Media and ‘unaffordable’ politicians

This writer hates to say ‘I told you so’, but I told you so.

We are talking about how a mammoth Parliament and many provinces with many, many, ministers and members of provincial assemblies would not be good for this tiny nation’s economy. Thousands of real nationalists had said dividing the country just because it had become a republic would simply not work. Now many people are asking what these political leaders are doing for the country when they themselves are not in a good situation as far as accommodation is concerned. Yes, houses are being taken on rent even for provincial governors and chief ministers, but these are only burdening this impoverished country where as per the prime minister, even giving salaries to bureaucrats and others has to be managed by asking for loans from foreigners. In the first phase when the number of members of parliament had been decided on, this writer questioned where would so many federal level leaders be accommodated for parliamentary meetings. The planner of a republic Nepal had never thought about such a basic issue, forgetting where provincial members and ministers would be staying. According to a report in a popular vernacular daily, it has been revealed that there have been sixteen chief ministers and two hundred and thirty ministers appointed in the last five years or so. Similarly, much fund has been used only to give these political leaders their salaries and other perks. To stay in power, most of the provinces have also divided ministries just to accommodate their party workers.

How long can such superficial moves hold together the governments that have been formed for the peoples’ benefit? Going by the routine curiosity of most Nepalese, the present prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is a very rich man. This is the same fellow who was virtually penniless when he had gone to London to study on a scholarship programme to study at the prestigious London School of Economics.

But as soon as he was chosen as the Home Minister by late Girija Prasad Koirala, his fortunes went on a steep climb up the political and social ladder.

He then got married to a woman from an aristocratic Rana family and he achieved more success in his political career too. It was reported in many media outlets that his marriage to Dr Aarju Rana was arranged by the then wily American Ambassador to Nepal, Ms Julia Chang. But whatever his personal interests, Deuba went on to achieve more and more in his political career and now he has become the prime minister of Nepal for a whopping fifth time. If this is not political success, what is?

But even before, questions were raised about the role of his spouse Aarju, on the dominant role she played in Deuba’s life, both personal and political. She reportedly was mainly responsible for building a palace-like house for them to relax, when Deuba was not the prime minister of the country. Now that he is in power, media reports that he has made his official residence in Baluatar his party office and he conducts most of his work from there, very much like the late Girija and cousin Sushil Koirala did in the past.

Now that the election is looming very near, a popular vernacular daily has said that the major priority of PM Deuba is in getting more seats for the Nepali Congress and also for his wife Aarju to win the election in Kailali district in the Far West. While going away from this topic of the Database, let us also look at how the media has functioned in the present system. Sadly, the media has not done well.

There is no doubt the role of the media is very important in shaping an individual specially politicians, in the past and now that an election is looming ahead, in the future also.

Having been associated with the media sector for more than four decades, this writer would like to present some plus points and many minus points of the media as well.

In the past, many individuals became wellknown journalists just because of their nexus with political parties or the powers of that time. They were not trained nor did they know anything about the media, including the immense responsibility it had for society as a whole. They became journalists just because they opened a newspaper, mostly weeklies, and not by knowing much about journalism. In fact some of the most ‘senior’ journalists these days came through similar channels. Some individuals became journalists just because they wrote some news or took interviews of political leaders. As they were journalists, no one questioned their background and their educational achievements.

Those days are gone and now television has become the most dominant force in the media sector. But still, the situation is the same, you have a close nexus with whoever is in power and ask questions which were thought completely ‘taboo’ in the past. Now the ‘Lone Ranger’ type of journalism has reached such a height that, a person with a camera or a tape recorder can easily be taken as a professional journalist who yields power because of the power they enjoy being a media person.

But to come back to our theme with which we started first, just like the nation cannot afford to have so many legally elected individuals, the nation too cannot afford to have so many journalists in this tiny country.

Two clever brothers first enjoyed telling us that we have many more FM stations than even much more powerful and bigger India has. They received applause and also green dollars for their efforts. But what they did not mention was that FM stations were purely meant for only local level broadcasts in a community, where matters of national importance or international developments were of no use. But exactly the opposite thing happened in Nepal, with FM stations covering the whole country and specially focusing on political developments of the time which may have been of no interest to the local people.

Sadly, ‘the cookie crumbles', and the Nepalese people are being taken for a ride all in the name of democracy, while only a handful of individuals are really benefitting from the present political system. Let us hope things change for the better after the upcoming elections and not only political leaders, but also media persons start to be more responsive to the public and be more serious about the tasks ahead to Nepal a better nation.