Oli’s follies

Published On: February 12, 2021 07:00 AM NPT By: Narayan Manandhar


Deceit and thuggery have gone to such an extent that in one moment PM says one thing and in the next moment does opposite of what he just said.

With the Olitics taking over politics, there is a fusion as well as confusion between Olitics and politics in Nepal. With dissolved parliament and calls for early elections, intense legal battle is being waged inside the court rooms and public agitations and demonstrations are out almost every day. The country is in a situation of extreme abnormality. But for our PM everything sounds normal. He is on with regular inaugurals, mass meetings, public appointments and boasting with unbeatable, unbelievable track records. So far, he has refrained from declaring to the public of finding a massive goldmine inside Nepal, literally, making Arabs poorer than Nepalis. 

Deceit and thuggery have gone to such an extent that, in one moment, PM says one thing and in the next moment does opposite of what he just said. The basic element of Olitics-politics is: You outwit your opponents with outright lies, tricks and thuggeries. 

In place of monarchy now we have Oligarchy. The choice of venue, at Durbar Marg, for organizing a mass meeting, on February 5 Friday symbolizes this fact. This is neither an incidence, coincidence nor a happen-dence. It was a ploy to attract rajabadis on prowl. Other than cold weather and a slight drizzle, no such bad things happened on that Friday. Remember, most unfortunate events in Nepal have taken place on Fridays. What the PM did not say was important than what he said in the Friday mass gathering.

The pro-royalists who came to listen to PM, expecting Nepal to be declared a Hindu state or quashing of the federalism, or at least, crash opening the gate of Narayanhiti royal palace, nothing happened and returned home in desperation. Somebody commented in the social media: “Literally, they were shown a middle finger.”

Now, the political as well as economic markets are dominated by Oligopolies. Remember, Oli boasting of two-thirds majority in the parliament? The government may have two-thirds majority. This is not to say about a majority-run government; it is about government being run by two or three people. You know who those two or three people are, don’t you?

In despair with Olitics-politics, Prachanda may have called for a non-veg type mass demonstration; but what I read is “Oli” inside every pOLIce. It is understandable why his friend turned foe, Badal threatened to lock him up inside a zoo instead of a prison. In communist world, both institutions—zoo and prison—supply basic life sustaining materials like food, water and shelter but take away your freedom. But there is a big difference between the two. Compared to a prison, zoo embodies considerable liberal values. So it is crystal clear why comrade Badal threatened Prachanda to lock him up inside the Jawalakhel Zoo.

In the Friday mass meeting, the taxi cab driver, whose cab was put on fire, literally turned out to be a sympathetic hero. The government promised due compensation. He could have been hired for a government job. The cab was suspected to be put on fire, a day ahead of the mass meeting (on February 4 Thursday), by the supporters of Prachanda-Nepal faction. Primarily, to deter Oli supporters from gathering on Friday, the faction called for an abrupt general strike on Thursday. The media reported that, on early Thursday morning, two passengers got inside the taxi cab, requesting for an emergency ride to a hospital and, once inside, they set the cab on fire by sprinkling petrol. Now, one of the suspects is being identified. He is said to be associated with a students’ union belonging to Oli faction of NCP. Let us hope and pray that the other suspect does not turn out to be from Prachanda-Nepal faction of NCP.

There is some difference in public criticisms of PM Oli this time compared to earlier. This time, the term “steroid” has not appeared anywhere, albeit, Dr Bhim Rawal being lambasted, in spite of his denial, for making misogynist remarks: “PM is mentally disturbed by the transplantation of a female kidney”. The unsubstantiated remarks did make a roar among some female MPs in the Upper House.

Name calling, including naming and shaming, has gone to such a mentally debilitating level that it is even shameful to listen. If one faction calls the other as a herd of sheep, other immediately respond by saying “wolves”, if one accuses the other as “monkeys” other reacts by saying, “a naked bull”. A kind of stand-up comedy or a nautanki (drama) is on full public display. One has called the other as a “joker” and, the other in turn has remarked a “killer”.

A full display of the drama was put on a view when, in the Friday mass meeting, the PM’s press advisor Surya Thapa interrupted the PM, at the middle of his speech, clearly audible to the public requesting, “it is time to curtail PM’s speech”. Is not it a shameful act on the part of an advisor to interrupt the PM, that too, at the middle of his speech, going live and watched by millions of people? This totally unexpected and unsolicited interruption turned out to be a kebab maihaddi—a sign of gross mismanagement.

His other political advisor commented, “PM became emotional after seeing the crowd.” Obviously, everybody knows it to be a rented crowd. The PM having tears was due to the cold weather. His remarks about weather were clearly audible to the public. Yet the sycophants took it as PM becoming sentimental. In the social media, one of the commentators suggested PM’s advisor not being able to differentiate between “craze” and “crazy”. The mass gathering was not due to craze, it was because of craziness.


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