Monday, August 23, 2010

Do Nepalese Deserve The Leaders They Get?

A country’s foundations are laid down by its leaders. In order to build on these foundations, a country has to first identify such leaders and implicitly work with them and in a more personal term, respect those who have made such contributions to the nations in the past. But unfortunately, Nepal lacks such visionary leaders. Though it doesn’t mean that all of our leaders are worthless, there were some and there are some who have spend their life to build a foundation to achieve their mission.

But yet Nepal lacks leaders, it only means that there are innumerable leaders at the local level but only a few at the national level. This is what Nepal is lacking and as a consequence suffering. We cannot fully appreciate their contribution if we try to judge things according to the National level. Our leaders lack political wisdom and strategic vision. It seems that they are only concerned about their power and wealth. In other words, they are self-serving politicians. They don’t have any policy and their acts at times are pathetic.

In my opinion the political leadership of Nepal is below average. Their thinking is only limited to their region as they lack proper education about national and global issues. Our leaders lack education, but by education I here doesn’t mean going to the University and holding a degree only. Having a degree doesn’t mean they are educated. Those leaders are educated who think broadly for their nation and analyze things around them and work for the betterment of the society as whole. 

We have so many political parties, but how good are the leaders in these parties. I am not trying to say that I know all the fundamentals of democracy, but it’s sad to say that majority of our leaders don’t have a democratic mind, and they don’t know much about the democratic spirit, though they preach about the democracy day in and day out. So, in order to enjoy and have a true democracy, we first need a good democratic system, with good leaders who understand their role in building new Nepal , and who understand that their job is not just to preach democracy but also to make sure that people are practicing it in reality.

But saying all these, I don’t blame the leaders only. We all are to blame in one way or the other. It was us, who elected them as our leaders and these leaders are from our society too. Nonetheless, I blame us, the urban folks much more than the rural peoples. Majority of the urban, educated and independent people of this nation do not even bother to vote and majority of those who do bother to vote are the people who are struggling for their existence. Hence, I am a firm believer in the concept of "people deserve the leaders they get" and we deserve what we have.

But everything is not lost yet. One of the weakest aspects of Nepali politics process has been its disregard for the voices of the commoners. I think it is the system of “Made in India , Representative democracy" that has been hurting Nepal . This system was first designed by the British and followed by India . In this system, the voters are manipulated by the self- serving representatives. The voters have nominal right and partaking in formation and elimination of the legislative, administrative and judiciary branches of the government.

So what is the right choice for Nepal ? I think the right choice for Nepal is "Direct Democracy" as adopted in majority of the states in the US and other developed countries. Direct democracy allows the entire population to participate in government directly, as much or as little as they please, with comprehensive and transparent accountability of every penny spent by the government and every action taken.

Meanwhile, its time for the masses of this nation to wake up from their slumber and think and act rather than just sit down, curse, accuse and blame the leaders and the political parties. Let us all unite, and push the political parties to build a system because till date in Nepal there does not seem to be a system built around the selection process of these politicians which ensures good people surfacing to the top.

But unfortunately, on the contrary it’s usually the corrupt, visionless, lackluster, and communal politicians who surface to the top. And as a result of the fragile foundation laid by them and examples set by them, Nepalese democracy has distorted. This is a recipe for social as well as economic collapse. And Nepalese are feeling the pressure.



(Writes article on national dailies !)

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