System Failure & the Search for Redemption
It is now widely recognized that we are currently experiencing a period of system failure and widespread political malaise.
The main political parties--whether in the government coalition or the opposition--and their so-called ‘leaders’ seem to be confused and flummoxed.
After declaring the country a ‘Federal, Democratic, Secular
Republic’ and peremptorily abolishing the ancient Monarchy and its ‘Sanatan Dharma’ foundations, these ‘leaders’ succeeded in their wildest dreams in bringing the nation into a terrible swamp. Now they are confounded and cannot bring the country out of the morass.
How could they since they have reduced the country to their personal fiefs? It now bears no comparison to the presumed feudal and autocratic rulers of yore.
The main political parties and their professed leaders are nothing more and nothing less than Mafia families and their Dons. When they attain power, nothing good can come for the suffering people.
There is now loose talk [let us not elevate it to serious debate or discussion] of reforming the system and making possible genuine good governance. But how is it possible? Can the leopard change his spots?
In the first place, federalism has broken down. Actually, it didn’t take off at all!
The political analyst, Tula Narayan Shah in a recent interview in The Kathmandu Post (TKP) suggests direct election of the prime minister and the chief ministers as the way out of the country’s perpetual political instability (April 22). However, he underestimates both the travails of constitutional amendments and what he himself considers the politicians’ personal ambitions and the prevailing corrupt political culture.
One can agree with him that the mixed electoral system cannot be blamed for Nepal’s never-ending political instability. However, his remedy is based on false premises. The rot is too far advanced, the cancerous growth is in acute danger of metastasizing, and only a drastic operation can save the body politic.
The remedy is not in the horizon, but within grasp. The main actors are former King Gyanendra, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) chairman Rajendra Lingden and the people of Nepal themselves.
The political analyst says erroneously that “Nepali citizens are the ones who removed monarchy”. Actually, the Nepalese people had no say at all. The then ‘political leaders’ presented the people with a fait accompli. Our memory is not that short to recall that there was no referendum.
God willing, the sovereign Nepalese people, inspired by the illustrious scion of the Shah Dynasty of Gorkha, H.M. King Gyanendra, the repository of national unity, and led in a dynamic fashion by Rajendra Lingden and the RPP, will in a new people’s movement, lay the foundations of a new order.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.