(A version of this article published in Nepalnews.com on 26 May 2012)
May 26, 2012
Dear leaders of all
the political parties and ethnicities of Nepal,
I am writing this
letter in the context of the most likely event of failing to promulgate an
acceptable constitution by the deadline of tomorrow May 27, 2012, and that of
your contribution towards the recent escalation of ethnic tensions.
The current
political situation of the country is a function of many different forces from
the past and the present as well as within and outside this nation’s border.
You, in the capacity of political leaders, are not the sole culprit. To imply
that will be a gross exaggerating of the truth, and is unfair on you. Everyone
involved, including us the people, should share the responsibility for this
sorry state of affairs. However, if anyone is to be held accountable for the
political mismanagement side of the story the fingers unmistakably points
exclusively towards you, the political leaders.
Please do not take
this letter only as a list of your incompetence, irresponsibility and
stupidity. Nothing described here about your character and behaviour is new or
made up. They are merely based on observation and recollection over the years.
This letter gives
you a list of ten short and sweet advices if you want to save this nation, your
political career, and your parties from being extinct from the face of the
planet. They are by no means an
exhaustive list. Have you realized yet or not but you have already driven
yourself and your institutions almost to the brink of no return. Your ship is
about to tip over; crashing is imminent upon you. The timing, location and
modus operandi of such a crash are anyone’s guess but the recipe for disaster
has been brewing for a long…long time now. It is, as a matter of fact, a
surprise why apocalypse has not yet been damned upon you for your sins. If you
think you are the captains of your and the respective political parties’
destiny, the coming few weeks or months could be your last chance to navigate
into the right direction. While you have time save yourselves from being
perished into the bottomless nadir.
In non-hierarchical
order, here are the numbers one to ten of my advice:
1. Respect your electorate. Your politics
is so pathetically disconnected from your electorate. You are a representative
of the electorate. Without the votes, you are a commoner like any one. It is
the electorate that trusts and elevates you to the role of their
representative. Thus treat your electorate with some respect and be accountable
to them. Remember who voted you and what is your mandate. People voted you as
the members of the Constitution Assembly to ratify the constitution. Instead,
despite the numerous extensions of the office you have done very less of your
main responsibility. You have been busy bickering over the sideshows and
secondary role, mainly over running the administrative office.
2. Keep your eyes
and ears open. You seem not only deaf over people’s wish but also blind
about what is happening around you. Nepalis do not want a divided Nepal. They
want a unified Nepal where they can safely live and raise their families.
Restructuring based on ethnicities is a recipe for disaster. Why on earth would
you want to pursue an option that disturbs the societal harmony?
3. If you can’t
do the job, hand it to capable hands. It is a joke that even at his age
Sher B Deuba is still considered a youth leader of Nepali Congress. The
so-called top leaders seem like you have already exceeded your use by date. They
look and sound stale and tired. No wonder they have made uncountable number of
error of judgments. Within your parties there are more capable emerging young
leaders. Talking again about Nepali Congress, you have a charismatic leader
like Gagan Thapa. Gagan Thapa is mentioned here in the capacity of more than an
individual here. He represents a generation whose ideas are fresh, bold and
different. Some smart teenagers still at school think, analyse and behave more
sensibly than most party leaders. The time has now come to pass the baton to a
different leadership to run the show. You have already failed, time and again,
yourself and the nation.
4. Stop treating
people like your subjects. Stop treating people for granted whenever you
speak or act. You are actually making a joke and fool of yourself. It seems you
are unaware how much watchful and educated people are today of what is going
around them and what you guys are up to. Just because the majority of them are
silent so often does not necessarily mean they condone your political
mismanagement. Last Wednesday’s peace rally is a good hint. You should have got
the message of the silent majority – loud and clear.
Photo Courtesy: Ranjit
Nagarik Nepali via Facebook page of Rabindra Mishra
5. Look in the
mirror first. Look at yourself before you bicker and moan about others
within and outside your own party, and the neighboring countries. Your intra
and inter party squabbles over petty matters is a living example of the
colonial legacy “divide and rule”. The difference between your and the colonial
version though is in your case the seeds of division are nourished by yourself.
