Just blaming the former kings will not bring prosperity to people

Is this a joke that political leaders are playing with the people? We are talking about how the government is being run and the way the Parliament is functioning, though it has been prorogued now.

The whole parliamentary procedure was being held up just because of one person and whether he stayed in the government or resigned. While the leaders of all the political parties, specially the bigger ones, should have been focused on the development of the nation and the wellbeing of the ordinary people, they were and still are only engaged in a bitter struggle to get to power or for individuals to do so.

Deputy prime minister and home minister Ravi Lamichhane is in the limelight for the wrong reasons now and the way prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and another former prime minister KP Oli, who have again joined hands in this new political alliance, are trying to save Lamichhane, both for their own selfish reasons.

Meanwhile, the main opposition party, the Nepali Congress, was demanding the resignation of the deputy prime minister and the formation of a parliamentary committee to look into the charges made against this journalistturned-politician, but the government turned the tables by abruptly ending the winter session of Parliament. It may not be going out of the way to mention here that former finance minister Janardan Sharma of the Maoist Center resigned as soon as such a committee was formed to look into the accusations against him and thus established a trend that other such tarnished ministers must follow.

The irony is Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane, the president of a young but strong party with many intellectuals as its leaders, always made tall promises to the people about how he and his party would function. But he has sadly failed to fulfil his promises, specially about not joining the government for some years to come. Instead, Lamichhane had said, he and his party would focus on what he called 'Mission 84', when the next general is scheduled to be held. Is this why so many people voted for him and his party? No! The people who have been suffering for a very long wanted immediate succor; they wanted a change in the stranglehold the more established and older political parties had in the decisions made for the country.

Here, it would not be out of place to touch on the issue of the 'uproar' being created by leaders of all the big parties about the concern shown by former King Gyanendra on the state of the nation and how all sides can sit together and talk of what can be done about the political and economic mess Nepal has gotten into. Isn't the former King, a citizen of this nation? Doesn't he have the right to speak out when people who still have faith in the monarchy demand that he do something to end their suffering?

Have the political leaders looked in the mirror and closely tried to see how their performance has been and to which level they have taken the country? There has been nothing but political chaos and economic woes which have troubled the majority of the people and just blaming the former kings will not solve any of their problems. They are doing nothing to solve the woes of the masses. That is probably why the image of the political leaders has sharply been eroded and the people are turning to find an able leader who can lead the nation to more stability and better times.

But before discussing the 'norms and values', a much-used phrase by our leaders these days, being followed by the political parties, let us also say something about the chaotic state of politics and how the former King has been only made a diversion by the leaders for their own interests and actually to only hide their own shortcomings and misdeeds.

For example, look at the way how the present government prorogued the present winter session of the House and National Assembly and gave a flimsy excuse that this was done to call the budget session of the Parliament soon. We must also look at the chaotic conditions within the parties themselves and the political mess that has been created at the Federal level and the provincial level as well. There is also the serious aspect of religious and communal disharmony creeping into the country's society, which otherwise was well blended in peace and harmony.

The increasing number of corruption cases and the involvement of highlevel leaders who have not been touched by the authorities though the media constantly unveils such activities, is also a worrying factor.

Still, for the majority of the people, the biggest concern is about the increasing difficulty to survive with dignity and also about the high rate of inflation and decreasing opportunities to do anything within the country. No wonder thousands of Nepali youths and even skilled people are leaving and going to whichever destination beckons them, though they are cheated by both the manpower agencies here and foreign companies abroad. They are ready to even do many dangerous jobs, including fighting wars like we are seeing now in Ukraine. But the political parties seem least bothered about such hardships of the people and they are only busy clinging on to power or getting to it while distracting the common citizens by blaming the former King and saying that he is making an effort to snatch away what they call 'loktantra'.

What is loktantra after all? Is it a system where ordinary people have to suffer?

The irony is that while the people have become poorer, political leaders and some others have become richer. The present prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other former prime ministers have also been accused of being involved in many 'highlevel' corruption cases. Unfortunately, former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is also being blamed for his own involvement in corruption and his wife, son and his wife's brother have also, as reported by the media outlets, been involved in such illegal acts. It is a double irony that Deuba himself is the president of the Nepali Congress, which is now demanding the formation of a Parliamentary Commission to look into the misappropriation of billions of rupees by certain persons including the deputy prime minister. So before pointing fingers at others, while they themselves are trying to hide their faults, the leaders would do better if they just spent some time looking at the problems of the people and working for them as well, besides playing dirty games just to get to power.