The Panchayati government then was busy warning us about anti-national elements who were hell bent on destroying our country. India had blocked the borders and we were facing shortages of everything. All we knew was that we had purchased some anti-aircraft stuff from China and India was not happy about it. We were also told that our King put forward his 'Zone of Peace' plan and only India rejected it.
Anyway, the problem was with India and not us. So, it just blocked the borders and our Prime Minister was busy bringing in goods from Singapore and China. Yes, we even had powdered milk from Eastern Europe. I may be wrong but they said it was from Poland then.
Everybody was talking about how India was bullying us and if things got worse, we would have to prepare to fight with India. Then everything changed. Protests began in the valley. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas and then real bullets. People were killed. After a month, everybody danced in the street because we now had 'Democracy'. We really didn't know what democracy meant. For us, Bakery Café was the coolest place in town and all the girls loved New Kids on the Block and we had to agree to it if we really wanted to be friends with the opposite sex.
Our new politicians then all looked skinny and their clothes looked like it really needed to be washed with bleach. We all came to know Ganesh Man. We called him the father of 'Democracy'. He did not want the Prime Minister's post and we had Krishna Prasad Bhattarai as our PM. The man had black teeth and spoke funny Nepali. That happens when you stay in India most of your life. I meant the accent and not the teeth.
We heard that he liked paan a lot and that's why no toothpaste in the world or even any whitening stuff could whiten his teeth. Krishna Prasad was cool because he was a bachelor but that didn't mean he was not in a relationship. I guess he was just inspired by the 'French'.
We had a constitution and our teachers told us that it was the best constitution in the world. Our Moral Science teacher asked us to write a letter to the UN to demand the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. We had to memorize the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Today, Suu Kyi is up for election. The human rights situation in our country has not changed. We still face police brutality. We still discriminate against so-called lower caste and the state still discriminates against the folks from the plains and the hills and our women are still subjected to inhumane treatment because they are accused of practicing witchcraft.
The 'best' constitution then had the King still in control of the army but everything else was open to loot for our politicians. Nepali Congress got the majority in the parliament and enjoyed the loot. Nowadays, when we say 'loot', we can only think of Nischal Basnet's film.
The UML began their "Nepal Banda' programs and we got to know about torch rallies and how to vandalize public property. Nearly half a decade, we go to hear about the Maoist. We were told that the Palace was behind the Maoist and were the ones who supported them financially.
Then, we lost our Royal Family, all of them and Gyanendra became our King. Then we got confused. If the palace was behind the Maoist then why were they still continuing to fight the state?
After thousands of our own people dead, our political parties and the Maoist got together to sign the peace accord and take to the streets to make then King Gyanendra give back democracy to the people. It wasn't our political parties but the people from all walks of life who took to the streets so that our politicians could come back to power and change the country for better. They came into power but the only change they brought forth was for themselves, their families and friends.
And here we are, more than 25 years later, with a new constitution. But we are not happy like we were back then. What has changed? We do not look at our leaders with same awe as we did then. Our own people in the plains and the hills are not happy and our government is yet to address their demands.
Half the country has been shut down for more than a month and we hear about India planning to shut down the borders again. We have dozen of TV channels and hundreds of daily newspapers. Our media is now back with anti-Indian sentiment. Our government warns us about anti-national elements who want to destroy this country.
Thank God, we have not bought any missiles from China this time around but we still have the same bunch of politicians from the class of 2046 BS. Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala, Man Mohan and Madan Bhandari are no longer with us. Even Man Mohan and Madan Bhandari were also highly respected and we saw them as ones with integrity. We thought Girija Babu was a Hawaldar in the India Army.
Girija did help to bring everyone on board in his later years but before that, he was busy making sure that our public enterprises went bust. We can thank him for leaving with a high note but the corruption and cronyism during his years as Prime Minister will always be there in the footnotes of history.
What we have left are not statesmen but old men who want new states so that they can rule like the Chaubisey Rajas. Will the new constitution bring stability and prosperity in this country? No. Our politicians are the same. Our civil servants follow the same system of procrastination, nepotism, and corruption. Someone once said that 'Change must come from within'. Our politicians need to change. Our civil servants need to change and we too need to change. We can no longer blame our fate, blame India and blame the micro bus khalasi who has no change. We have to stand up.
We have to tell our government that it needs to address the demands of the people in the plains. It needs to address the demands of our folks in the hills. It needs to finish the road projects in the valley and across the country. It needs to curb inflation, corruption, and take action against black marketers. We have to stand up for Dr KC. If we don't then it will be same story again, the one that has been on repeat for the past six decades.
kalumaila99@gmail.com
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