Democracy Day
THE nation is celebrating the Tribhuvan Jayanti and 53rd
Democracy Day today with various programmes to pay tributes to His late Majesty King
Tribhuvan for his historic contribution to democracy, people and the nation. History is
witness that His late Majesty King Tribhuvan even sacrificed the throne to join the
people's movement for the establishment of multi-party democracy in the country in 1951.
The collective and cooperative movement of the King and the people overthrew the
century-old family oligarchy of the Ranas and ushered in a new era of democracy in which
people became masters of their destiny. This is the historic relation between the Monarchy
and the people, which has always been instrumental in solving nation's problem. Since
then, we have celebrated the Democracy Day every year to express our commitment to uphold
the spirit and values of democracy and work together for the larger interest and
development of the nation. The ideals and values of democracy are more relevant today as
the nation is passing through a most difficult phase of history. Society has been divided
and unnecessary conflicts and violence have caused an enormous loss to the nation. This is
by no means compatible to the spirit of democratic system and culture. In a democracy,
differences of opinions and views are common. But such differences need to be resolved
peacefully through dialogue and negotiation. The beauty of democracy is it accommodates
conflict and allows compromise. But the conflicts must not turn into violence. At the same
time, the fate of democracy depends upon the behaviour of political parties and their
leaders. Those who aspire for democracy also need to demonstrate genuine democratic
culture. Democracy is not merely a political system but a way of life, which politicians
and leaders must demonstrate through their conduct and commitment. Democracy is the
people's polity and it works for the best interest of the nation. Political parties, thus,
need to rise above their partisan interest and concentrate their strength and efforts for
the development of the country. However, that has been hardly seen over the last couple of
years. The ultimate goal of political parties and politicians, it seems, is to grab power
by hook or by crook. This attitude was largely responsible for the problems the country is
facing at present. Now it is high time that all of us need to work together for the nation
and the people in a true spirit of democracy. This should be the message of the 53rd
Democracy Day.
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