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The main opposition Nepali Congress has been disrupting the federal lower house as the government tries to forcefully pass a watered-down version of the Medical Education Bill and as it looks to rename some hospitals named after past Congress leaders. Notwithstanding its recent show of strength in the parliament, many feel Congress is rudderless and has been a feeble opposition. Biswas Baral and Kamal Dev Bhattarai talked to Gagan Thapa, NC Central Working Committee member and a federal MP, on government functioning, his party’s future course and Dr Govinda KC’s fast.    

Was the recently concluded Mahasamiti meeting helpful in resolving the outstanding issues in Nepali Congress?

The primary agenda of the Mahasamiti meeting was the amendment of the party statute, which was necessary given the country’s new federal structure. The Mahasamiti was also expected to pave the way for the General Convention. Both objectives have been achieved.

However, we failed to discuss many dimensions of the party’s reform. In fact, we are not ready for a serious discussion on party reform. We have to understand this is not the first time the NC lost an election. Our presence in the parliament would have been even weaker had the communist and Madhes-based forces been united in the second Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2013.

Do you think Congress will be able to regain its past strength?

As I said, this is not the first time we performed badly in an election. We began to do so after the 1999 parliamentary elections, but we are only talking about our performance in the 2017 elections. The votes our party gets has ranged from 27 to 36 percent of the total votes cast, and the various communist forces get the rest. Of late, some voters are attracted to the Madhes-based parties as well. Why couldn’t we attract more voters? Even in the elections we claim to have won, we got the same percentage of vote.

This percentage will not be enough to lead the government in the future. Our leadership is nostalgic about our glorious past and wants to regain it, but that’s not the right approach. Congress should have a forward-looking approach, identify new ways of thinking and set new targets.

Has there been any change in the party functioning after the Mahasamiti meeting?

There are two aspects to our party’s mismanagement. The first is the political aspect, which depends on the conscience and the working style of party leadership. It is a continuous test of party leadership.

Second, every political party is a modern organization with millions of cadres who have their own expectations. A party is an outcome of cooperation and competition among its members and leaders, a concept that seems to have eluded our leadership. If we do not follow certain procedures, we cannot function like a coherent party unit. But even after the Mahasamiti, our working style remains the same. It requires a major overhaul. 

Are you hinting at the monopoly exercised by the party president?

Our CWC meeting has not been held, but the party is making big decisions without extensive consultations. Our party statute has envisioned a ‘Kendriya Karya Sampadan Samiti’ for making vital decisions in the absence of the CWC meeting. The party president invites leaders close to him to his residence and they make decisions. This goes against the party statute. As the party president has a super-majority in the organization, he can appoint his close aides to the Samiti and formalize his decisions. 

Party leaders do not care about party statute until some decisions affect them personally. They object to the president’s monopoly if their personal interests are hurt. The competition among leaders can only be managed if the party operates on the basis of established norms. Intra-party betrayal was rampant during the last election. Had we followed some rules while distributing tickets, we could have won another 20 seats in the national parliament.  

It seems the party’s reform process will begin only after the general convention? What plans are afoot to hold the convention?

I do not think only convening the GC would trigger reform. While the Mahasamiti was focused on amending the party statute, the GC would concentrate only on electing the party leadership. What we need is clear vision and policy to function as an effective opposition. Obviously, the current government has failed to deliver, and we are criticizing it. But the NC should give a clear message about how the current situation could have been different had the NC been in power. How would it have governed differently? Answering this requires a serious discussion on party ideology, policy and programs. Mere rhetoric about the current government’s shortcomings won’t do.

What is happening with the agenda of changing party leadership?

We have high respect and love for our incumbent leaders, but it’s clear that they cannot reform the party. The public will no longer accept them as the party’s face. A change is the need of the hour.

How do you evaluate the performance of this government?

The government was elected by the people and given a five-year mandate. At the same time, the tenet of ‘constitutional liberalism’ suggests three tests to check if any government is democratic—whether it respects the rule of law, whether it respects the separation of powers, and whether it respects people’s fundamental rights. This government fails all three tests. So I won’t hesitate to say it is not a democratic government. 

