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Who are the real Sukumbaasis?

Kathmandu was expecting fireworks on Saturday and the so-called 'other' Gen Z activists and even still not repentant EhMaaley Jholeys were all fired up, calling for hand-to-hand combat with those in power to prevent the demolition of illegal settlements along the banks of Bagmati River.

But what we got to witness was some kind of a 'let's just get done with this' vibe from the so-called squatters, the security personnel, and even the local administrations. Nobody was surprised when we got to find out that less than 10% of the folks living in Sukumbaasi toles were the real ones who needed help with shelter, land, and employment opportunities. The rest were hukumbaasis extorting others by building temporary structures and charging rent for the past three decades and more.

Since the 1990s, we have had more than half a dozen so-called Sukumbaasi Ayogs or Commissions and those who were appointed in such government bodies helped to provide land to their own political cadres and cousins while the real sukumbaasis were left to fend for themselves.

Our old school media and even the bideshi-funded online patrikas were busy comparing Balen to a dictator who never cared for the poor and the downtrodden and wanted to clear the slums to satisfy his ego. Well, I don't know what Balen is thinking or who he is, but I am pretty certain that he is in Singha Durbar not to make billions for himself and his cronies.

He is there so that he wants to write his name in our history books for finally changing Nepal for the better and hopefully one day, when we become better than Singapore, Balen will be remembered as the father of a developed nation while other old school politicians and even former monarchs can take the 'father of this and that' title for their own relatives' and followers' ego.

One thing is for sure: when the monsoon comes this June, we will not see human lives at risk during the annual flooding along the banks of the Bagmati River. Yes, we will have floods and some bastis will get their share of 5-foot dhamilo hilo paani but once the sewage and other sanitation stuff is managed, things will be better for Kathmanduites residing near the Bagmati River. Who knows, even Lakeside could be number two compared to the buzz along the Bagmati River in a few years?

For the past thirty-plus years, our then government, our bureaucracy, and those in power have turned a blind eye to any problems in this country. Finally, we have a new government that wants to start from the root and eradicate the cancer in all sectors and build a strong foundation for the nation to rise high up and help Nepal be a shining star on the global stage someday.

Yes, we feel for the real Sukumbaasis. May they get adequate housing for now and then as the government has promised, a few annas of land in urban areas for some, and a few Kattha land for farming for others and hopefully employment opportunities to enrich their lives as well.

The Balen government faces not hundreds but thousands of challenges, and we are sure that Balen and his crew will tackle them their own way. So far, the majority of us seem to have no complaints and we are happy that there was no violence during the demolition drive in the city on Saturday.

We saw a rare humane face of our security personnel, lending a helping hand to the real and fake squatters to remove their belongings before the demolition drive and some even sympathized and tried to console those in tears.

We expect our security personnel to rise and be professional as they have been till now and hopefully only use non-lethal means to control any unruly crowd, and please no more shooting protesters, be it the old school jholeys or young ones or the old!

Hope the Balen government will be careful in the future because all our previous eggheads lost power when they decided to get our security personnel to kill protesters. Hope those in power will realize this and no real bullets and no more police brutality anywhere in our land. Those who misuse their authority should be punished and those who attack security personnel with the intent to cause bodily harm should be dealt legally not be killed in custody or shot in fake encounters or on the streets!

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