Views of a Nepali Economist

The following opinion piece was published in Republica on January 7. 2013 with the title "Like for like". The direct link to Republica is here.


Let us cut to the chase. We all know what they say about ‘politics’ in general, that it is a dirty game. In Nepal, politics is not just a dirty game. It is a filthy game. The players have bankrupt moralities, bulging bank accounts, no sense of obligation to those who got them elected, and no sense of ‘duty’ to serve or work for the greater good.

In recent times, a few facts have emerged out of Nepali political characteristics. When a constituent asked if he would ever step again in the constituency that elected him in Jhapa, UML leader Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli was quick to quip that he had been elected as an MP and not as a VDC secretary. If only Oli was as quick in actually doing the work he has been repeatedly elected to do, people in Jhapa would never have had to ask that question. Speaking of VDC secretaries, if Oli and his party worked even half as hard as a Nepali VDC secretary does these days in absence of elected local officials, they would have formed the new parliament by now. They barely got their PR list together after a month of the election results. We have no idea how long we should wait for them to form a government.

The politicians’ readymade quip for their less powerful constituents clearly shows the attitude they have towards the public. They see themselves as superior masters, and us as their subservient servants whose only job is to occasionally cast votes for them, and then shut up. Karl Marx was right when he said that the oppressed are allowed, once every few years, to decide which particular representative of the oppressing class will represent and repress them. It is ironic that Marxists and Leninists such as Oli enjoy Marx’s nightmare with glee.

One of the core responsibilities of a member of parliament is to “raise issues of his/her constituents”. Yes, the MP is involved in discussions and negotiations in the House, and in drafting laws and bills, but they also have an obligation to listen to the problems of people that elected them. How many times have Oli or other MPs from Jhapa raised the wild elephant issue in the parliament in order to find a solution? How about the supari crisis that farmers in Jhapa have been facing for the past few years? Community forests in Jhapa are being exploited by timber mafia while the public that takes care of the forests don’t get to consume its products. This has been a persistent issue for around two decades in Jhapa. How many times have MPs from Jhapa raised those issues in the parliament to seek solutions? It is one thing to make a smart quip to make your constituent look silly in front of the media, but entirely another to actually do what you were elected to do.

The second fact is that despite not listening to us, our politicians pretend to know us and our worries. They pretend to know what’s good for us. The Maoists deserve credit for raising issues of minorities and asking them to fight for equity and equality between all castes, classes and creeds in Nepal. However, the greed of political power got to them and they exploited the marginalized for their political gain, which I am sure they regret today. The leadership formed of upper-caste Brahmin men asked minority groups to follow them in the fight. Now, there is nothing wrong in upper-caste men leading minorities in their struggles. Many white Americans were involved in fighting for the rights of Black Americans in the 1960s. The feminist movement during the 1970s had many men as leaders and supporters. But, how many upper caste Brahmin men have led minority struggles and become wealthy in a span of six years?

The third fact is that the Rana oligarchy has returned in Nepal, and our political leaders are the New Ranas. Major parties create a High Level Political Committee, and this HLPC decides who becomes what, what is to be done, and who does that. Nepali political parties today have mastered the ‘cartel’ theory, second only to OPEC, the organization of petroleum exporting countries. The cartel of high ranking political leaderships has been making decisions as a group and deciding the fate of Nepali politics and democracy for some years now. In the past, they had decided on taking turns on which party gets the prime minister’s post. As a result of this oligarchic decision making, a person who lost from two different constituencies was able to become the prime minister. The same idea of taking turns is being floated again. Money from state coffers has been distributed to uncles, wives, nephews and sons for their vacation or mountaineering efforts. If this doesn’t remind us of the Ranas, I don’t know what will.

However, the fault lies in us. As the great George Carlin mentioned, these politicians did not come out of nowhere. They did not fall from the sky. They come from Nepali parents and families. They come from Nepali public and private schools, colleges and universities. And, not to mention, they are elected by Nepalis. We produced these politicians. We snatch money in the airport from our sisters who return from the Middle East, and then hand her over to the policeman, the protector, to rape her. We solicit bribes in broad daylight and are proud of it. We sweep our homes every morning and throw the dirt outside our walls because we are selfish and we want our homes clean but don’t care an ounce about our streets being dirty. So, the fault lies in us. We are selfish, amoral and greedy people, and we have got the political leaderships that we deserve—selfish, amoral and greedy.

Labels: George Carlin, HLPC, Jhapa, KP Oli, maoists, Marx, oligarchy, politics, Rana