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Inspired by an article in The Economist about the secrets of the longevity of the Chinese Communist Party, in this column, I want to comment on the condition of the established political parties in Nepal. On July 1 this year, the Communist Party of China will complete 100 years of existence and more than 70 years in power. The Economist points out three reasons for the success of the party (which it calls a ‘dictatorship’): ruthlessness, ideological agility and the ability to save itself from becoming a kleptocracy. 

The suggestive undertones in the article are revealing: the West starts all observations about China, or the other world for that matter, with an air of authority granted (supposedly) by the feeling that they are the harbingers of the universal values of liberty and democracy. So, the observation about the CCP’s success has already been labeled the most successful form of authoritarianism ever.                        

At the moment, the West is having a hard time dealing with the harsh realities of the new world. Covid-19 has exposed the inadequacies many developed nations were sleeping over for decades. Misappropriated priorities, like more investment in weaponry than in health, have laid bare the truth that the self-claimed laissez faire enlightenment is self-delusional. The Trump episode and the BREXIT have also curiously highlighted the shortcomings. 

In this context, when one looks at China from the West, the scenario is nothing but perplexing. Contrary to the predictions of pundits for decades about the Chinese system’s impending collapse, the descendants of Mao and Deng have proved themselves adaptive and quick learners. They call themselves a democracy despite what the West wants to label them with, but they take that narrative to a higher level by calling it a system unique to Chinese history and culture. 

The CCP has proven to be a self-learning system that runs on a clear long term strategy, rewards performance and prefers a disciplined order over laissez faire anarchy. Although the skeptical outlook of the West about the Chinese Party continues, the party has been able to keep its stronghold over the nation because of its aversion to external influence and the ability to keep external players’ attempts to interfere at bay. With the size of the nation, and the focus on long term strategy that is now seen as ingrained in Chinese thinking, Chinese rulers were able to save themself from the devastating helping hands of outsiders. 

A recent example of the helping hands gone wrong is Iraq. The US wanted to force a power equation favorable to its interests, but the lack of in-depth understanding of local dynamics made its strategy ineffective. And now, Iraq has turned into a battlefield of interests between Iran and the US. 

Nepal, too, because of its geo-political juxtaposition and the selfishness of its elites, has become another case study where external interference has led to many quick fixes but damaging outcomes in the long run. Recently, five ex- Prime Ministers issued a statement giving a shout out to the damage such heavy-handedness of external players are causing in internal politics. This is nothing but pure opportunism, as some of the same ex-PMs have been vocal in the Indian media, asking for an intervention in Nepali politics when the power equation here is unfavorable to them. 

At the moment, the two main established political parties of Nepal are both in crisis. The Congress is unable to come out of the grip of the septenerians who have been proven to be failures again and again, and the main communist party has completely wasted an almost two-thirds majority in its ongoing internal power struggle. The Chinese example may not be of much help for us because of reasons like the difference in size and culture. But some things are still worth pondering over. 

In the 30 years since the establishment of multiparty democracy in Nepal, our political parties have failed to build a character of their own aligned to their ideals. The Nepali Congress became consumed by the forces that it fought in the past, and became the vehicle to safeguard the interests of the feudal elites in the name of democracy, as the same Panchayat-time elites of the society became influential in the party at the grassroots. The fear of communists, propaganda about the ruthlessness of their methods, and the hard power of the status quoists of the society were the feeding forces for it. Today, the Nepali Congress has turned into a rigid, feudal structure, albeit wearing a liberal mask.

But the communists of Nepal have undergone a decay worse than this. After raising expectations of the marginalized people through an armed struggle, the communist parties have turned exactly into 'straightforward kleptocracy in which wealth is sucked up exclusively by the well-connected'. So, unless a new political party establishes itself based on ruthless meritocracy, and builds a mechanism to bring to power capable young leaders from diverse backgrounds, this decay shows no sign of halting.