KP Oli is perhaps the luckiest prime minister in that he has a super-majority in the parliament and strong control over his party. Late Girija Prasad Koirala and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai had a majority in the parliament but they faced strong opposition in their party. But although Oli is in a comfortable position, he couldn’t bring about systematic and institutional changes in the country. He has failed to perform; he has failed to deliver. The country’s economy is spiraling towards a crisis and people are losing faith in the government.

Why then has the opposition’s role not been satisfactory?

What matters is what people think about us and whether they are happy with our performance in the parliament. There are some issues about which the opposition just raises questions in the parliament. Some issues demand strong resistance to make the government accountable. On some other issues, we can provide suggestions to the government. And there could be some issues in which we can work together with the government. The NC is confused as to how to deal with various issues in the parliament.

There is a powerful government but a weak opposition. Can your failure to play the role of an effective opposition pose a threat to democracy itself?

It can. The government, with a two-thirds majority, is mighty. If the prime minister’s focus had been on building a robust system and enhancing institutions, we would have fewer reasons to worry even if the opposition was weak. But the PM does not care about the basic principles of democracy. He believes that those principles are an obstacle. The head of the government wants to violate democratic principles, and the opposition is not capable enough to protect them. Given such a scenario, it’s reasonable to fear that hard-won democracy could be undermined and civic space could shrink. 

What is the status of the shadow cabinet that Congress was supposed to form?

I first proposed this concept when we drafted the statute of NC parliamentary party.  All leaders were convinced that it was a good idea and it was incorporated into the party statute. Earlier, a sense of urgency was missing, but in the last meeting, I pushed this proposal again and some progress has been made. Still, if the party leadership does not take ownership of this concept, it would be difficult to form a shadow cabinet and problems could arise even after its formation.

The NC should set the principle of the role of the opposition party. We do not have a long experience of being an opposition party, and there is no particular yardsticks by which to measure a shadow cabinet’s success. The shadow cabinet will fully inform the parliamentary party. If there is an informed decision, there is a high chance that we will take the right decisions on national issues.

That questions are being continuously raised about our leadership show that people are not satisfied with the performance of either the government or the opposition. Top party leaders should realize this fact.

Finally, how do you see government’s role in addressing Dr Govinda KC’s demands?

There are two aspects to it. First, the government’s recent action indicates it is not ready to heed the small but powerful and legitimate voices of society. This is a dangerous trend. Earlier, even powerful prime ministers used to heed the voices of a few influential people who stood for truth. Now, the government is trying to create a situation where you are either on its side or Dr KC’s.  Unlike the past, there is no middle ground. Dr KC and his supporters are forcefully being portrayed as NC supporters.

Second, the government is trying to protect some private interests. The interest groups close to government are upbeat with government stonewalling Dr KC’s demands. The government is serving a narrow interest, which is also a dangerous sign.

There has been an interesting debate on Prime Minister KP Oli’s participation in the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum (WEF), a global talk-shop set up in 1971 with donations from rich individuals and companies. The annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland brings together political leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists, celebrities and the global ‘who’s who’ to discuss issues of common concern. Those close to PM Oli are projecting his participation in this prestigious international forum as a singular achievement for Nepal. It may be. But also remember that the WEF invites partici­pation from Nepal every year. Earlier, Nepal used to send top diplomats and ranking bureaucrats to the forum. This year, the prime minister chose to go himself. We can read this in two ways. One, hounded by critics at home, PM Oli wants to project to his countrymen the image of an important global leader whose voice carries weight with some of the most powerful political leaders and businessmen in the world.

Two, in a more char­itable reading, and one which the government is trying to promote, PM Oli genuinely believes the global forum will help him portray Nepal as a stable and peaceful democracy, with complete press free­dom, and hence a perfect investment venue. What better way to attract the much-needed FDI, right? But there is a wee problem with this reading.

