Spread the love

By Yug Bahadur

Many things make the lives of the people in our country very difficult. But most disturbing is the way the political leaders are behaving and constantly trying to fool the people in the name of ‘loktantra’, the establishment of a republican system and also introducing provincial-level governments. In the meantime, they are involved in looting the nation in different ways.

But they never question themselves what such changes have contributed to providing benefits to the common people. Just boasting of what changes they have brought and how they spent time in jail or blaming former kings, is not enough and many people have started to realize the truth.

Questions are now being constantly asked about their honesty, inclination to nepotism and quest for power to benefit themselves even more.

Not carrying any political party’s tag, but being a liberal person due to my upbringing, I feel things must change in our country and they should change fast, otherwise forget Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, we could all end up living in volatile conditions with the situation not being in control of any party or individual. This would prove fatal for the nation and also many helpless people who have no other option than to stay in their own country. Is this what we want? Definitely not.

However, the visionless political leaders, greedy bureaucrats and similar individuals are pushing this country to become another troubled nation, where not only the identity and independence of the country could be lost, but simple citizens would also have to live in hardship, fear being the major cause for this situation. If this is the type of democracy in which many leaders and influential people working for foreigners always talk, then we don’t want it.

Living in a situation where the people feel secure, would be much better than the false rights which we all have been told we have now as promised by our own leaders and foreigners. This is not right at all.

For an old-timer in the media sector like me, it is sometimes disgusting to hear some journalists only shouting populist slogans, all in the name of freedom of speech and protecting the rights of the people. One such fellow who I have been told was an actor but now is in an important position on a TV channel, trying to incite confrontation by questioning the decision of the Supreme Court and the acts of Mayor Balen Shah, who has tried to clear the encroachments made on river banks by many people.

Of course, speaking as if he is on the side of the people affected by the court’s decision will make this person popular in the eyes of those people who may have to forfeit their houses and land. But such populist remarks could be very harmful to the rule of law which most of us are compelled to abide by. But no one seems to care as long as they have power and media in their hands and they make personal and financial gains. These people simply don’t understand the long-term repercussions their decisions may invite to destroy the nation and create social disharmony.

But neither do I know Balen Shah, nor I am any fan of his, but hearing the feedback from many youngsters, most say he has been doing a pretty good job in making Kathmandu a better city. This is something which his predecessors can hardly boast about. But the organized manner in which this man is now being forced to bow down to others, mainly individuals belonging to one party or the other, is dismaying, to say the least.

The country needs people with a clean record who want to do some constructive work, but that seems almost impossible. Instead, we only have leaders who work for personal gains and misuse their positions to make their close ones happy and more prosperous.

While it is easy to understand the lust for power and money of political leaders and their close ones, it is quite confusing why civil servants and security officials who are paid well by the government, also are determined to create hassles for normal citizens, while the powerful people are left free, no matter what crime or injustice they may be involved in. It is not only the background of poverty from which they come from but also the narrow outlook that has been instilled in them by the society in which they live that has made them so negative in their work.

Money is the most important thing for them and ethics or other moral values mean nothing. They are ready to sell not only themselves but the nation as well. I know of many instances when ambitious people have done unimaginable things just to get their wants to be fulfilled.

But the major issue which has been made now and played up by the media is the disagreement expressed by the deputy mayor against Balen. Naturally many people, mostly those who belong to the CPN (UML), have come out strongly against the decision of the Supreme Court which has put restrictions on building infrastructure near river banks. This time Mayor Balen has been forced to back out from trying to clear the embankments.

If anyone remembers, an official land mapping was done about sixty years ago and the regulation to not encroach on such areas, like the riverbanks came into effect soon after. So if some people have land ownership certificates from that time, then the authorities cannot displace them. But if they have certificates which they made by paying bribes to government officials much later, then they don’t have the right to defy what Mayor Balen is trying to do.

But most media persons have failed to dig below the surface and talk of the misdeeds of the courts, government officials and political parties which are using the so-called ‘landless’ people for garnering votes and gaining populist support.

To give an example I personally went through, I had to wait for months and then go to a government office where I had to sign almost half a dozen papers, put my thumbprints and signature in all these documents, just to inherit a small land my late mother had left in my name. But how have many others gotten ownership certificates of land which was considered government property?

It is not for nothing that the country is suffering from the present mess and individuals like us trying to get justice are simply ignored or bound by complicated regulations that those with connections or money can easily walk over.

All people like us can do is pray and stay alive with the belief that things will improve sooner or later.