By the looks of things, the country could be in for another protracted spate of enforced shutdowns or bandas after the announcement of the November 19 CA polls. Bandas follow a pattern: the greater the political instability, the more their frequency. The problem in the post-1990 democratic dispensation has been that seldom has the country achieved a period of sustained political stability. Even before the start of the armed conflict in 1996, the so-called democratic parties used every underhand tactic in the book to corner their main opponents. [break]
It had become a routine for every political party in the opposition to show its displeasure with the government by calling for a nationwide shutdown. With most of the same leaders at the helm of power in the respective parties, perhaps it isn’t surprising that the banda culture is being perpetuated even as the opposition against it is steadily building. If drastic measures are not taken to control this insidious culture right now, considering the long period of expected political instability surrounding CA polls and its aftermath, the country could end up paying a very high price indeed.
Bandas are a huge burden on the country, every way you look at it. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry puts the tab of every banda at a whopping Rs 2 billion. Every section of the population is hit, but those at the lowest rung of the income ladder are hit the hardest. For the daily wage earners, a day without any earning means that they might have to go to bed on empty tummies. Bandas have also been perennial nuisance for school and college going students who struggle to make up lost ground after losing a big chunk of academic calendar to bandas. In fact, educationists have attributed bandas as one of the main reasons for this year’s truly dismal SLC pass percentage of 41.57, the worst in seven years. As a result, up to Rs 2 billion of government spending in school education is believed to have gone down the drain. Another sector that is badly hit by frequent bandas is tourism, one of the reliable pillars of the Nepali economy. With so many destinations around the world competing for a limited number of globetrotters, the country will find it increasingly hard to lure even die-hard Nepal lovers if it cannot even ensure their basic safety.
Recently there have been many citizen-led initiatives to raise public and political awareness against the banda culture, but these seem to have had limited impact so far. There have also been some initiatives at the political level, most notably by NC Central Committee member Gagan Thapa who has sought to rally political support to outlaw bandas as a mode of political protest, but his noble initiative has received little support even within his own party.
We believe that unless the political class is made to understand in no uncertain terms that enforced shutdowns to achieve political ends will simply not be tolerated, there will be little improvement on the ground. For this there must be sustained pressure from the common people on the political class to shun this form of highly disruptive protest. Only if such a move has serious political consequences will the political class be willing to listen. The anti-banda campaigners should not be discouraged. Changing an entrenched culture takes time. Patience will be the key.
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