By Narayan Prasad Mishra
Nepal is experiencing a difficult time due to its self-centered leaders, parties, and government. The country is facing political problems, a decline in moral values, and people’s loss of trust in its government. In this situation, Chanakya’s old ideas can help us think more clearly. Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, was a renowned Indian philosopher, teacher, and royal advisor.
It is a known fact for most people interested in history that Chanakya (375 BCE to 283 BCE) was the chief adviser and prime minister to two Indian emperors, Chandragupta Maurya and his son Bindusara. He was a great thinker and strategist who advised on how to run a country with honesty, wisdom, and discipline. More than 2,000 years ago, Chanakya studied how power, ethics, and good leadership work together. His ideas were clear and practical, and his teachings are still very useful today. As Nepal struggles with corruption, party politics, and weak leadership, I have a firm belief that Chanakya’s wisdom can guide us. His thoughts remind us of what good governance should look like.
Chanakya warned:
“A dishonest ruler who neglects the people and lives only for pleasure will lose both his wealth and his kingdom.”
Nepal’s recent trajectory is living proof of this timeless truth. The people entrusted political leaders with the power to serve, rebuild, and reform the nation. Instead, many have used that trust to enrich themselves. Politics has become a career for personal gain, not public service. Leaders thrive in power-sharing deals, not in solving problems. The state machinery, once meant to serve the people, now bends to serve party cadres and their patrons.
Chanakya also said:
“A ruler should be feared not only for his cruelty but for his fairness. He must punish the guilty and protect the honest.”
Yet, in Nepal, the exact opposite seems to prevail. Honest civil servants are sidelined, while corrupt politicians and their allies remain untouched. From the Fake Bhutanese Refugee Scam to the Cooperative Fraud, from the Tribhuvan International Airport visa scam to rampant nepotism and favoritism, a cancer of moral collapse is consuming the system. The guilty not only go unpunished—they are often rewarded with higher posts, foreign appointments, or party promotions.
Chanakya emphasized the need for wise counsel, stating:
“A king should surround himself with intelligent advisors, not sycophants. A fool in power is more dangerous than a snake in the bed.”
However, Nepal’s political appointments are rarely based on wisdom or qualifications. They are based on loyalty to the party, caste affiliation, or one’s ability to bring in money or votes. The result is governance by incompetence, where ministries become training grounds for political interns, and bureaucracies choke under inexperienced, politicized leadership.
He further warned:
“One should not reveal plans to everyone. A wise leader acts with strategy, not emotion.”
Today’s leaders in Nepal often speak grand words of reform but act only to protect their alliances and personal interests. A long-term strategy for national development is replaced by short-term appeasement of interest groups and party factions. Policies are announced and then reversed. Projects are launched and then stalled. The public sees through this chaos yet finds no alternative in the current political structure.
Chanakya valued education, merit, and ethics above birth or lineage. He wrote:
“A learned man is honored everywhere. Knowledge is more powerful than royal birth.”
Sadly, in Nepal today, knowledge and merit are rarely rewarded. Bright youth are overlooked while mediocre, party-affiliated individuals rise. This rejection of competence has resulted in a generation of disillusioned youth. Nepal suffers from mass unemployment, pushing its best and brightest abroad. Each day, the country loses skilled doctors, engineers, nurses, and workers to foreign labor markets. The nation bleeds silently as its leaders compete not to stop the exodus but to protect their chairs.
In Chanakya’s world, morality was the foundation of governance.
“A kingdom, once lost due to immoral conduct, is not easily regained,” he warned.
Nepal’s democratic experiment is at risk of precisely that. After decades of autocracy and self-centered government, the people hoped that democracy would bring prosperity and justice. Instead, they have been handed dysfunctional coalition politics, judicial compromises, and rising inequality. What is missing is not only the constitution and system—it is character. What is broken is not just the system—it is the moral compass of those who run it.
But Chanakya also left hope. He believed that societies can be rebuilt—not through slogans, but through strict discipline, visionary leadership, and moral awakening. Nepal still has those who care. Some citizens live honestly, youths who think critically, journalists who report bravely, and educators who teach with integrity. What they need is a system that rewards them, not punishes them.
To revive Nepal, we must embrace the Chanakyan principles of accountability, meritocracy, ethical governance, and strategic thinking. We need to teach our children that politics is not a game of greed but a duty of service. We must remind our leaders that power is not a right but a responsibility. And we must remind ourselves, as voters, that every ballot cast in favor of corruption is a blow against the future.
Chanakya once wrote:
“The greatest enemy of a nation is not the invader outside—but the fool inside who betrays its values.”
Nepal must rise by confronting this inner betrayal. Only then can we reclaim a politics that is not moralless—but moral, meaningful, and made for the people.
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