Like it or not but this is a fact

I can’t tell my readers as to how the students of those days contributed to the success of the 1950 revolution because I was myself an infant then.

Similarly, I can’t give you the details of the students contribution when late King Mahendra dismissed the late B.P.Koirala government in early 1960 because around that time my brain had not developed to the extent that I could analyze the events in its true perspectives.

However, I myself remained a witness to the student agitation prior to the declaration of the referendum of the 1970-80. The students did force the King to declare the referendum because he had no alternatives left with him other than to go in for a new sort of democratic exercise. The students did a marvelous job though the Panchayat regime managed its continuance.

Coming back to the 1990 popular movement, surely what could be said that the students exhibited their total and unconditional support for the change as demanded by the champions of the popular movement. In the end, the students paved the way for the restoration of the present order and in the process sacrificed their precious lives.

Indeed those were precious ones.

At the moment the students are yet again on the move against the establishment. They have been demanding their elections to take place on time, they are pressing the Chand set-up to bring down the prices of the just hiked petro-products so that the poor people could benefit; they are demanding that their compatriots who have been jailed be released unconditionally and that failing to do so would mean that they would create a sort of havoc in the country. ( I condole the death of late Poudel who was killed by the state force in Butwal and that was really an act that demanded condemnations).

I, for one, possess no illusions regarding the strength and the determination of the students. This I have seen myself for at one time I was myself a student in Biratnagar. My conclusion is if the students so desire and remain united then they can bring heaven down the earth.

However, what I have not understood during my three decades plus engagement in this sector is that why Nepali leaders "do not send" their kids to lead the student demonstrations? I might be mistaken but then I have a strong feeling that our leaders prompt the sons and the daughters of others to lead the demonstration and face the music as and when the state retaliates against their agitation.

For instance, I have never heard that Girija babu sent his daughter in Biratnagar to be a part of any demonstrations waged by the students there.

Likewise, I have also not heard that UML leader Madhav Nepal’s sons or daughters leading a student demonstration against the government. Poor Madhav Nepal could have sent his kids had they been present in the country. Reports have it that his kid(s) are studying medicine in India.

Have you heard of Bharat Mohan Adhikari’s sons or daughters taking part in a protest action programs against the government whether it be during the 1990 movement or the one that is currently on? Perhaps not because his kids are in China studying Medicine.

Has some one heard that the sons and the daughters of Narhari Acharya, Arjun Narsing K.C, Ram Chandra Poudel and Bijaya Kumar Gachhedar associated themselves in such demonstrations? Can Govind Raj Joshi bring in his son from Australia to lead this agitation? This applies to all those leaders whose sons or for that matter daughters could be studying abroad.

The fact is that when they can’s send their own blood to face an injury then they too don’t possess the right to encourage the sons and the daughters of poor parents to heat-up the streets. I mean honestly that there shouldn’t be some one more equal than the rest of the equals. Students whether they be the kids of leaders or poor Nepali parents were only students and students should be students only.

Thanks that these leaders are providing "instructions" and "guidance" to the present student agitation and have only recently appealed the students to proceed ahead.

But what does this all mean?

Certainly, those being injured or unfortunately killed by the merciless state force are those who hail from the districts and have come to Kathmandu or district headquarters to get quality education. It is this lot who don’t have their real guardians or say parents who fall prey to the retaliation of the state security forces.

All that the Nepali leaders do is to issue a statement criticizing the government for its highhandedness that inflicts injury or even unfortunately kills the poor students from the remote villages or districts. At best they would make the killed ones a martyr for a cause the students themselves perhaps do not know. All in the name of politics! But is that all? Perhaps not.

Tell me how many students injured during 1990 movement these politicos took care of after they came to power? Ask the students or the families which lost their precious ones during the agitation then. The answer will dismay each and every one. Poor injured ones have been forgotten altogether.

It is time that the students demand the sons and the daughters of the prominent leaders to join in the agitation so that the leaders too could boast that they too had sent their near and dear ones in a cause for which the students at the moment are fighting.

What remains to be seen is when Nepali leaders would dare to do so! Perhaps not in my lifetime…

I wish to congratulate the students who are fighting this time for a cause.

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