On/Off the Record

By P.R. Pradhan Asoj 3, i.e., September 19 this year, is observed as the constitutional day. Unfortunately, we don’t see any enthusiasm among the people, instead, they are desperate and seeking a change. The new constitution has already completed nine years of its promulgation. From the first day of its promulgation, it has fallen into controversy. We saw bloody violence in different parts of the country claiming the lives of several people, including the security personnel. Anyway, the beginning was not good. There is a saying, “Morning shows the day." If we review the performance of the past nine years, they are not satisfying at all. The nation has been downgraded in all aspects. Amidst the chaos and continuous political instability in the country, the Nepali Congress and the UML, two large parties, joined hands to give a stable government and also to amend the constitution. It means the two parties are not satisfied with the present constitution. The Rastriya Prajatantra Party is against the Constitution. It has demanded the restoration of the Hindu kingdom by abandoning the federal structures. Meanwhile, Prabhu Shah, chief of the Aam Janata Party, decided to launch nationwide protest programs demanding abandonment of the constitution. Shah, a former Maoist leader, believes that this constitution is not in favor of the nation and the people. Indeed, Shah is true that the present constitution was drafted by the Western agents with the plan of destroying this glorious nation. Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli said that he was surprised to see such a large crowd of the pro-monarchy people. He wanted to satirize those people demanding the restoration of the institution of monarchy, the fact is that the political leaders are losing their popularity. They are blamed for being corrupt and self-centered. We can understand from Oli’s remarks that the deposed king is becoming popular day by day. The recent protest against Oli and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba at a function organized on the occasion of the Gaura festival to quit the country is a strong message to the political leaders on how popular they are. The big political parties are not performing honestly. They are enjoying the power turn by turn and exploiting citizens. Commission and corruption have flourished enormously. More than that, the nation’s revenue is unable to meet the expenditure as there are many unnecessary federal structures introduced just to manage the party workers. The greedy and corrupt people are in the government, whose first priority is to earn money through any means legally or illegally. On the one hand, the self-centered, non-visionary, and bad leadership have ruined the country, on the other, the system itself has ruined the nation economically. People, fading up from the attitude of the political leaders and also the system, are seeking an alternative. They are even talking about an honest dictator who would develop this nation, having enough opportunities and enough natural resources to harness. Be that as it may, the bitter truth is that if we continue the present constitution, the country will surely fall into a failed nation sooner or later. An amendment to the constitution is not enough, rather, it needs an overhaul. There are two options for the present rulers. Either conduct an all-party conference and discuss formulating a principal law of the nation by ourselves or wait for a third people’s movement. The latter move may be harmful for the rulers, similar to those in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. As B.P. Koirala had once said, if needed to take any decision for the nation, take one handful of soil of the land and then take the decision. Our political leaders should follow the late BP’s words and decide by putting the soil of the land on their hands. A forceful continuation of the present constitution is not going to benefit the nation as well as the Nepali citizens. Let’s think about it timely. Otherwise, what is going to happen tomorrow, we cannot say. We saw the wave that came from Sri Lanka already affected Bangladesh, who knows, then the next country could be Nepal! When the people rise, it cannot be controlled.