The best way to attract quality FDI would be to improve the country’s business climate. But the World Bank has recently indicated that Nepal’s business climate is getting worse. The various cartels that stifle competition in just about every sector remain alive and kicking, despite PM Oli’s commitment to quash them soon after assuming office. Pervasive corruption is sapping vitality from the economy—an economy the PM vows will soon be among the ‘fastest growing’ in the world. On rule of law, post-Nirmala Pant, the lesser said the better.

This is needlessly cynical, one might argue, in a country where leg-pulling is a national obsession. Maybe the canny prime minister will prove us all wrong. Perhaps post-Davos Nepal will be an investment haven. Perhaps, then, good FDI will chase out the laundered sort. But, again, the weight of evidence is against this simplistic reading. It does not augur well when a country’s head of government feels the need to shine abroad to please his domestic constituencies.

The British Council’s Learning Center in Lainchaur, Kathmandu was a hub of activities on Jan 14, Monday. The buzz was about a panel discussion ‘Exploring Intangible Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Archiving and Inspiration’ and official release of music documentary Manang, a Fuzzscape episode.

Fuzzscape is a multimedia project of Fuzz Factory Productions in which a team of creative professionas travel around the country to create song and documentaries related to various communities. Although Fuzz Factory initially became popular through their music videos, these days they also make quality documentaries.

The event started with the filming of Fuzzscape’s Bhojpur episode. In the episode, artists Barta Gandharba, Rajan Shrestha and Rohit Shakya travel to Mangding, a Gandharba village nestled in the red-mud hillocks of Jarayotar in Bhojpur district.

In the documentary, Shrestha and Shakya, the duo behind Fuzz Factory, along with Barta Gandharba, a local sarangi player and singer in Bhojpur, can be seen travelling from Mangding to Bhojpur Bazar. On the way, they interact with locals and make a video featuring local singers.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion where the artists shared their experiences during the making of the video. According to the artists, they wanted to give viewers something new to talk about, something that gets noticed and inspires others.

The event concluded with the official release of the music documentary ‘Manang’ featuring the horse-riding festival known as Yarthung in Manang. In this episode, artists Shrestha and Shakya travel to Manang with Karma Tshering Gurung a freelance photographer from Manang who is now based in Kathmandu to interact with the youth organizers of Yarthung and to make a song in the Neshyang language.

“In the Nepali case,” writes David N. Gellner, “it would be anach­ronistic to speak of a diaspora before the modern period and the age of nationalism.” This quote is borrowed from ‘Global Nepalis: Reli­gion, Culture and Community in a New and Old Diaspora’, a new book Gellner, a professor of social anthro­pology at the University of Oxford and an old Nepal hand, co-edits with Sondra L. Hausner, a professor of anthropology at the same university. There has always been small-scale migration to and out of the Himala­yas since time immemorial. Yet there was no Nepali diaspora to speak of because there was no entity called Nepal with a well-defined boundary.Even today, old people from out­side the capital refer to Kathmandu, where the country’s seat of power lies, as Nepal, complicating their sense of belongingness.

This, however, has not stopped scholars from systematically studying the out-migration of people from the areas that now are part of the nation-state called Nepal. As the Rana rulers had cut off the country’s contact with the outside world until the political changes in 1950, what little migration was there was limited to India in the south and Tibet in the north. This helped create small pockets of the Nepali diaspora in these two places.

While interaction with the rest of the world was limited, starting in 1815, members of some hill com­munities began serving in the Brit­ish Army, which took them as far afield as the Indo-China, the UK, and Europe. Still, before the rein­statement of democracy in 1990, only a few Nepalis had travelled beyond India. But slowly less educated Nepalis started migrating to the Gulf countries in search of blue-collar work.

Those with better means went to the US, the UK and Australia to study; many of them never returned. The outbound trickle quickly turned into a flood and today there are people of Nepali origin in 112 of the 138 coun­tries with which Nepal has diplomatic relations, with Nepali diaspora orga­nizations present in such unlike­ly places as Zambia, Lesotho and Mozambique.

