By Deepak Joshi Pokhrel According to a recent study, many people across the globe are dissatisfied with how democracy is working. The study has also shown that the majority of the people feel that their country is not democratic. Across 27 countries surveyed, a median of 51% is dissatisfied with the way their democracy is functioning, compared with 45% who are satisfied. This definitely is not a rosy picture and it is the consequence of leaders who have been transformed into a tyrant and autocratic supported by an absolute or two-thirds power equation. The democracy in Nepal is in the infant stage. It is yet to fully institutionalize the gains and achievements of past democratic movements. The civil society and press suffocate and in the absence of democratic norms and values, the development of an effective democratic system and structure will always be challenged in Nepal. When King Gyanendra ousted the elected government under the leadership of Sher Bhadur Deuba, he did not use military power and another arsenal but used the democratic institution and grabbed the power undemocratically. Though monarchy has become thing of the past in the Nepali political landscape, the leaders of our generation seems to be endowed with some flavor of monarchy exploiting the democratic practices and institution. This indeed is a great threat to our democracy earned after several struggles Abraham Lincoln, the former American President, said “the democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people”. But reverse principle like the democracy is “not” the government of the people, “not” by the people and “not” for the people, more apparent in Nepal. Ever since the restoration of democracy, the politicians have misused the democratic institution and practices to their benefit. This is a painful fact of life for many Nepalese and one that many prefer to ignore. The political observer has been seeing the assault on democratic institutions and practices through the lens of objectivity. According to them, our leaders, ruling and opposition, tempered the democratic institution and practices to their advantage. They also hold the view that leaders push through the legislation in such a way that enables them to rule by decree indefinitely. Who says democracy in Nepal is flourishing? If it were, the anti-democratic forces would not have dared to question its legitimacy and credibility time and again. The anti-democratic forces were there and will be there for too long. This is evident in a recent demonstration where pro-monarchy supporters staged rallies across the country demanding the reinstatement of monarchy in Nepal. It is reported that this was the biggest demonstration in favor of monarchy after the promulgation of the first post-war constitution in 2015. This is a danger in making and if our leaders, who are so much passionate about power, fail to comprehend the situation, it will precipitate political disaster in the country. More worrying is the fact that politicians are not concerned about the fact that people are closely observing their activities. We have been told for a long that democracy is the best form of governance as it gives the people an opportunity through periodic elections to elect the leaders who represent them. It is crystal clear that leaders, irrespective of their political ideology, stood up and launched several democratic moments to establish democratic institutions and practices in the country. But it is very strange and disgusting to see that leaders are hell-bent on destroying the institutions which they nurtured and built. When we overthrew a century-old monarchy, we expected that the elected leaders will remove all ills plaguing the nation and lay the ground to augment the democratic values and ethos. We also believed that leaders will speak on our behalf. However, much to the dismay and disappointment, we witness all deviant behaviors and anomalous tendencies wrecking all the vitals of democratic institutions and practices. The political parties failed to act according to the democratic norms and values and indulged themselves in serving their petty interests. They breached all the ethos of democracy which largely disappointed people. We had merely become a mute spectator of the recalcitrant political games as we were not able to intervene in the murkier water of politics and deter such activities effectively. The time has come for advocates of democratic values and ethos to stand up and speak out when some handful power hungry mongers attack we hardly won democracy. We should not fear speaking the hard truths when few select crooks hold the nation hostage. If we let political actors temper democratic institutions by saying it is a usual business and we are used to it, the political disaster is inevitable and who knows history could repeat itself and go back to the stage of 2002!