Sadly, they do not have the capacity to provoke thoughts and ideas that could be instrumental in furthering the cause of civility and multiplicity. Rather they are hell-bent on causing confrontations that supposedly solidify their grip over fragmented entities.
It is very difficult to determine who the provocateurs and the provoked are when almost all are into this game. But one thing is for sure -- they are bound to each other by a symbiotic relationship.
However, they are always poised against each other. It is the rule of the game. They cannot get to assert their own independent status without reinforcing the other´s existence. However, one fact needs to be remembered -- the provocateurs have slightly an edge over the provoked.
Not even a single day passes by without certain ´great people´ of our ´great´ country being/getting provoked. But the boundaries between the provocateurs and the provoked blur oftentimes. They coalesce into each other. This poses a problem for the independent observers to distinguish between the provocateurs and the provoked.
By the same token, this interchange of roles by the provocateurs and the provoked has become the most intriguing aspect of our Nepaldom (my coinage). It is an inclusive term acceptable to all the champions hailing from diverse disciplines who assume themselves to be no less powerful than any feudal monarchs of yesteryears.
Needless to say, each of these so-called supremos has their own armies/bands of sycophants and warriors who make it a point to ´repair´ all those who dare to speak out against them. These angular members of the ubiquitous and anarchic ´repair´ armies of the muscular leaders batter their assumed foes first and sit at the negotiating table, if they must.
By that time their victims are supposed to have already lost their faith in forwarding any logic to combat the fist. Their masters may go on pretending to make agreements with their adversaries but they observe them more in breaches than in practice. And the end result is pervasive distrust and distraction.
This is how they help prolong transitory conditions. It is even more lucrative if their patrons are at the helm. In line with this, we have in recent times noticed several avatars of ambivalent provocateurs who first provoke people and revoke their previous decisions once they seem to boomerang on them.
Provoking people is not a mean feat. It is one of the unlearnable arts internalized and experimented mostly by the shrewdest of the public sentiment manipulators. It is in them who have a propensity to propel themselves by bending the situation in their favor. It is a double-edged sword which they dangle to harm and disarm their detractors. They are the real tough guys who get going when going gets tough prevaricating their ways to stardom beguiling people around them.
The provocateurs leave no domains untouched/unexplored. They don´t retreat even when their moves look to trigger violence to the sentiment of the masses. Similarly, they don´t care whether it is detrimental to the nation and society or not. They are the compulsive provocateurs, for that matter.
A success story of the provocateurs is trumpeting itself from Kirtipur, a tiny town on the south-eastern outskirts of Kathmandu, where the provocateurs´ faithful have tried to convert the Tribhuvan University, an academic beacon of the country, into a meadow for grazing their political horses.
Interestingly, the breed of old academicians cum subservient political horses appointed to accelerate the institution could not withstand the discontent of the provocateurs´ stallions. This stands a testimony to the might of the provocateurs who are placed in a win-win situation irrespective of their political complicity to incite the aggressors against the university. Whether the locals get any compensation or not, those inciting them are sure to reap a political pension for some elections to come.
Even the smartest of the smart have not been able to unravel the ploys tailored to fulfill the political ambitions of these provocateurs. However, they give a damn to recriminations directed toward them. Instead, they retort their detractors back with equally accusative fingers. This shameless temerity on their part is what makes them unrelenting.
We are responsible for choosing these provocateurs to rule us. We cannot lay blame on anyone else outside us. We love our ballots used to provoke ourselves. We get provoked for anything. It has been our national character.
Is there anyone still seriously contemplating punishment to those who have belied our hopes and deferred our dreams? My sincere suggestions to them -- stop worrying and start living now.
Not ready to buy my advice? Let me buttress my point with a simple fact -- an average of eight million IQs are lost everyday worldwide because of the lack of iodized salt. If you still think the people you voted for in last year´s elections would bother to remember the election manifestos to implement their pledges and make a better Nepal, you are totally wrong.
Their sworn-in foes of those times have turned their advisers. They have already joined the bandwagon of making a new Nepal. We cannot dig out the buried past. Instead, let´s actively participate in the game of the provocateurs and the provoked. It´s so new, fulfilling, exciting and exhilarating.
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(The writer teaches English at Patan Multiple Campus, Lalitpur)
bneupane40@gmail.com
