As the March 21 elections are approaching, a bizarre farce is being staged on the stage of Nepali politics, where the main characters have landed on the stage without a script. As the election date draws closer, it seems that they are not competing to tell the people about the policies and programs, but who can bring more humour. From Bhadrapur of Jhapa to Chunwang of Rukum and from the social media in Kathmandu to the assembly in Janakpur, a type of ‘virus’ has now spread which we can call ‘election restlessness’.
Oli’s ‘Weather Forecast’: Where is the election atmosphere missing?
CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli may be no different from a ‘political meteorologist’ these days. As soon as he landed at Bhadrapur Airport in Jhapa on Sunday, he searched for the “election atmosphere” as if searching for lost socks in a drawer. What is surprising is that despite having the key to the power equation in his hands, Oli has to look to the government to know what the election environment is like. “I can’t say the same about the election environment,” he told reporters. There is a deep suspense hidden in this sentence.
If Oli does not see the environment, it means that either his political spectacle has become blurred, or there is a fear that the ‘environment’ will deteriorate somewhere in the equation of power. “They think the election will be held,” Abu said, which means that there is still a shadow of doubt in the mind. Oli’s ‘environment card’ to melt the opposition and intimidate the government has become very old. An election is not a picnic for which the sky is open and a cool breeze is blowing, but for Oli ji, it is a season that he wants to open only when he wants.
Congress’s ‘naming’ culture: Manifesto or ‘hidkamari’ letter?
While Oli is searching for an environment, the ruling coalition partner, the Nepali Congress, is busy searching for new words by flipping through the dictionary. This time, the Congress has named the ‘manifesto’ as if it had made a big revolution. Nepal would have reached the pinnacle of development decades ago if the name had been changed. The tone of the Congress is even different — the manifesto that was supposed to be released on Sunday 1 was postponed at the last minute, just as the wedding card was canceled while the wedding card was printed.
To submit it to the Election Commission on February 15, but to show it to the public only on February 6 — what kind of ‘secret promise’ is this? The preparation to distribute the ‘pledge letter’ in Janakpur with pomp proves that the NC still believes in ‘slogans’ and ‘events’ more than policy. Reading the statement issued by the Congress spokesperson, it seems that for them, releasing the manifesto is like releasing the trailer of a big masala film, where suspense is cultivated more than content. Is there any magic wand in the promissory note that should have been hidden till the 4th?
The minister’s ‘fool’ mantra and Mahavir’s ‘wind’ fire
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Amidst all this political turmoil, former minister Ram Kumari Jhankri fired a missile whose shrapnel is now challenging the credibility of the UML. In a public event, he said, “A stupid minister has left the garikhana and left the beggarkhana” is a testimony to the low level of political culture. It doesn’t take much expertise to understand that he was referring to Mahavir Pun, an activist at the Innovation Centre. It is a big joke in itself that a leader who sees people who are sacrificing their lives and intellect for the country as ‘idiots’ and ‘beggars’ is sharing the dream of building the country.
Mahavir Pun has also given a befitting reply to this. Terming some UML leaders as ‘air leaders with evil eyesight’, he commented that the UML is on the verge of collapse. Pun’s anger is justified because those who misused their position and power to end the government treasury and their own political future, are now seeing those who do social work by collecting donations as ‘beggars’. Jhankri’s statement has exposed how arrogant and alienated from the sentiments of the people is. Pun’s statement in the end, ‘May God give good intellect to the UML leaders’ is a big sarcastic slap for the leaders.
Prachanda’s ‘Bangladesh’ Fear and Fear of 7.5 Million
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CPN (Maoist Centre) coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is also not far behind in this procession. He reached Chunwang of Rukum and narrated the story of Bangladesh. “Those with 75 lakh followers have lost,” he said, trying to intimidate Nepal’s new political forces and youths active on social media. Forgetting the history of burning the country’s structures in the name of people’s war yesterday, today he is labeling others as ‘destroying the country’ and ‘burning the country’.
What happened in Bangladesh was an internal uprising, but Prachanda has started a strange ‘politics of fear’ by linking it to the elections in Nepal. “The people have been reckoned with the hooligans,” he said, adding that there is more fear of the new force than self-confidence. It is an interesting phenomenon that Prachanda, who has been involved in armed rebellion for 10 years, is now so afraid of ‘virtual’ people with 7.5 million followers. Those who dreamed of burning down Singha Durbar yesterday are now worried that ‘Singha Durbar has been burnt’ — politics is indeed a big cycle of time!
Overall: The Jatra continues, the evaluation is in the hands of the public
Overall, Nepal’s politics is at a crossroads where the old players are afraid of new rules and new faces. Oli’s lack of election environment, the Nepali Congress being compelled to change the name of the manifesto, Jhankri looking at the activists as ‘foolish’ and Prachanda showing the ghost of Bangladesh – all these are different symptoms of the same problem. The problem is the changing consciousness of the people and the extreme disgust towards the old leadership.
Finally,
What the leaders need to understand is that they will no longer be able to mislead the people with stories of ‘environment’, ‘commitments’ or ‘Bangladesh’ for long. In the next election, the people will decide how politically stupid those who call a hardworking person like Mahabir Pun really are. There may be abuses and gossip in politics, but in the end, what the people are looking for is not a paper of attractive ‘promissory’, but the result of a ‘commitment’. The procession being staged in this election season will entertain for a while, but the future of the country is far above these ‘hype’. As Mahavir Pun said, the people will evaluate the future.
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