October 4th was an ordinary morning in New York City, with a slightly overcast sky. Just a normal fall day. In contrast, it was late in the evening in Nepal. As usual, I began the day by reading Nepalnews.com. I learned that the King would be addressing the nation at 10:00 o'clock that night, past bedtime for most Nepalese. I left home for work with a sinking feeling, without knowing exactly what to expect.
However, I had no inkling that I would witness another day of infamy in our history; the Nepalese people would be jolted by another rude awakening; they would wake up to a night-bitten dawn; the light of liberty would be dimmed in the cover of a dark night. I did not know that the tamasas of the last twelve years would end with another big tamasa. I knew that the political situation in Nepal was simmering, but could not conceive it would boil over. As a consequence, the Nepalese people, once again, are unjustly burdened with another struggle to regain their liberty.
Tragically, the revolution of 1990 has come to full circle. I always dreaded that this day might come, because our nation's highest officials had been taking the lowest road in their public lives since they came to power. I also dreaded because the all-powerful enemy of democracy, with its thousand eyes and millions of tentacles, was watching all along with self-righteous swaggering, just waiting for the opportune moment to move in. Still, I did not quite expect it would come so impromptu. I never really believed that history repeated itself until I recently read: "History repeats itself because people make the same mistakes." We saw our politicians make the same mistakes in Nepal, but we were helpless in preventing them on time.
One does not have to be a political pundit to conclude how we arrived at this hapless situation. Our leaders behaved as if the Revolution was about power rather than principles. They were either engaged in blame games or in a constant battle of checkmating each other for power. To them, politics solely meant power, power meant money, and money meant everything. This is a case where the soldiers of democracy simply turned into crooks. Shamelessly, they stole from the hands of the most marginalized people on the planet. Nation building, uplifting the downtrodden and oppressed never became a part of their agenda.
The sole purpose of the people who dominate politics in Nepal, within and outside of the Nepali Congress, is power and wealth, rather than preserving democracy, freedom, human rights and justice. Their actions have led our society to become increasingly hollow and corrupt. Almost every politician wants the country to serve him; very few want to serve the country. Everyone seeks high position and fame, but no one believes in upholding virtue or principles. In its highest form of hypocrisy, the Nepali Congress danced in front of the people to the fine tune of socialism, but turned around and implemented a policy that robbed the masses to feed the upper class. In their maniacal pursuit of power, the fathers of the Revolution devoured their own children without compunction. Now comes the ultimate feast - our democracy.
For the last twelve years, like most Nepalese, I have been watching the repellent political spectacle in Nepal with deep frustration and anger, albeit from a distance. There was not much I could do except express my moral outrage as cogently as I could. But my patience was running out rapidly in the weeks preceding October 4th, beginning with the attempt by the Prime Minister and the leaders of the major political parties to postpone the general elections. I could not understand where they got such audacity. Despite the absence of any constitutional authority to postpone the impending elections, these cowards were moving ahead with their wicked schemes without hesitation.
For the life of me, I never understood why the Prime Minister, who, I thought, very unwisely dissolved the Parliament, was unwilling to defend his own actions. He had found no reason to consult anyone before dissolving the Parliament, yet he conveniently found all the reasons to seek everyone's consent to postpone the elections. I simply have not been able to fathom any of these things: why he dissolved the House in the first place and found no constitutional and moral reason to hold the election in the second; what constitutional authority was he planning to use to remain in power after his six months had expired? As far as the Constitution was concerned, the PM could stay in power only for six months after the Parliament was dissolved. Similarly, what constitutional authority were our leaders planning to use to postpone the elections for another fourteen months? They never had the spine to explain any of these things to the people.
The situation in Nepal was less than ideal, but we certainly could have held the elections. In a toddling democracy like ours, situations are rarely ideal. Transitions to democracy around the world have almost always been difficult and stormy, in some cases violent. Regardless, elections must be held under any circumstances if we intended to preserve democracy. Elections cannot be a simple ritual for leaders to obtain and remain in power.
The security forces, that are fighting with pride and valor to save our democracy as well as defending our borders, had assured the government that we could hold elections in five phases. These, the finest men of our land, were willing to put their lives on the line, and millions of citizens were willing to brave the dangers to go to the polls to cast their ballots. But, at this defining hour, we could not find a single leader who was willing to make the clarion call of walking on moral high ground, a leader with fortitude, moral convictions, integrity and honor. It is a sad irony that the same men who were responsible for ushering in the Constitution were unwilling to defend its principle and precepts. Devoid of the idealism unlike Nehru, our leaders never recognized that "Freedom and power bring responsibility." Unlike George Washington, they never realized that "Morality is indispensable to the formation of a government." Neither did they believe what John F. Kennedy declared, "We cannot fail their [the people's] trust." To the contrary, our leaders betrayed the people's trust in an unimaginable way. Thus, a moral foundation for our democracy never had a chance to be established.
The Prime Minister, after being ousted, cried foul. Indeed, foul it was. His plea for a massive protest fell onto the deaf ears of his parliamentary colleagues even though democracy had received a crushing blow. Instead, almost all politicians, representing various political parties, were too busy celebrating the PM's ouster. On the other side of this equation - the people - fatigued by twelve years of the country's mismanagement, pillaging, thievery and, to top it all off, seven years of mind-numbing violence from the Maoists hoodlums and thugs, were in no mood to listen to him either. In fact, the people seemed to be relieved, as if their nightmare was finally over.
