is standing on the base of the communist parties, which was against the wish of founding leader B.P. Koirala. He always opposed an alliance with the communist force in Nepal.
Today’s communists in Nepal are not the communists imagined by its founding leader Pushpalal. Today’s communist leaders are the business agents. They are self-centred, multi-billionaire, power-hungry people. Those communist leaders also explain much about Pushpalal, communism and his struggle for the communist movement in Nepal. In practice, they don’t follow Pushpalal’s ideology.
Nepal is a beautiful country gifted by the nature. We have everything to transform the country into a prosperous nation. Unfortunately, as the country is under the grip of those crocked political leaders, we have not been able to bring prosperity to the nation.
The Nepali democracy is thus being defined as “for the political leaders, of the political leaders and by the political leaders”. A large number of people are being died from diarrhoea, which is both preventable and curable. People in remote parts are unable to get a tablet of cetamol. But political leaders are privileged for visiting foreign countries for their treatment from the government expenditure! The government has decided to bear all the medical expenses of former prime minister J.N. Khanal who is undergoing treatment in India. Khanal is a communist but a rich leader. He owns a tea garden in Sakhejung, Ilam, his home town. He is one of the communist leaders who had constructed a huge building in Kathmandu along with the dawn of the multiparty democracy. His son is in the commission business. Khanal himself has established a trust and running the trust under the government funding. Khanal’s entire politics is centred on himself. He, himself is able to manage the medical expenditure but the government has decided to pay all the expenses. Khanal could choose a local hospital for his treatment but he went to India. Khanal is just an example. Leaders choose foreign countries for their treatment under the government expenditure.
The mission of the political leaders is for making fool the voters and rule on them by distributing false premises.
The political leaders have developed excellent relations with those brokers, mafias and commission agents. This category of people has the reach to enter into the bedroom of the sitting prime minister. Outgoing prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli tried his best to reward Yeti Holdings. It is said that the Holdings is running under Oli’s investment. It is also said that there are around half a dozen brokers and commission agents who are running the government or say, they are the real ruler in Nepal.
Maoist Center chairman Pushpakamal Dahal always choose to rent the house of the businessmen and presently too he is staying at a building of a notorious construction contractor. As long as the partnership between the political leaders and the commission agents will remain deep and cordial, we cannot expect any government to become successful in transforming the nation into a prosperous one. Just recently, the government has planned to privatize the government flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation by manipulating around 30 billion worth of property of the Airlines. This is an example of the daylight loot in the country. How those profit earning government undertakings have been ruined and collapsed, makes clear the real intention of the political leaders who are in the daylight loot in the country. Leaders from a sleeper wearing standard became multi-billionaire overnight. They achieved the present status through loot in the country.
Communist leader Jyoti Basu ruled West Bengal, India for decades. He believes that those poor people were his vote bank and if they become rich, he would lose the election. Therefore, Basu always tried to keep those poor people from being poor permanently. The Nepali political leaders, either the Nepali Congress clan or the communist, have followed the Basu strategy in politics.
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