Nepal: Grand salute to Mr. Gurung

Telegraph Nepal, Editorials

Nepali Congress is definitely the longest surviving democratic party of Nepal. It is indeed a different matter as to whether this Democratic Party practices internal democracy or not? Let the people and its own party cadres decide, however, the fact is that, what comes occasionally to the public, is that this party is still run by a set of special clan which even denies party senior leaders to express their reservations on certain matters of genuine national issues. The upper echelon leaders perhaps bulldoze the ideas. Not unusual in Nepal.

The party lacks internal democracy could be taken as the gist as far as we could get from the very utterances of its own senior leaders who have sacrificed their entire time, youth and energy for the betterment of the party since its inception but yet remain in a sidelined state as and when some opportune moments prefer to come to their support. Kul Bahadur Gurung, among the crowd, is perhaps the hardest hit.

Yet we leave this matter to be decided by the party leaders as we are not here to criticize the parties on what they should do and what not. If the NC is a democratic party then let it be so as claimed by some. Or even what is the harm in listening to the criticisms made by its own leaders that the party is not a political entity which practices internal democracy? Let them quarrel as it is their democratic right. We will not interfere which is what we should do as per our media ethics. But will definitely enjoy as such acts educates us all.

But yet how can one remain silent when one learns that the party lacked consensus on some critical national issues and the party became the victim of some high flying leaders of the party on issues such as federalism, for example.  

To boot, says Kul Bahadur Gurung, one of the senior most leaders of the Nepali Congress, that the party at the initial stage of the talk of having federal order in the country should have out rightly rejected the notion of federalism as, says Gurung-the NC veteran, that for a small country like Nepal that it is, the division of the nation-state on federal lines would be a suicidal affair.

Community based politics and the associated matters with it never help support the country’s genuine national interests and more over a small country like ours can’t sustain several units. Gurung laments when he says that his party lacks some sensible leaders who could oppose the very notion of dividing the country into federal divisions. He further convincingly ventilates his feelings and claims that the restructuring of the state on community/identity based federal units eventually will lead the nation-state towards being declared a failed state and the kind of political activities have been taking place in the country bodes ill for the overall political health of the nation in that, claims Mr. Gurung, that he has already got some indications that Nepal will soon land itself in the category of failed nation status.

Whether, federalism is good or bad for this country, we are here not to decide the fate of the nation. At best what we can do is to disseminate both the positive or for that matter the negative impacts of the much talked order. The leaders who have floated the idea, imported or a nation owned one, will do their best what was in the overall interest of the nation. Yet as a responsible citizen of this country we nevertheless dare to say that do whatever you like but prior to taking such far reaching decisions, talk to the population and seek their opinions as well as it is this people who will have to face the benefit or for that matter the brunt of the new order if and when accepted or denied.

We disapprove the tendency of the Nepali political animals, very close to number one looters and thugs, who deliberately ignore the voices of the people perhaps considering that the foolish population, that we have proved ourselves to be the ones, need not be asked on such critical issues as the leaders, now sans people’s mandate, themselves represent the foolish population. This attitude of the Nepali political animals, that they are in effect, is very hard to digest as in a democracy worth the name; it should be the people whose voice should become binding on all. Unfortunately, “we the people”, are being summarily ignored and yet we the people take their actions and attitudes in a light manner as if we were the newly turned slaves of our own political men.

Kul Bahadur Gurung’s statement that has appeared in one of the dailies in the recent days does tell that a person of the stature of Mr. Gurung, whose own community brethren have begun championing the cause for having identity/community based federal order in Nepal, was against the notion of community based federalism then he must have talked only upon carefully analyzing the pros and cons of the order we the people demand for ourselves. And his gist is that the nation-state can’t maintain such an order for a variety of political reasons.  His care is for the continuation and the survival of Mother Nepal as a sovereign and united State wherein the people from all the communities reside in complete harmony as we lived in the past.

Gurung finally claims that he was first a Nepali national then only a Gurung. Perhaps this explains the rest and forces the champions of the federal order to think twice before it is too late.

However, this doesn’t and shouldn’t mean that we in any way were against the adoption of the federal order in whatever form it may be decided upon, yet our concern is only let’s go in for that order only if the moves we are likely to take doesn’t in any manner disturb the communal harmony. To appeal for prevalence of communal harmony, if a crime, then we accept that we have committed a crime. Any penal actions will be highly honored.

Our salute to Kul Bahadur Gurung who deserves the next Nepal PM post from the NC quota.  Will the NC men think of this proposition?

Editorial: The Telegraph Weekly September 19, 2012.

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