‘Global Nepalis’ is the first book of its kind to study the Nepali diaspora in one volume, and what an enrich­ing read it is. Comprising 18 detailed case studies from 21 authors, the book explores the always-unfold­ing phenomena of Nepali diaspo­ra formation, the influence of this process on Nepalis living abroad and the ways they relate to the coun­try of their origin. The case studies are from around the world: the UK, the US, India, Southeast Asia, the Gulf countries, and even Fiji (where Nepalis first landed as indentured laborers starting in 1879).

Identity is a difficult concept. Whether you identify yourself pri­marily as a Nepali or a Madhesi or a Gorkhali is your choice. Or is it? In a brilliant case study from the UK, Mitra Pariyar writes about how the Nepali Dalits continue to be discrim­inated against by the broader Nepali diaspora in England even though many of them would have migrated precisely to escape the ‘casteism’ back home. Willy-nilly, the Dalits carry the ‘untouchable’ tag wherev­er they go. The book is packed with many other rich articles. It is a must read for those who want to under­stand the Nepali diaspora’s evolution over the past two centuries. Even for casual readers, it offers plenty of insights into what it means to be a Nepali in the 21st century.

Contributors to ‘Global Nepalis’: Krishna P. Adhikari, Radha Adhikari, Tristan Bruslé, Sienna R. Craig, Florence Gurung, Nawang Tsering Gurung, Susan Hangen, Sushma Joshi, Chandra K. Laksamba, Kelvin E.Y. Low, Kathryn March, Mitra Pari­yar, Anil Sakya, Bhimsen Sapkota, Jeevan Raj Sharma, Bal Gopal Shres­tha, Bandita Sijapati, Anna Stirr and Mélanie Vandenhelsken.

Book: GLOBAL NEPALIS Religion, Culture, and Community in a New and Old Disapora (Hardcover)

Genre: Non-Fiction

Edited by: David N. Gellner and Sondra L. Hausner

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Price: Rs 2,392

Pages: 580

Q. One thing you do to cheer yourself up?

A. Watch my favorite Youtu­bers’ videos.

Q. A question you wish more people would ask you?

A. It depends on the topic because I love talking about many things.

Q. Your alternate career choice?

A. Musician.

Q. Most misunderstood thing about you?

A. I’m funny, haha

Q. One thing you do to overcome stage-fright?

A. I never really have stage-fright. I used to have it during my school days though, but I did nothing to overcome it. I used to just stay scared.

Q. A quote you live by?

A. The more problems during the video shoot, the better the video.

Q. Acting or dancing?

A. Creating.

Q. What would you like to say to your fans?

A. Thank you for your patience.

Q. Your current celebrity crush?

A. There are many!

Q. Your best and worst purchases?

A. Camera is the best pur­chase. I don’t really have any worst purchase.

A hero with killer looks. A decent plot. Good acting. Clever VFX effects. Combine all this with a comparably fresh superhero who has never before featured in a lead role. The result? A blockbuster that has already grossed over $1 billion worldwide. For the same reasons, at no point does the 2h 23m ‘Aquaman’ feels dull. Deservedly, the movie is well on its way to becoming the biggest blockbuster from the DC Comics universe, dethroning two earlier Batman movies. Again, the biggest strength of ‘Aquaman’ is its novelty on the big screen. The super-talented Jason Momoa debuted as Aquaman in ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016), followed by anoth­er cameo role in ‘Justice League’ (2017). In both the films, even when appearing alongside other Holly­wood superstars, Momoa was able to dominate the screen with his larger-than-life presence. In ‘Aqua­man’ Momoa proves he can keep the audience hooked for as long as he wants.

The plot is simple enough. Aquaman aka Arthur Curry is the son of Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison), a lighthouse keeper, and Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), the queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. Arthur is a curious being: half-human, half Atlantian. As the first son of the Queen of Atlantis, Arthur has a legitimate claim to the throne of Atlantis. But Arthur seems satisfied with his bohemian life on the ‘surface’ and ruling Atlantis is the last thing on his mind.

