Don’t encourage
Bundhs, leaders must be told
Don’t encourage Bundhs, leaders must be
told Anarchy is anarchy, whether it is a democratic or an authoritarian regime. Anarchy is
defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English as: "the absence of government or control
in the society"; "disorder, confusion".
It is my strong conviction that a sizeable
chunk of the Nepali population consider the prevalent state in the country as
"anarchic". Understandably, those who benefit from such anarchic situation
perhaps possess different views which is again very much understandable. The population
has reasons to consider the very existence of this chaotic state mentioned above wherein
neither they could feel the presence of the government nor an order befitting to a
civilized democratic state. Albeit, for the namesake, we have been told that we possess a
"democratic" system. However the fact is that the system what we possess today
is neither truly a democratic one nor an authoritarian one. It is a blend of perhaps the
both. And it is this funny "mixture" that has corroded the beauty of the system
what we have been told to exist in paper.
That the nation has become already chaotic
and cumbersome for the lay men to live in gets reflected in the manner we the Nepalese
people have taken the laws of the lands in our own hands. This applies to the political
parties as well. No sector of the society takes into proper account the rights and the
democratic privileges of others while they speak for the institutionalization of their
personal or say sectoral demands. Democracy, to me, should take care of others’
rights as well. Democracy teaches us on how to respect the rights of others while
demanding the same from the state. In no way democracy teaches us the other way round.
However, the fact has been that we the
Nepalese people have become reckless and senseless in demanding the fulfillment of our own
personal rights. The
fact is also that since a sizeable chunk of the population is illiterate and hence the
occurrence of sad events of the sort what I myself witness on May 18 evening. In fact I
was on my way to Biratnagar again to perform the 45 th day rites of my mother who left for
her heavenly abode on April 7, 2001. Unfortunately, on that day that is May 18, a truck
carrying some eleven local natives from Narayan Ghat area suddenly plunged into the mighty
Narayani river on its way towards Mugling-the crossing point to Pokahara as well. Well
after a span of several hours, the locales in and around the area where the truck
submerged into the river became suddenly fanatic. They blocked the highway for quite long
many hours. They had a very funny demand. The demand being that until and unless the
government in Kathmandu managed the dead bodies of those unfortunate ones, they would not
clear the road for the general traffic.
Somewhere around ten in the evening, my bus
approached the scene. Upon reaching the spot what I could see is the queuing up of tens of
thousand of
the transport buses waiting for clearance from the locales blocking the roads. Those who
were blocked there perhaps spent no less than ten to twelve hours. My fellow passengers
said that for those who have died in the sad incident could only be prayed to rest in
peace by the poor passengers. However, the jobs for a search for the dead bodies were the
duties of the state. In a case that is related to the state, what the hell the ordinary
passengers could do?
But the brains of those blocking the road were apparently
made of different stuff. They did not budge from their stands. (Bangladesh embassy
Counsellor Kader Khan too became the victim of this blockade on 19 May. However, he
preferred to use the old road and reached his destination-Dharan the same evening). My
simple consideration is that had the locales been educated, they would have taken the
things in a different manner. Secondly, it is the political parties and their corrupt
leaders who have been exploiting the poor and illiterate citizens to go in on for a strike
should a minor incident erupt
nearby. Strikes and bundhs’ have become common feature in Kathmandu. So have become
in the districts. So have become popular in the highways. The "teachers" must
face penal actions that teach wrong things to their "illiterate and innocent voters
and blind followers". My humble suggestion to the government would be to invest more
on education and that too in the rural areas albeit this must include the natives lying on
either side of the highways. Thanks the Almighty that after a boring wait of more than two
hours, the locales cleared the road hoping the government to act. |
