Despite the differences in time and space, the chords of anxiety for the future of their respective institutions are akin in the voices. Former, the personal attendant of the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan in Sudhir Kakar’s novel Crimson Throne; whereas the latter, a university student. Tribhuvan University today is not as powerful and influential as the mogul regime had been. But it is certainly the hope and aspiration of poor and marginalized students across the country. Nepal’s oldest university accommodates all students equally despite the inequality in their economic and social classes besides making impacts in country’s developmental as well as political changes.
The mogul attendants, apparently, played no role in elevating their emperor to the throne; whereas Nepali students have played a major political role in raising their party leaders to power. University colleges had been vibrant political forums, and its students the harbinger of political change. Therefore, it would be unfair not to acknowledge their legacy.
Republica
In the history of Nepal’s political movements, we find students always in the frontline of protests. Rishikesh Shah, in his book, Nepali Politic: Retrospect and Prospects, has pointed out that students were largely responsible for the agitational activities of political parties post-1951. It was because political activities were convicted by the king’s special tribunal under the 1969 Act in 1970s, but the court released student leaders. Emboldened by the court’s ruling, the students continued their campaigns against the panchayat regime. In the late 1970s, student uprisings became so powerful that then King Birendra Shah had to bow down before them and declare a referendum.
In the unfair referendum that took place in 1980, students had to put up with the fists of Vidhyarthi Mandal sponsored by royalists. Blue, the color of multiparty system, lost the battle to yellow, the color of party-less Panchayat. However, ordinary Nepalis realized the strength of students.
Twenty-four years after the referendum, students took to the streets again, initiating movements for a republic in a peaceful way. On January 8, 2004, in a meeting at a corner of Ratna Park, student leaders declared that Nepal would be a republic at any cost. In fact, popular movements for republic had started a year before the political parties had even thought of alternatives to monarchy. Why did students take it upon themselves to declare Nepal a republic whilst their mother parties were doing no more than protesting the king’s move? It was because they knew that the leaders were still victims of an old political mindset that endorsed the king’s divine right to rule. Only after Gyanendra Shah sacked reinstated Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for the second time in 2005 did the political leaders begin to mull over the term “republic” (partly because they witnessed the coup being celebrated with deepavali in the streets of Kathmandu). But students had been way ahead of the politicians in recognizing the public’s mood.
I remember the day in early 2004 when, on my way back from Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, I greeted party leaders sitting on the road in front of Ghantaghar. I wished them luck, assuming they needed it. That was the day of the Referendum in colleges all over Nepal, held by students against the parties’ wishes, where students would vote for their preferred political system—republic or monarchy. Republicans won by more than ninety percent of the total votes, if I remember correctly, over royalists, even when party leaders would not let the word republic escape their lips. Sitting under the scorching summer sun begging for the reinstatement of the parliament, they longed for a change of heart in the king. The term republic, which was a sacrilege for the parties and for which Maoists were launching underground armed struggle, the students were singing in chorus right under the king’s nose.
Student leaders, with support from members of civil society, artists, and people, prepared the stage for the parties to walk up and take charge. But when leaders held sway over the republican regime, then began the series of humiliations for student leaders. Party leaders resumed their old ways in the aftermath of the Constituent Assembly election of 2008. The youths who fought for republic were allotted barely any constituencies in the election. Instead, they found themselves welcoming nouveau riche goons in their youth organizations and mother parties. Professor Lok Raj Baral, in his book Regional Paradox, has aptly observed that “Political parties have knowingly kowtowed to criminals, aspiring political leaders courting criminals for their wealth, and the latter demanding political legitimacy in return.”
Alas! The students who pushed monarchy out of politics and paved the way for the political parties were offered humiliation in return. Mother parties dissolved the elected leadership of students unions, and nominated new committee members close to party leaderships.
Political parties have always been interested in appointments of the university’s top posts. Students have very little or no say in the appointments of temporary teachers, whose qualifications sometimes amount to pleasing respective party leaders. The university is falling apart, materially as well as academically, and students are unable to do anything but witness the vertical fall.
Recently, NGOization of civil society has rendered all resistance movements against party tyranny useless, and students are not free from the malady either. Since student unions are affiliated to various political parties, it has weakened students’ collective voice by making them fight each other. Affiliation to political parties has atrophied students’ ability to advance their genuine interests and demand creative educational environment in university colleges. Until the 1990s, student organizations were largely free from such bullying from party bosses.
Student union elections are scheduled to be held on May 27 of this year. Age restriction on election candidates, recently introduced by TU authority, has angered the parties’ grey-haired folks. However, the news of election is a solace to students who faced humiliation, and revives our hopes of saving the country’s oldest university. All eyes are set on TU students, wondering if students will elect genuine, non-partisan leaders and rescue the university from rats. Let’s hope they act with prudence, unlike the mogul eunuchs Niamat and Khwaja Chisti who waited until the empire disintegrated.
The author manages Adventure Samsara, a company which operates bird watching tours and trekking in Nepal.
preminnthapa@yahoo.com
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