Everybody makes mistakes whether it is individuals, societies, or nations. Then, everyone has to pay the price for those mistakes. The inevitable part of those mistakes is that the lessons come very late, years later. One such mistake is being revealed in Nepal right now.
Nepal has been on the wrong track for at least the past 30 years. The biggest mistake was that the leaders made the people believe that Nepal was not good as others so Nepal had to copy foreigners in education, politics, and the international system. Hence Nepal adopted the multiparty system and thought that was the magic pill to becoming an advanced nation.
The result is pretty sad. There followed government changes so quickly in succession that it was like the actors changing dresses in Bollywood song sequences. Despite all those changes, nothing really changed for Nepali population. This trend continues till now, and we are finally understanding that we are being duped in big ways, and have been duped by the politicians in every major decision made.
At the moment, Nepal is coming out of a failed lockdown. Copying other countries, Nepal imposed a lockdown and on paper did everything that was supposed to have been done to combat the Covid-19 virus. However, those were on paper only. In reality, the government was not doing the right thing. If could be because they thought just talking and locking people up would be enough. And you get a big clue now when you listen to the PM talk about this crisis. Just two statements he recently said proves how out of touch this person is and how insensitive, incapable and irresponsible he is.
The first statement was about the number of corona deaths. Amazingly, he refused to believe that the fatalities could be 20. He believes, according to the latest news that probably only 3 people were killed by the coronavirus. The second statement was: “No one in Nepal will be hungry and die of hunger.” It seems that he believes that all the political struggles in Nepal were to make him the PM and as that has been accomplished, all the problems have gone away, vanished, like magic. Since he does not see anything from the tinted windows and sanitized visits, or from the helicopters, there are no problems remaining in Nepal.
Democracy has succeeded.
The reality is gruesome. The people are burdened with taxes heavily, like never before. And those taxes are going to foot the bills of the high-level authorities. The government brought out a budget and asked for cuts in undue expenses and observe frugality, yet, the high-level officials’ salary has been increased by three-fold, while perks and privileges in other areas have been doubled.
The appointments in high offices continue to be based on favoritism. The latest news is that the IOM has appointed a woman as its chief because she was the surgeon who operated on the PM. So, it was directly upon his orders that the person who was lower than 30 in rank in seniority was appointed bypassing the custom of seniority.
All these indicate that there is massive corruption in the Nepal government. People’s concerns are not attended to at any level. Power holders are still abusing their authority to enrich themselves and in the name of democracy, they are treating the state coffers as their lottery winning.
It is because of mistakes made by Nepali people that our problems are getting worse and our standing in the world is nowhere. We are paying big time because we have given the keys to the treasury to the dacoits. Corona deaths will increase many folds because there is no appropriate policy to channel the resources. That is not the priority of the government. It is looking at everything with rose-tinted glasses.
And it is us who have to pay the price for the mistakes of the past and the present. By the time the next election comes, the damage done will be irreparable, irreversible. So, waiting is not an option. The change has to come NOW.