On/Off the Record

By P.R. Pradhan Bhasmasur is a character in Sanskrit mythology. Bhahmasur was an asura or demon who was granted the power to burn up and immediately turn into ashes anything he touched with his hand. Bhasmasur was a devotee of Lord Shiva who performed great penance to obtain a boon from the deity. Lord Shiva became pleased and told to ask for a boon. Bhasmasur then asked that he be granted the power that anything which he touches with his hand should burn up and immediately turn into ashes. After being empowered with such a blessing from Lord Shiva, Bhasmasur started to demonstrate his destruction activities by targeting gods. He became so arrogant on his strength that he also wanted to finish Lord Shiva. Bhasmasur then attempted to burn Shiva into ashes by placing his hand on the latter. Lord Shiva, to save his own life, ran away and reached to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu, to finish Bhasmasur, transformed himself into a beautiful lady in the form of Mohini and appeared in front of Bhasmasur. Mohini was so exceedingly beautiful that Bhasmasur immediately fell in love with Mohini. Bhasmasur asked her to marry him. She told him that she was very fond of dancing, and would marry him only if he could match her moves identically. Bhasmasur agreed to the match and hence they started dancing. The feat went for days at an end. As Bhasmasur matched the disguised Vishnu's move by move, he began to let his guard down. While still dancing, Mohini, struck a pose where her hand was placed on top of her own head. As Bhasmasur imitated her, he was tricked into touching his own head, and hence Bhasmasur immediately burnt up and turned into ashes, due to the power he had recently gained. I have abstracted the above version from the Sanskrit mythology as the Bhasmasur tendency is rampant among the political leaders and bureaucrats in the country. Wherever the political leaders touch, those have been finished. They are even intended to finish their own motherland. If we minutely observe the functioning of the government organs since the 1990 political change, all the sectors have been spoiled. The spoiling rate has been intensified enormously since we are practising the present loktantra popularly known as loot-tantra. This scribe doesn’t need to explain the situation as the Auditor General’s report of the previous fiscal year speaks a lot. Earlier, Singhdurwar alone was known to be the power center and the financial give and take were limited within the Singhadurwar premises. Today, Singhadurwar has been expanded to the seven provincial governments and 753 local bodies. The Auditor General’s report has explained to what extent the government organs have been involved in the misuse of power and misuse of the government fund. The report includes the procurement of vehicles worth one billion 330 million by 343 local bodies by violating the financial regulations and laws. Likewise, the report has explained the misuse of billions of rupees by the provincial governments. Accordingly, the report states misuse of above 55 billion rupees by the government servicemen, construction contractors by taking advance from different government authorities. In total, the report has claimed misuse of 4.25 trillion rupees by the local bodies, provincial bodies and federal bodies. During the Panchayat days, such illegally spent amount used to be refunded from the concerned person. Therefore, officials were afraid of manipulating the government fund. The anti-corruption bodies were effectively functioning. The corruption rate during that time was very low. When the multiparty democracy was introduced by replacing the partyless Panchayat system, the political leaders, who were hardly able to manage two times meals and were seen on slippers in roads, overnight were empowered to the position of looting the nation’s coffer. They started to perform as Bhasmasur. They touched everything and they finished them. Today, financial anarchism performed by the political leaders and bureaucrats seems leading the country towards a failed nation. We see a tendency for economic bankruptcy in the nation. We are unable to do anything against such anomalies as Bhasmasur is empowered with the boon of finishing us. Except for waiting for the arrival of Mohini, we have become helpless. We know, the nation cannot retain under the Bhasmasurs. If Lord Bishnu will not appear to rescue the nation by finishing Bhasmasur, we may turn into the ashes by ending our glorious Nepali identity and proud Hindu civilization.