Let us give some (un)due credit to the age factor and begin with the oldest and the most powerful politician – Girija Prasad Koirala. Because of the size of the font in which commentaries are published, he simply cannot read. His eyesight is too weak for the standard letter size. If one were to expect him to read anything, there is a need for a newspaper that uses a font three times bigger than normal. It is therefore often perplexing to see why so many write-ups appear in newspapers that are directly addressed to him. It is either naïve or ignorant to assume that his assistants read things out to him or report to him about them sincerely. So, let us leave out Koirala here.
Because every single leader is criticized every single day, all the leaders must have by now admitted to themselves that they are bad people.
Things have evolved in such a way that it is impossible to be an educated Nepali and be non-partisan at the same time. So, when a political column appears in any newspaper, or a newsmagazine for that matter, anyone can tell where the columnist belongs to. In fact, the concerned columnist may be independent and neutral – if there is anything like neutrality – but that is not how they are taken. The result: If the columnist writes something that you like, it is good; you don’t have to pay any attention. If s/he writes something against your interest, then s/he belongs to the other political side; so you don’t need to care.
And then there is a big group of politicians across parties who simply think they know what they need to know. They think those who don’t agree with their worldview are reactionaries or ignorant people. They would never pay attention to columns that differ with their views. Opinions are rarely taken as opinions. They are taken as views of someone who is necessarily politically affiliated. Is this a good thing? Maybe not. But we cannot find the eternal culprit in the politicians. There is something wrong with the way political commentaries are written, to return to the original argument of this piece.
The political commentaries have always compared our politicians with the best politicians around the world and said that Nepali politicians are bad. These commentaries apply a disproportionate measurement stick. This is unfair and it must have irritated our politicians. We have expected the politicians to be committed to the ideals for which they had fought. The politicians must have been irritated to note that the columnists simply don’t make a difference between ideals and practices, which simply are two different things.
Almost every political columnist invariably criticized the appointment of Bam Dev Gautam as deputy prime minister on the ground that he was defeated in the elections by Sarala Regmi in Bardiya. The impact of such criticism against those defeated in the elections is now being seen in the appointment of ministers in the newly (de-)formed government where the number of defeated has increased. When father Koirala proposed Sujata Koirala to lead the Nepali Congress in the new government, the commentaries overflowed with criticism. The impact is before us. Why do public writings have so little power in this country?
Because every single leader is criticized every single day, all the leaders must have by now admitted to themselves that they are bad people. It is really harmful for the country when leaders think themselves as bad. One who considers himself bad will never think about doing anything good. It is like putting drug addicts in a prison. They must be put in rehabilitation centers. It is hard to propose to put politicians in rehabilitation centers because we would then not even have any government at all. What should be done is to make the leaders realize that they are good people and they can do good. For this, political commentaries must change their direction.
In addition, since the present way of commentaries have had no impact, what is wrong in changing the course for a little while and observe what happens? Maybe our writings have demoralized politicians so much that they have now taken for granted that they cannot do anything good and should not even bother to try to do something idealistic. Let us help the politicians restore their self-confidence. Let us remind them that they used to be good people and they still have the potential to be good again. Imagine the world of Nepali media from tomorrow where every single political commentary is full of praise for our politicians. Koirala is great, Pushpa Kamal Dahal is great and Madhav Kumar Nepal is great. The second tier of leadership is even greater. Maybe, out of shyness, they may change. Who knows?
bishnu.sapkota@gmail.com
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