The social media algorithm is scary and fascinating at the same time. Effortlessly it keeps on providing us feeds evaluating our past posts, actions and search. If you observe your Youtube list, Twitter timeline or Pinterest search, to name a few, the feed keeps giving you exactly what you prefer to watch or interact with.

Once I tried to search for a Ted Talk on happiness and ever since I have been flooded with motivational speeches from all kinds of outlets. Then, one day, a friend of mine used my phone to search for some relationship coach and his recommendation on how to build a great relationship with your guy. Ever since I have been getting doses of  “What a guy likes in a woman” to “3 things not to do to chase a man”.

Not even two decades ago we never had this sort of option. I remember back in the 90s when we were in school, fashion and lifestyle magazines like Cosmopolitan, Elle and Femina used to have a quiz column where you were asked 7-10 questions and on that basis they would draw conclusions about the topic.

The topic varied from “What kind of person are you?”, “ What kind of man should you date?”, “How healthy is your relationship?”, “Are you an introvert or an extrovert?”, and so on and so forth. There were results on the basis of points you scored, or there were A-B-C-D defined replies. I remember seniors and also girls from my batch getting together with their pencils and notebooks during lunch to try out these quizzes. The magazines were sneaked inside the school “illegally.”

But at present, finding thousands of such expert quizzes and suggestions is only a google away. I won’t lie, there were times when I was dating and when there came some hiccups, I tried listening to expert advice online, especially on YouTube. (According to a recent survey, 57 percent of Nepal’s internet users regularly visit the video channel.) One out of 10 suggestions may have worked. I still say it may have, or it could be purely coincidental.

For the past two weeks I have intentionally searched for a few such videos again for research. I shouldn’t be surprised but I am at the number of views these videos have on Youtube (from hundreds of thousands to millions). There were dozens of comments in the videos as well. There are actually people who take these things seriously and follow them. Makes me question if it really works.

Nothing in life comes with a guarantee card except that we are born, we will grow old and we will eventually die. Except that, we all need to explore, test and taste. What might work for those 100,000 people might or might not work for us. Maybe the man/woman you are currently dating does not have any of the characteristics these opinions are based on.

A lot of times we search these videos when we are in dire need of solace. If you notice, these videos are made with a lot of psychological tricks. I can assure you, you will agree with 90 percent of what they are saying because they say things you want to listen to, at that exact distressing moment.

I do partially agree with a few things they say because they are based on human behavior as well. We all react to certain things in similar ways. We all have the same emotions but we act differently in different situations. The boiling and cooling points vary from person to person. Just because a relationship coach in some social media site tells you that you need to be more outgoing and be more reachable when in real life you are an extreme introvert, you might pretend to be someone who you are not, just to save that relationship. The question is, for how long?

A very interesting example right now is a lot of videos that tell us that “Distance makes the heart grow fonder”. It might have worked in the 1980s and 1990s with the magazine quizzes. But right now after the pandemic, what everyone needs is constant physical presence and human touch. We crave for a big rib-cracking bear hug and to meet people who are dear to us. People have stopped waiting for the right time to communicate feelings or grievances because we all have felt the uncertainty of life due to the pandemic.

Like the social media apps we need to upgrade ourselves to the choices we make. If you want to call someone just call and talk—it won’t make you less important or desperate. If you want to say sorry and mend your relationship, go ahead with that too. There is only one rule and that is you want to handle it without any regrets. Rest will fall in place eventually.

Nepal’s constitution offers a flawed concept of democracy. The current constitutional crisis is, in part, an exhibition of those flaws.

In this five-part series, I explore the elements that make our constitution inherently frail and call on civilians to build a truly apolitical (or non-political) movement to save the constitution. This constitution may be flawed but it is our only and last hope.

Part II: A constitution or a truce              

From the oldest codified constitution in the world, of the United States of America, to the youngest, of Nepal, have all resulted from dramatic political changes that marked the end of an era and the start of another.