 Who should watch it?

If you like superhero movies, there are unlikely to be many better than ‘Aquaman’. If the only thing that turns you on about a movie is its rich, subtle plot, then (and only then) will Aquaman not be to your taste.

Yet he is one day forced to descend to the water world. If he does not, his half-brother Orm Mar­ius (Patrick Wilson), who is the king of Atlantis, and who endlessly mocks Arthur as ‘half-breed’, will destroy the surface-world Arthur calls home. In order to kill Arthur and conquer the world, Orm seeks the services of Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a pirate and mer­cenary who at one time lost his father because of Aquaman. The rest of the movie revolves around Aquaman’s quest to defeat his half-brother, regain his kingdom and to save the world.

It’s a masterly performance by Momoa, who has just about the perfect physique, tattoos and per­sona to portray Aquaman. He does not disappoint. The softer shade of Temuera Morrison as Aquaman’s father and Atlanna’s doting hus­band is convincing; Nicole Kidman shines in her cameo appearances; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Panther carries the hatred of Aqua­man as his father’s killer with some aplomb. The rest of the underwater characters are also given enough screen-time to make the audience care about them.

There is action, there is (some) romance and, there is nifty VFX work. Yet even with the best VFX work, the underwater world would not have been easy to show. Direc­tor James Wan (of ‘The Conjuring’ fame) gets full credit for making a good fist of it. All in all, it’s a com­plete family package. This mov­ie has been able to capture the world’s attention for a reason. You don’t want to miss out.

Movie: Aquaman

Genre: ACTION, SCI-FI

CAST: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe

DIRECTION:James Wan

 At its heart, the Swasthani Brata Katha is an anthol­ogy of mythical stories nar­rated by Lord Kumar, the elder son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, to Agasthya Muni, a saint. A popular ritual among Hindus, the recitation of Swasthani Brata Katha, which is dedicated to God­dess Swasthani, starts from Poush Shukla Purnima (the full moon day in mid-January) and lasts for a month until Magh Shukla Purnima (the full moon day in mid-February). The month-long celebrations are marked by daily fasts and recitation of mythological stories. The Swasthani Katha book has 31 chapters dealing with how one Goma Brahmani reunites with her son Nawaraj, who later becomes the king of Lawanya, as a result of Goma’s fasts. The stories are mainly about devotees, who commit sins out of ignorance but are redeemed by the grace of Goddess Swasthani. There is also the story of goddess Parvati, who observes the Swasthani rituals hoping to get Lord Shiva as her husband. In fact, Parvati’s story is the main focus of the first few chapters.

A few subsequent chapters are about the sufferings endured by Lord Shiva’s first wife Sati Devi and how Shree Swasthani deliv­ers her from her troubles. It is believed that Goddess Swasthani helped Goddess Sati overcome her troubles after the latter, upon hear­ing about her husband, Lord Shiva, being insulted, immolates herself at Dakhsya Prajapati’s Yagya. The stories can also be read as a form of prayer to Lord Shiva.

A good husband

Many Hindu women worship Goddess Swasthani during the fes­tival. Married women fast (observe Brata) for the well-being of their spouses while unmarried women hope to get good husbands by fast­ing. Women wear red clothes and bangles during the month, as the color red is believed to bring good fortune. The devotees take a holy bath in the morning, wear clean clothes, trim nails, and eat a meal once a day after reading sections of the book.

"It is ironic that we curse Nirmala Pant’s rapists, but remain quiet when Lord Bishnu rapes Brinda"

Raj Kumar Dhungana, a professor of development studies at Kathmandu University

The rituals associated with the Swasthani Katha take place on river banks in various Hindu shrines across the country. Sali Nadi, a river in Sankhu on the northeast­ern outskirts of Kathmandu, is men­tioned in the Swasthani Barta Katha and is considered a sacred loca­tion for devotees to visit during the month. Every year, thousands of devotees flock to this river to wor­ship Goddess Swasthani.

