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Nepal ’s search for a patriotic and nationalist leader does not seem to have ended. The only bane this small beautiful country, rich with natural resources, has suffered from, is the lack of honest leadership and men of integrity at the helms of affairs. The biggest frustration the poor people have experienced, in recent times, is from King Gyanendra. Nobody in the history of the world was favored with such a wonderful opportunity to carve out for himself the most immortal place that would have shone like a bright jewel for all time to come. Unfortunately, he wasted it. The incumbent Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has vowed to punish him, if found guilty. He thinks himself to be the paragon of virtue forgetting his crimes of Dhamija, Lauda and his nefarious designs to sell the Mahakali river apart from other corrupt activities. Perhaps, he has totally forgotten it is not his personal popularity or his erudition or exceptional capability that has thrust him where he is now. It is the alien powers that should be given the kudos of betraying the Nepali people, again and again, at the hands of nincompoops. It is no use talking about other political leaders who too have played no less infamous roles in looting the poor motherland and taking her to the brink of the precipice. If King Gyanendra would be presiding over the demise of two hundred thirty eight years old institution, the political leaders would be happy to see Nepal turn into Bhutan , if the Indian statesmen have their way.
The emergence of Prachanda, the supremo of the CPN (Maoists), had generated a weak flame of hope in the hearts of many poor Nepalis. Even though, he has walked over the graves of thousands of innocent Nepalis to arrive at this place, the miserable Nepalis would have accepted him thinking, sometimes good comes out of the evil. But his first formal visit to India has thrown icy cold waters on their flimsy hopes. That the Indians could invite a head of a terrorist organization or the head of a terrorist organization could accept the invitation without any trepidation has, indeed, come to us as a big surprise. And even bigger surprise was to see the callousness of world powers for their passive acceptance of the situation. What could be a more blatant exhibition of hypocrisy than this? But the greatest surprise has come to see him to have fallen an easy victim to the world famous Indian charm. The Indians are wonderful magicians, famous all over the world for their rope trick and other bewitching activities. And moreover, our Nepali politicians are so spineless, they cannot resist the Indian charm even for a second. But all twenty five million Nepalis cannot be bewitched. There are, we know, the overwhelming poor, the honest civil society workers and the most honest and dependable Gurkhas (our security forces) who are always ready to defend their country. Like the proverbial phoenix, they always rise even from their own ashes.
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