After the King's pronouncement, I frantically checked the Internet every hour for some words of wisdom and reassurances from our leaders to relieve my consternation and anxiety, only to end in utter despair. To everyone' chagrin, the Nepali Congress took two days to recognize that the King's decision to exercise executive power was "unconstitutional and undemocratic." UML's General Secretary, Madhav Kumar Nepal, termed the King's decision as "unexpected and impractical," which is a preposterous understatement." This eerily reminded me of the statement Manamohan Adhikari once made in the Parliament welcoming the military coup against Gorbachov in the former Soviet Union. Moreover, it sadly revealed how conveniently these so-called moderate communists are using democracy as a steppingstone towards their narrow political end. With equal measure, I am also appalled by the absolute silence many of my friends and trusted democratic colleagues have maintained. Now I wonder whether these people are really committed to democracy or to simple personal gains. What is so sad about our society is that everyone wants to reap the blessings of democracy, but no one wants to endure the hardship of nurturing it. They want all the benefits, but none of the responsibilities.
In a similar vein, our media is operating either under self-imposed censorship or is being coerced by the new government. So far, I have not found any editorials or articles either criticizing the King's move, his government or defending democracy. No one can believe that people have not written anything expressing their strong dissension. There can be only one explanation: the people are being deliberately silenced. In the meantime, the press has found time and space to publish things that have no relevance to our society's present day needs. Reading the newspapers, one gets the impression that there is a very little or no dissent among the masses, and that they really don't care if the Constitution is being trampled upon. In fact, the opposite is so true. People feel, but they cannot articulate their views. For more than two months now, our sanctimonious media has intensified its one-sided invective against the deposed leaders. They want to impress upon us that our leaders are the only sinister component of our society and that, once we purge them, our society will be perfect. This kind of wicked view is having devastating consequences on our democracy: it is choking off free flow of divergent ideas, creative thinking, balanced views and opinions among the masses. In a similar pattern, rather than reporting facts for the last twelve years, the hallmark of our media has been to vigorously thrust myriad ideologies upon our society. This is one of the most troubling aspects for our democracy. I don't know how we intend to nurture democracy without having a well-informed mass. Critical mass is so imperative for a progressive democratic society. I wish our media would apply the same standard - honesty and integrity - that they blame our politicians for lacking, and promote fair and unbiased reporting.
First, our leaders let us down. Now the King is letting us down. He wants to chastise the unjust behavior of our leaders by taking our freedom away. He has responded to the current crisis by forming a government combining mostly the worst elements of the past and present in our society. We are being led to believe that these autocrats, crooks, weaklings and hate-mongers are going to lead us to the promised land of democracy and freedom. Let us not have any romantic illusions; this emperor does not have any new clothes. The King's unwise actions to assume executive powers will only lead us to the same familiar path we were before the Revolution - the dark days of hopelessness and despair.
On this autumn day I still remember vividly that historic day in spring, May 1991, when I stood on a long line for four hours under the baking sun without any feeling of being tired to cast my vote for the first time. This was one of the most exciting moments of my life. The jubilation, enthusiasm and energy I witnessed in the rest of my compatriots were truly extraordinary. It was an electrifying moment of great optimism, and a world full of confidence about our future. Twelve years later, to our utter dismay, we cannot even hold elections; democracy virtually is being strangled. The terrorists have unleashed the worst and most vile forms of violence and cruelties throughout the country. Nepal is slowly being reduced to rubble and ashes. We are wallowing in the mire of mere existence.
The somber tale of our lives continues. The Nepalese people have suffered too much for too long, without an end in sight. Somehow our existence appears more intertwined with the past than with our destiny or we simply cannot escape our past in looking to a future. It appears now that we are left solely at the mercy of hopes and prayers. During these past several years, like most ordinary Nepalese, I have spent many sleepless nights tossing, turning and crying. It is the only solace I can find these days.
And, cry we must, for freedom, justice and peace: in short, for democracy. I dare say now more than ever before, that democracy is the only hope and salvation for our country. I realize that to demand democracy may not be the most popular thing to do, but it is the right thing to do. For residents and ex-patriots alike, the restoration of democracy in Nepal had brought every Nepali a unique pride, sense of unifying motif, individual dignity, self-worth and sense of belonging. Under democracy, we were learning to be Nepali first rather than Brahmin, Chhetry, Baishya and Sudra or Pahadi or Madhesi and so on. We were slowly beginning to learn our rights and responsibilities. The weak and destitute were beginning to assert their rights. The strong were slowly being forced to loosen their grip on power. Democracy was uncovering and exposing the hidden and not-so-hidden maladies of our society and challenging us to find real and permanent solutions.
Democracy, undoubtedly, is the best instrument of change and progress. It is the only genuine, proven and lasting revolutionary political system in the world. Now, instead of working hard to find the best ways and means of protecting and nurturing it, sadly, we are strangling the hen that would lay golden eggs.
New York City
November 2, 2002
