Deuba's remarks irks business community

Nepali politicians have a habit of taking others as fools. It is altogether a different matter that the people listening to them are much more qualified or for that matter knowledgeable than those of the leaders or politicians. Being in high position doesn't guarantee the right to preach others in an totally insulting overtones. High posts always demand high qualities from those who occupy such honorable posts for which they are paid salaries from the government's exchequer. He who is a fool takes others as fools. This is very simple behavioral practice practically adapted in each and every society of the world and Nepal can't be any exception to that rule. The rule applies here as well as we have some who consider themselves as belonging to a different breed and hence demand that they be treated in a different manner that is distinct and exclusive. However, in a democratic society, such demands are out rightly dumped by those who comprise the society.

It is in this light we have taken Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's insulting remarks that he made against the business community last Friday in Kathmandu. Albeit, Deuba's remarks had some iota of truth which the community half-heartedly accept. But then yet the manner the prime minister scolded the members of the community was simply disgusting and thus unacceptable.

In effect Deuba raised a valid point and that of corruption. All that he said is that it is the business magnates that has been corrupting the government officials are the ones who have never been penalized by the state but instead it is those who are sent to the bars who accept the under table amounts. Deuba indicated that the persons paying money to get their jobs done are equally liable to penal actions and not only the ones who pocket money. In simple terms, Deuba's statement was that unless the businessmen paid the amount, the officials couldn't take. You give them and they take it, was his simple explanation.

However, what Deuba did not say is that what would happen to the very existence of the political parties if the same community do not provide with the donations, which are more often than not shown in the officials gains and the expenditure of the political entities? What he also preferred not to mention as to how much his own party obtains from such donations and which business men were his sympathizers? What he also forgot not to mention is that what would happen if the business community declared a non-cooperation movement against the government? Its impact on the national economy and the side effects thereupon?

The fact is that it is this community, good or bad, were running the nation. It is this society that has kept the native kicking and alive. It is this breed that has propagated Nepal's name and fame in the world community. It is this class that has provided a shape to the nation by producing and manufacturing goods that at times could be seen competing in the global market.

This is not to say that we wholeheartedly support the corrupt activities of the businessmen. However, what also could not be dismissed out rightly is that those who invest money wish to get their official jobs done at the earliest to minimize the loss and the costs. It is in this process that some businessmen push under table money to get their things done. What is not hidden is that Nepali bureaucrats do not act fast and that they twist the regulations at times, more so, when they wish to amass wealth. The hard reality is that the officials seated at the revenue generating offices more often than not harass the businessmen to the extent that the latter is forced to yield to the financial dictates of the former.

Deuba instead of chiding the business men should have assured the community that henceforth he would devise clear cut mechanisms at the government's offices so that the men engaged in business do not have to under go through the Himalayan ordeals. He did not do so but preferred to preach lessons to those who if they so desire possess the ability to bring about a collapse of his already shaky coalition.

As was expected, Deuba's scathing remarks got a befitting reply from Chandi Dhakal, one of the influential members of the Nepalese business community. Mr. Dhakal's assertion that the business men were not that ugly as Deuba had described in his off-the-cuff remarks and that Deuba instead of flaying the community should try to keep his own house, read Singh Durbar, in order.

A tit for tat indeed.

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