Flailing, not failing
I have no appetite for the reiteration of the arguments that are buzzing around me, and are published sensationally in articles penned by scholars with bleary eyes. I don’t agree with Times duo. Mark Tully, a senior writer and journalist, calls India not a failing but a flailing state. I would say the same of Nepal.
As a literary writer my arguments differ from those presented by political scientists who locate some fixed spaces of power and management before they pronounce the state a failure. Nepal looks like a failing state from outside because this country has not been successfully coping with the challenges of the modern times. The challenges are not only political but also economic and financial. I would call that a macro view.
Let’s look at the poetic imagery of weather report on the BBC and the CNN. The readers speak with all metaphysical earnestness about the weather. The weather reporter mentions all the names of the towns and regions, show a rain-soaked Nepal but do not even mention its name. There is no ideology or any weather politics attached to it. It is simply a case of geographical illiteracy. When the first elected prime minister of Nepal, the late BP Koirala greeted prime minister and powerful party leader of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev in 1960 at the UN, he was shocked to hear that Khruschev had not even heard the name of Nepal. He promised he would look up his map at the hotel. Khruschev used to call himself the leader of the third world and claimed to be the spokesperson of the smaller countries even though Kuomintern or the communist international was long finished in 1943.
It was said when Henry Kissinger became successfully performed diplomatic miracles, he made several Sherlock Holmes-type visits to this part of the world, but he did not see Nepal or other smaller countries of this region. They were invisible to him. So, to say anything correctly about the nature of the turbulence, the tsunamis hitting these smaller but ancient states, the observers have to take up a few cudgels. They should visit and see for themselves for some time what is happening round here.
The above-mentioned article is well written. But the caveat is the professors still do not spell correctly how and why the CA got dissolved.
My own feeling is that Nepal is not heading towards being a failing state. The problem is we have short historical memories. What is happening so far is debate, peaceful albeit heated discussions about the structure and modus operandi of the political process, elections, reviving the CA or holding fresh elections. This is a very democratic process. The “ferocious” guerrillas have worked hard with the ‘parliamentary’ parties and disarmed themselves; together they have solved many complex problems.
Parliamentary committees have finalised many important issues of the constitution, which can be taken out of the archival shelves and used productively. No dictator is slitting throats of children, and pounding civilian houses as in some dictatorial countries. People from different origins and geographical setting are not fighting with each other. They are putting fresh ideas about equality and harmonious state restructuring. A democratically minded President is making calls to parties to work together and find a way out of this impasse.
Equally, the other subject of great importance is that Nepal’s big neighbours India and China want these political parties to find their own solutions. They are not putting trade embargos or supporting any groups with money or arms. They are encouraging a return to normalcy. That said, it is inevitable that party structures will change.
Old parties will have to review and change their modus operandi. That will be a disaster for a few individuals but not for the political process. Also, new parties may come into existence. But available evidences so far suggest every single group in Nepal is ready to work for a democratic, equal and federal constitution. The wrong policies adopted by major or some minor political parties may be rupturing this flow of productive and creative historical process, but every move is under review.
What I find problematic is the psyche of a few political leaders, their megalomanias and their suppressed mindsets. We should draw a clear line between what makes history and what satisfies the aggrandisements of individuals and chose the historical process and should be ready to sacrifice personal whims and frustrations.
Posted on: 2012-06-10 08:49
Post Your Comment
Today's Paper
The Kathmandu Post in Print
FROM THE PAST 7 DAYS
ENTER KEYWORD OR DATE
FROM THE PAST 7 DAYS
ENTER KEYWORD OR DATE
by Abin
She’s an actress....Had approached for acting lessons...they took her in their party!
ADVERTISEMENTS
OUR PUBLICATION :
