Shame on us all!

It has been a while since I posted on this blog. Some things have happened, but they have not been very novel and have been shameful. Let's go for a quick review.

Many of the poorest of Nepalis who have shamefully been failed by the state died and are dying of a disease caused by the lack of basic sanitation. It just makes my hairs stand and hurts deep within to know that I have been busy surfing the internet while a mother carries a sick baby to an unmanned health centre hours away and arrives with a little corpse. Shame on me!

Our health minister deserves special mention for his trip to Germany for a conference on federalism amidst such scenes in the far west. Shame on you, Mr. Minister! And then he tried to escape saying that the cabinet was not supportive. Pleasse give your mouth some time off and think in silence- do you really think it is alright the way you have been as a health minister?

Several of our ministers have been traveling to Delhi sometimes amidst rumours that weapons are being bought and at other times that some trade treaties will be signed. The common people have no clue what's going on. Ministers speak dubious statements as to whether weapons are being imported. The press writes different things. And no one really knows what's going on, do they? In any case, we do deserve statements from those who like to call themselves the ruling leaders. And for failing us- Shame Mr. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. Shame on you! You are failing the people all the time, and search refuge in lame excuses. Shame, shame, shame!

Mr. Parmananda Jha has blatantly rejected the decision of the supreme court that he should take the oath of office in Nepali. And the Madhes-based parties have been supporting him in this. Even younger generation people are doing the same. Shame on you all. Please ask yourself- how can we talk of establishing the rule of law with the same mouth that shouts condemnation against court decisions? The court has decided based on the constitution. And negating court decisions is seriously dangerous. Do we not have enough of anarchy and lawlessness already? Why, Mr. Jha, you being a justice yourself, are you willing to play with the sentiments of the people? Why? Shame on you. I am truly ashamed of you. Please take your time to digest the fact that you have stepped over the same law, protecting which you made your living! Shame on you!

And madhesi parties and students- it is indeed a genuine matter that regional languages should be accepted as official languages. I read somewhere the other day that the Jha issue should not be blown out of proportion because he has signed the oath in Nepali anyway. Perhaps the law should come up with something like that- that as long as the Nepali statement is signed, the spoken oath can take place in any language. Well in any case, it is a case of having to change the law. And the court is not there for that. Who should know this better than Mr. Jha and he has failed to express this to the Madhesi people. The court is there to keep the law, to change it is the job of the lawmakers, the parliamentarians. So why go about condemning the court rather than holding discussions with political entities as to resolving such issues in the next constitution. So shame on you all who condemned the court. Shame, shame, shame.

The Maoists have said they want to go for the next uprising. Lets see what they want to do. But they have clearly been overtaken by the desire for power. That is there to see. It has been more than a few months since they started declaring the current government is seeing it's last days. Why are you so obsessed about the age of the current government? True that mistakes were made. True that whether MK Nepal is a worthy leader is questionable. But it is also true that the current government has a majority. Why not accept it for the sake of accepting legality of the current political system? So shame on you!

And then there is something that is absolutely unacceptable. When Prachanda talks about making a national government, he claims this and that coalition partner is not happy with the current government. Then he adds- I will talk with Girija Babu etc. about it all. Now this is a very filthy practice. He is literally reducing the Maoists to himself and the Congress to Girija Prasad Koirala. This is dangerous! Not all of us who voted for the Congress voted for Girija Babu or those of us who voted for the Maoists voted for Prachanda. We vote out of belief for a party and so it would be only fair if parties held consultations and not individuals. Individual consultations let our political parties be split and ruled by intent players like Mahamahim Sood. The MJF split is still fresh, isn't it? So shame on all parties for allowing one or two of their so-called leaders to essentially dictate them. Shame on Girija for the way he promotes Sujata. And shame on Sujata. Well I think I should take back the last shame statement. I read an interview of Sujata and realized that it was an interview where there was no view at all. So perhaps it is not fair to expect her to be shameful.

As long as such shameful things happen in our country, we can forget creating a new prosperous Nepal. And if we are happy with forgetting our dreams of a prosperous Nepal, shame on us. Let us at least try being accountable and making others accountable- starting with our leaders.

As much as I have been suspicious of the ex-King in the past and as much as I hate him for the time of his rule, I have to admit here that I am surprised that he has been very gentlemanly. He doesn't go about making nonsense statements, is consistent with what he says, and has even expressed willingness to pay taxes. So there we go, something positive. Now of course there might be hidden motifs under what he does, but then in a country as dirty as ours, in a politics as filthy as ours and in a society increasingly anarchistic, we need to start with cleaning the surface and then only can we dig into hidden motifs. And at this point, I would love to have an one-to-one session with ex-King Gyanendra. Sometimes I wonder if he seriously means good, although his feudalistic ways are not acceptable to me!

Going for a serious session with myself and my shames, wish that our leaders did the same!

raktim.nepali@gmail.com