“I follow this ritual because it is what we have been taught since childhood,” says Elina Shrestha, 27, a resident of Tebahal, Kathmandu. “We have learnt that if we recite the story and fast, our wishes will come true and we will get a good life partner.”

Swasthani Katha concludes by offering 108 holy threads, 108 sel­rotis, 108 fruits, flowers, sandal­wood, clothes, money and sindoor (red vermillion powder) to Goddess Swasthani.

Ishwari Malla, 76, a local resident of Patan, says, “Part of the offerings are given to one’s husband or son. But if a woman observing the fast doesn’t have a husband or a son, she should release the offerings on the nearby river.”

Through a critical eye

Raj Kumar Dhungana, a pro­fessor of development stud­ies at Kathmandu University, has a different take. Says the author of the seminal paper ‘Nepali Hindu Women’s Thorny Path to Liberation,’ “On the one hand, God­dess Swasthani is presented as a source of power for all gods and other creatures alike. On the other hand, the story shows a common girl, Goma, being cursed and con­demned for not complying with social norms.”

In the story, Dhungana told APEX, Goma is condemned to marry a 70-year old man when she’s only seven. “Such practice is still being reproduced through the Swasthani Brata Katha, as well as other rituals like the Garud Puran and Kul Devata Pooja,” he laments. But Dhungana also acknowledges that Swasthani Brata Katha has “enhanced the literary skills of many Nepali women” by providing them with an opportunity to read a text regularly for a whole month.

Dhungana, however, wants them to read with a critical eye. “We should question the unaccept­able and unequal power relations between men like Shiva and women like Goma, Parvati and Brinda (Jalandhar’s wife).”

Questioning injustice does not mean we are against our religion, he points out. “Should our society still appreciate the act of Bishnu after he rapes Brinda at her own home? Does Brinda deserve a hei­nous punishment like rape for her husband’s misdeeds? It is ironic that we curse Nirmala Pant’s rapists, but remain quiet when Lord Bishnu rapes Brinda”.

The crackdown on the ‘illegal’ operators of two ride-hailing apps, Tootle and Pathao, started only when local cabbies complained that they were seemingly being put out of business. Tootle has been in operation for two years. Pathao has been around for just four months. Between them, the two have around 30,000 registered ‘riders’, the owners of private two-wheelers who get paid for taking people around town. Strictly speaking, the two services are illegal. An old law bars private vehicles from doubling as taxies. It is disingenuous of Tootle and Pathao to try to escape oversight by claiming they are only app-developers.

But if there was ever a case of a baby being thrown out with the bathwater this had to be it. If these ride-hailing apps were operating in a grey zone, the focus should have been to better regulate them, and bring them under the proper tax net. They could have been given some time. But suddenly making thousands of vehicles that people relied on for daily transport out of their reach was, in effect, restricting their freedom to travel.

Following the ban, one line of argument was being repeated over and over on social media. The cabs are expensive partly because they seldom go by the meter. And many commuters don’t feel comfortable in the overcrowded public transport. The bike-hailing apps catered to this middle-range customers composed largely of women, mid-ranking professionals, students, and people with disabilities. And most were satisfied customers.

For their own good, Tootle and Pathao should stop pretending they are not into transport business and agree to be regulated. For instance, it is not clear how much tax they pay. Is each of their transaction taxed or do they only pay a nominal lump sum? But the cabbies are in no place to accuse Tootle and Pathao of taking away their bread and butter when they themselves are openly fleecing the people—and supposedly with the connivance of some in the government. Thankfully, Prime Minister KP Oli seemed to have enough sense to overturn the ban following immense public criti­cism. One good thing the row did was highlight the sorry state of public transport in Kathmandu. Banning innovation that enhances public mobility is no solu­tion. Following the overturn of the ban, the next line of action should be to make our public transport provid­ers more accountable, be they freewheeling ride-hail­ing companies or overcharging taxies.