Nation at a dangerous juncture

For whose benefit are the coming elections? For the ever-greedy leaders who have virtually bled the country dry or for the people who expected changes for the betterment of their daily lives in ‘new Nepal’? Actually, the answer to this question has been answered for all of us by the political leaders themselves, the corrupt bureaucrats and the non-accountable security agencies, who are as corrupt as the whole system that has been established in the country for the last thirty years.

Not that corruption was not there before. I beg your pardon for comparing corruption with prostitution, which it is said, has been there from time immemorial. But what is disturbing is the open manner in which these vices are practised in the presentday world, including Nepal. A few individuals have been punished, but unfairly, while the majority of cases go unreported, mainly in acts of corruption in high-up places.

It is said it is not good to talk badly about a person who is no longer living in this world, but one can’t still help saying that corruption came to the fore with unabashed shamelessness from the time of late Surya Bahadur Thapa, who as prime minister of the then panchayat system was given the task of holding a general referendum by late king Birendra. Corruption flourished as paddy fields grow during the monsoon season. This writer personally knows many individuals who made money illegally during that time. Many of them have died but their children are living abroad enjoying the ill-gotten wealth they earned through the right connection at high places.

Eventually, a time came when the King was compelled to restore multi-party democracy, but the enthusiasm of the people who really fought for this political change did not materialize in anything beneficial for them. The leaders after this change became even more voracious in earning money as fast as they could. Individuals who hardly had hundred of rupees became millionaires overnight and some even were able to horde hundreds of millions of rupees either in foreign banks or in investments abroad.

This has happened in many other developing nations and it is not surprising that similar corrupt thoughts have influenced our leaders and bureaucrats as well. But while other nations may have the luxury of entertaining such corrupt habits, an impoverished Nepal is being pushed to the limits in not only becoming a failed state, but also a fertile ground for foreigners to play their games at their will.

Now a crucial time has come for the people to be really careful about who they vote for. In the past three decades, we have seen the voters being fooled by the politicians and not at all delivering on the promises made by them.

For example, this columnist remembers when all the major parties said they would not allow any single Nepali to go abroad for work. At that time they were targeting the so-called ‘Lahures’, who had no chance of getting any employment here except in joining the British or Indian armies and making the lives of their near and dear ones brighter. They were called ‘mercenaries’. But now, the same leaders are begging foreign countries to give employment to Nepalese, in whatever work they can get in those difficult nations, where neither the Nepalese are comfortable socially, religiously or in the harshest of climate conditions.

Now that the election date is virtually jumping at our faces, it is dismaying to see the major parties still not coming out with people-oriented agendas. They are only busy forming alliances and blaming each other for different issues. The former king has also not been left alone, despite him gracefully giving way to the political parties and allowing the establishment of a republican Nepal, a thing which was unimaginable before. After all, we never can forget that it was a Shah king who formed present-day modern Nepal and his dynasty continued to save the integrity and sovereignty of this country. But sadly, the kings were made a punching bag of most of the political leaders, including the recently communist turned Kamal Thapa, who reportedly used to stand outside the Palace just to show his face and ‘loyalty’ to the then royal family. But he turned out to be a ‘traitor’, if for no one else, at least for the former king! But that is what present Nepal is, there is only a ‘me’ syndrome and nothing matters as long as individuals and their close ones make profits in whatever way they can. One so-called ‘expert’, rightly questioned a TV anchor about what the political leaders have given to the Nepalese people in the past. He replied to his question himself, by saying the leaders had only given false promises to the public. Similarly, another such ‘political analyst’ had also criticized the politicians for bringing disaster to the nation by being shortsighted and visionless. One ordinary person while being interviewed by a TV channel also talked of the immense development brought by late king Mahendra in the short time in which he ruled Nepal, ‘but where are we now’, he had asked. To be precise, we are now looking at a very dangerous situation because of the greediness of politicians and bureaucrats and the direct interference of foreign powers in totally internal matters of this country. Yet the so-called leaders of civil society and other rights activists have been deafeningly quiet when many atrocities, in terms of mainly political and monetary gains have been made by individuals in many sectors.

The most alarming question is how long can a tiny and impoverished nation like Nepal sustain such a situation, when no one is thinking of the integrity and sovereignty of this country, because of pure greediness or vested interests. It is often disgusting to hear these very people who are destroying this country, counselling the naïve people about what is right and what is wrong. This can be said of our present prime minister himself, who seems to be guided by the wrong people, including his ambitious wife.

The only suggestion one can make to the Nepalese people now is, they must choose their leaders not only because of their party loyalty but through pragmatic thoughts of who can bring in the change they have expected in this new Nepal. The nation is at a dangerous juncture now and the people also have to act responsibly to save the country while electing the so-called leaders.