New Nepal Not Yet: Mission Continues

Govinda Neupane

The declaration of Nepal as a republic had communicated the historic positive message that Nepal would enter into a new era of reconstruction that could give birth to a new beginning towards justice, equity and prosperity. It is true that within a few months nothing could be changed miraculously, but that time could be enough to consolidate hope, accelerate enthusiasm and formulate basic course to drive the nation to the right direction.

The Prime Minister sounds sensitive towards people's feelings but has shown inefficiency in addressing their needs and aspirations, pragmatically. Just nice speeches, strong threats and public posturing of statesmanship do no good if there are no actions that offer policy responses and operational arrangements. Loud talking, being emotional and doing nothing substantial could erode credibility, trust and reliability of any person including leaders. The same has happened to the Prime Minister. His image of a strong, visionary and revolutionary leader has been eroding every day. The same is true for his deputy, the scholar-politician Finance Minister. Opposite to his public image, he is busy in micro-management of economy and has degenerated himself as a tax administrator. The leadership of the government, primarily composed of these two leaders, thus, failed in generating hope and showing the seeds of a new beginning - the journey to societal transformation.

The Maoist party that has been providing leadership to the executive branch of the government has been busy in the process of self-deconstruction. Mixing sand in its fertile soil is the business what the Maoist party is busy with. The much hyped unity with the "Unity Center" is the evidence of this business. If the 'revolutionary leaders' of the CPN (UML), fringe left parties and even those of Congress would assimilate within the Maoist party, people may not be astonished, now.

The second largest party in the government, the CPN (UML) has been playing all roles, as usual. It is government. It is opposition. It is the alternative state. It is protector of the existing army. It is a bridge between opposition and government. It is everything. Hence, neither they carry credible image nor do they have courage to present themselves exactly what they are. The Maoist leadership knows this better than anybody else. Hence, neither they spend sleepless nights due to the vocal diarrhea of the UML leaders nor they are in the mood of celebration by hearing their rosy speeches.

The Congress party has never been proactive in its entire history. It is a reactive party by nature. Representing the interests of upper sections of the society, pursuing the capitalist ideology camouflaged as socialist and peddling through soft nationalism in regard to dealing with India are some of its core characteristics. Whether it is in the government or in opposition; the party doesn't change its operational modalities. It is just absent in actions related to mass awakening, people's empowerment and their wellbeing. Making its own cadres (particularly those who are around its leaders and their relatives) fat is the core business of the Congress bureaucracy. Therefore, it becomes no news when it makes no sound today.

The Madhesi parties are busy averting divisions within their own parties and among parties with the same agenda of "One Madhesh, One Pradesh (province)". They too are largely united around certain rhetoric and are happy being the champion of that rhetoric.

The parties of former royalists have nothing much to contribute to the reconstruction process and are just happy making their presence felt by attending one or the other gatherings.

The above analysis presents a gloomy picture in regard to the acts of the political actors. The loud talks of "New Nepal" and "Societal Transformation" sound just lifeless phrases.

Why all this looks like very negative phenomenon? This is not a negative interpretation of the reality. The reality itself is not illuminating. A few evidences might help to realize such phenomenon. We are having historic power-cut of 16 hours daily. The rate of inflation is above 14%. The share market has gone down by 48% in 4 months. Undisciplined ministers have finished the whole annual budget for foreign travel (allocated for the cabinet members) in less than 5 months. There is a crowd of 601 persons sitting in the International Conference Building without entering into their core business of drafting a new constitution. The drastic reduction of state presence, particularly in the countryside has resulted to near break-down of law and order. Moreover, the stated or unstated out sourcing of the state functions to vigilante groups have created multiple de-facto state actors making people most vulnerable to coercion, threats and intimidation. Hence, the central governance mechanism has been gradually loosing its control. These are just a few examples.

Why all this has been happening?

The superstructure is the reflection of the base. The fundamentals of the Nepalese society are still quite weak. A large section of the society is surviving in a situation of dire poverty. They do not have enough to eat. They have no time and resources to think about their development. The illiteracy is quite high. In such situation of illiteracy, talking about their level of critical awareness is just luxury. The child mortality, maternal mortality and average life expectancy are on the negative side. The social fabric of the society has been discriminatory in several areas, which includes but not limited to nationalities, gender, geographical region, social hierarchy including the infamous caste system. Organized social behavior is at its infancy at local level. The service delivery mechanism is either absent or non-functional in large part of the country. Therefore, the philosophically hi-tech, intellectually scholarly, attitudinally value driven and practically non-functional socio-political superstructure has failed to address the real issues not only at micro-level but also at macro-level. In such background, the political leadership is rich in distribution of dreams and strangely incompetent as well as unwilling to deliver anything substantial including policy formulations, programmatic responses, service delivery and even expressing genuinely sympathetic concerns. The Maoists during the time of "people's war" very much mobilized the people and ignited the course of societal transformation, which generated hope among the masses. But, their final journey to Singhadurbar (seat of political power in Kathmandu) under a power-sharing arrangement compelled them to abandon the course. Now, there is leadership vacuum at grassroots level. Hence, there are several splinter groups under different organizational banners competing against each other and also against the weak central government authority to rule over the territory of their influence.

Is there no hope at all?

There is hopelessness on one side, but also there is silver lining in the dark cloud. In 1951, Nepal had just one degree college. Now, within 60 years the number has jumped many folds. The same is applicable in areas of other infrastructures. Nepal is going through the process of tumultuous renewal. The governments of different times, including the one that of today, irresponsibly delayed the process of transformation. But, never have they succeeded in completely obstructing the process of change. Although, it was slow, the under-current of change never subsided. The anti-Rana rebellion of 1950s, anti-feudal Jhapa movement of 1970s, anti-Shah/Panchayat movement of 1980s, Maoists People's War of 1990s and 2000s and anti-monarchy people's movement of 2006 all added fuel in the lamp, which has been illuminating the Nepalese nation for a long time. Moreover, the lamp has been providing the light to all, who are marching forward with a desire of participating in the glorious campaign of human emancipation. Although, it is still not well organized and still lacks critical awareness, the Nepalese society is moving ahead through the processes of continuous renewal and mass awakening. The people at grassroots would continue the democratization process of their respective societies. Redistribution of power and resources has already been at the core of the grassroots agenda. Reorganization of the Nepalese society (that is free from Khasa chauvinism, male domination, internal colonization as well as regional neglect and Hindu caste hierarchy including the cruelty of untouchability) has been gaining momentum. All these factors together will contribute to build solid foundations to the new socio-political superstructures, which will ensure the success of the final leap of the reconstruction process that would crystallize democracy, social justice, basic equality and prosperity. This new leap may take several years to succeed, but certainly there would be that shinning Nepal, the new Nepal of our dream.

January 22, 2009