Until the adoption of the Panchayat system, Nepal was a medieval state. Functions of the state were carried out at the will of those in power, especially the powerful caste based clans still associated with the royal family and military establishment. In the 1950s, when Nepal was being structured as a modern state and the civil service institutionalized, it was only the privileged few who had access to the corridors of power. Modernizing the state meant that standards had to be set for civil service, particularly at the officer level, including education. However, the existing feudalistic structure ensured that only some met the bar. Thus, since the inception of Nepal as a modern state, we have always been haunted by the specter of feudalism. This structure has been reinforced over the ages, today permeating both the private and public sectors, thanks to our culture of nepotism.
The biggest political leaders belong to families that were once the largest landowners.
The dominance of the powerful few, or ‘elite capture’, is ubiquitous. Political theorists have long maintained that the only moments of true democracy are revolutions. What passes between revolutions is merely a power consolidation. The historic Janaandolan II was one such moment of true democracy. The current political condition is the consolidation of power by an organized minority, which ironically is almost the same as the establishment before the Janaandolan.
It is at these moments of revolutions that the entrenchment of power of an elite minority is held back. The Madhes movement and the Janajati movements were events that disturbed the ossification of power of the status quo. However, so deeply is feudalism ingrained in our psyche, that in so short a time we are already seeing indications of the curtailment of the gains of these popular movements.
The legacy of feudalism can be seen everywhere in Nepal. The biggest political leaders belong to families that were once the largest landowners, most of them beneficiaries of government sanctioned land reform acts. The thugs who surround political leaders usually have feudal links to the leaders. In fact, some scholars have suggested that it was feudal politics that culminated in the Madhes movement. This influence of feudalism is most evident in our bureaucracy.
Simply holding an important bureaucratic position sanctions one to act like a lord over farmers. To take an everyday example, consider your experience of having your citizenship made. This birthright is achieved only after the arduous task of countless chakari to political patrons and bureaucrats. So much so that the idiom for government work in Nepali is ‘nokari-chakari’ - servitude and brownnosing. The story today is not much different from that described in BP’s ‘Doshi Chasma’.
Thus, at the crossroads of history that we currently are in, with the task of writing a new constitution and restructuring the state, perhaps the most important shift we can make is from this feudalistic mindset to a more egalitarian one. The insurgency waged by the Maoists, the Janaandolan, and various ethnic movements have indicated that groups other than status-quoists are beginning to make their claims for power. So far, the bureaucracy and the state have resisted, despite paying lip service. A clear indicator of this is the composition of our cabinet. One has only to look at the list of nominees and appointees recently made by the government to see that the system still endures.
Part of the resistance is a generational thing. Educated under an inherently feudalistic education system and raised during the monolithic Panchayat era, most of the higher-ups in the bureaucracy simply cannot see things differently. The younger generation, however, is different. Not coincidentally, it is this generation that earned itself the responsibility of a new beginning for the much fabled ‘New Nepal’. All political parties have repeatedly used anti-feudalism rhetoric while at the same time perpetuating it. It is this generation’s task to rise above their predecessors and shrug off the yoke of feudalism once and for all. The task is daunting, and challenges abound. Despite one’s commitment and effort, at times even the best intentions don’t bear fruit. At those moments we can either choose to throw up our hands or battle on like Sisyphus on the lonely mountain slopes. But if we decide that it is not worth the struggle, we will forever remain doomed as a nation.
daulat.jha@gmail.com
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