Why do you blame overseas interference when you can never unite for our national
interests? The outsiders are acting to merely and rightly protect their own
borders and people’s interest.
6. Stop fishing
in murky waters. Stop mudding in sideshows. Get on to your main job and the
mandate the electorate gave you. Stop going tangents and throwing tantrums.
Stop making short sighted and selfish deals while distracting everyone over
your sideshows. We always see you bitterly bickering over power sharing. People
understand why you are so much power hungry. We understand that if not for the
state coffers you would be light years away from taking the responsibility of
running the administration. Is it true that your last minute agreement few
weeks ago on eleven name-less and boundary-less federal states came about only
after a deal was struck among yourselves on power sharing over who gets the portfolios
of the president and the prime minister?
7. Practice what
you preach. Why is there a galaxy between your speech and action? How can
you lie outright? Not once or twice but almost every time? You behave like a
compulsive liar. How do you sleep in the night? Do yourself a favour – be
honest and see how it feels when you come clean.
8. Be a symbol of
harmony, not harbinger of division. Before you talk about finishing
people from other ethnicities (in reference to Malla K Sundar’s recent address
in Khulla Manch to a gathering of the Newar community), think how you would
feel if others said that to you or did that to your own people. Don’t you know
what happened in the past in Gujarat, Bangaladesh, Afganistan, India and
Pakistan due to ethnic and religious tensions? Aren’t your bones chilled by the
horrors of the holocaust (six million state-sponsored systematic slaughter of
the jews by the Nazis and their supporters), the Rawandan genocide (one million
slain within hundred days over the ethnic conflict of the majority Hutus and
the minority Tutsis), and the Bosnian ethnic cleansing (eight thousand Bosnian
muslims killed by Serbs)?
9. Educate
yourself and know what you are up to. Do your homework. You have not well
explained us what this ethnic federalism truly means. By the way, do you
actually know what this beast is? Also, can you explain how the so-called dual
model of power sharing between a direct-elect president and a parliament-elect
prime minister going to function? Where on earth is it practiced? It is learned
that you refer this to the Swiss model. For your information, the Swiss
president is a ceremonial one. The model works for them because the Swiss have checks
and balances, and they respect and abide by the rule of the game. Swiss model
works for Switzerland does not necessarily mean it will work for us. The
political, social, economic and cultural context is completely different
between Switzerland and Nepal. Obviously you have no capability to come up with
a workable model made in Nepal for Nepal.
10. If you call
yourself a leader, dare to become one. Lead by example. Do the right thing
for the people not what is beneficial merely to you, your in-laws and your
comrades. Instead of fuelling the ethnic tension, you had opportunity to lead
your people to practice tolerance and to promote pluralism by saying no to this
business of dividing the country. That would have put moral pressure on other
ethnicities to think differently, and would have helped to calm down the tension
to a greater extent. None of you stood up to that role. You unfortunately did
not have the vision to see the larger than life possibility in that role. You
denied yourself the glory; you lost the opportunity of your lifetime. Instead,
you could not resist the impulse of being a hero by riding the lame ethnic donkey.
Did you not realize that this breed of ethnic card is full of risk? The donkey
may soon badly kick you and stamp on you big time. Now you are left in a
situation where chances are you will be doomed regardless of whether or not if
you did or said anything further on this matter.
So much for my
unsolicited ten point advice. I wish you luck to score ten out of ten. I feel
so sorry for you that by persistently going against your duties and
responsibilities, you have already committed huge crime against the humanity.
Unfortunately you have taken yourself to a point of no return. However, the
people of this great nation may still forgive you and give you one last chance.
This time, take my advice, do the right thing. Time is running out, fast.
This is your last
chance to seek salvation of the crimes you have committed. Make no mistake;
your crimes are of an epic proportion. The ten points above have spelled out
for you, in black and white, some of what you should have figured out yourself.
Now it is up to you. We, the people, are watching and waiting to see what you
do next. Rest is up to you.
Finally, one piece
of advice also to the citizens of this great nation. Let us live like true
citizens, not a subject. Awake, and demand the right answers from your
politicians. You will get the right answers only if you ask the right
questions.
***
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