Coconut in the hands of a monkey!

Democracy demands compromise. We don’t compromise. Democracy warrants a sort of consensus. We have developed a sort of allergy to this word. Democracy needs toleration. We have become aggressive. Democracy demands that we listen to others. We have already become one sided and prefer that we don’t listen to others but expect others every time listening to us. Democracy warrants reconciliation. We are dead against this notion.

This is Nepali democracy since 1990.

It is not for nothing a scholar of international standing, Mr. Rene Cuperus in his article The Populist Deficiency of European Democracy, an article recently published by International Politics and Society, Germany, says that " A civilised democracy can survive in the long term only if the political moderates sing the best tunes, and keep on doing so. That is an end which justifies many means".

Now a question arises: Are we a democracy at the first place? If yes then are we a civilised democracy at the second place? If not then we have nothing to argue. It is better then to dump the debate. But then if we are a democracy then are we eligible for a democracy and that too for a civilized one as stated by the scholar? If Koirala and Madhav Nepal were posed with this question, they would certainly opine that they have lonely been running a system that is not only a democracy but a system that is also a civilised one. They might hasten to add that the system that they have been running since all along the past thirteen years were a civilised one simply because the system had their personal blessings. They would in all probability say that save the two political animals, the system can’t be run by others and hence if the said system in the country were to continue, the system itself must come to request to them begging their time for the continuation of the system.

Nepal as a nation-state doesn’t need enemies when she has brilliant sons like Madhav Nepal and Koirala. The fact is that Nepal is poor because we have leaders like Nepal and Koirala and their subordinates. Nepal is bankrupt because we have leaders like the ones mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. Nepal’s credibility and integrity is now being questioned in the comity of nations because we have ideologically sick and vision less leaders. Inevitably, if we continue to be reigned by such leaders, we are sure to dig our own grave.

Question automatically arises: Why not we the people or for that matter the cadres of the political parties understand the weaknesses of our leaders? Why not we the people, cadres of various political parties implied, come to realize that when the nation needed reconciliation, consensus or for that matter a sort of compromise, our leaders force us all to act on their unjustifiable causes and demands? Why can’t we ask our representatives to sing best tunes, if at all they can sing a song that is appreciated by the population, so that the system functions in a rhythmic way and in the process the nation gears up for development which has already become a rare commodity?

The fact is that neither we have a democracy nor it is a civilised one even if it were a democracy. To expect best tunes from our present day leaders is an affair that could be said a "day-dreaming" exercise. In this scenario, to expect much from a country run by whimsical and fanatic leaders of the sorts who are and were at the helm of affairs would simply be a futile exercise. The best would be to watch how the country approaches to the brink under the dynamic leadership of our politically and ideologically bankrupt leaders.

Oh! Mother Nepal! How wretched you! You gave birth to such unkind and irresponsible leaders. It’s like a coconut in the hands of a monkey. Who is a monkey, keep on guessing?

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