Nepal’s constitution was the end result of a brutal civil war, marking the end of the monarchy and opened a new era of a democratic republic. It ended the country’s identity as a monolithic Hindu state and acknowledged its religious, cultural, and ethnic diversity.

At the same time, however, the constitution failed to depoliticize the end of the brutal civil war. The drafters made the tragic mistake of mingling the political and peace process and gave the parliament authority over the peace process.    

In the 15 years since the signing of the comprehensive peace accord (CPA) that ended the civil war, there has been little meaningful progress on transitional justice, a vital component of the peace process. Although not specifically mentioned in the CPA, transitional justice was intended to be a holistic approach based on four key principles of truth, reparation, justice, and institutional reforms.

How exactly the transitional justice process would proceed was never made clear. Victims wanted room for prosecution. Maoists and political parties were pushing for blanket amnesty. How was the process to balance these two competing demands? As attention shifted to the integration of the Maoist militia and constitution-writing following the CPA’s signing, it became increasingly clear that the ultimate political authority would lie with those who could direct the process.  

Rather than divorcing itself entirely from transitional justice, the constitution allowed political parties power to determine how the peace process would unfold. It granted parliament the authority to make laws governing the process, which the constituent assembly—also the parliament at the time—did to disastrous consequences.  

Political influence over transitional peace stalled progress. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled against parts of the Transitional Justice Act passed by parliament, finding that it allowed for amnesty even in cases of serious human rights abuses. The government’s appeal for a review of the Supreme Court’s decision was rejected five years later in April 2020, and only after hearings were postponed some two dozen times.

Key appointments in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission for Investigation on Enforced Disappearance Persons (CIEDP) have been subject to intense political negotiations between and within parties. Today, transitional justice remains mired in controversy and challenges. Approximately 2,500 complaints of disappearance and 63,000 cases of rights violations from the civil war era are pending at the TRC and the CIEDP.

A resolution of transitional justice remains unlikely, and the process itself has emerged as a political bargaining tool. Whoever holds political power and influence over parliament holds the key to the evolution of the process.   

Nepal’s current constitutional crisis isn’t merely about who will hold this or that office, or whether the President or Prime Minister can dissolve parliament. At its core is a deeper struggle about who will direct transitional justice. That process holds the key to the fate of many political and military leaders, not just the Maoists. And in that source of power lies the inherent instability of Nepal’s constitution.    

When the drafters had the opportunity to delink the constitution from transitional justice, they failed to do so. But why didn’t they? Probably because the biggest human rights abusers from the civil war were also the ones drafting the constitution.     

This is where Nepal needs a new peaceful apolitical civilian uprising, one that delinks political power and transitional justice. Civilians cannot convict, but they hold immense power to deliver truth, reconciliation, and to transform our current constitution into a genuine platform for governance and development.      

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After almost one-and-a-half years of the breaking out of Covid-19 pandemic, 20.7 percent of the world population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Altogether 2.4 billion doses have been administered globally, and 33.1 million are now administered a day. This seems a promising state of affairs until one tries to dig for details.

Only 0.8 percent of people in low-income countries have gotten at least one dose till date. This bleak scenario, as The Economist put it in a recent article, is not just an economic blunder but a ‘moral failure’ of the West.

Under the scrutiny of real-politick skepticism, questions of morality are the privilege of the strong. From the standpoint of a nation labelled as poor, and thus backward, mired in political and social struggles yet bubbling with a young population waiting for their turn to get exposed to the world, the current state of affairs is a cruel display of cumulative injustice compounded over centuries.

In Nepal, during this one-and-a-half years, we have seen a series of unfortunate events. When the pandemic was spreading its deadly wings across the world, and when early sufferers like Italy, the US and the UK were in panic mode, we were in delusion. Our prime minister was busy preaching sermons in the parliament on how the cold breeze of the Himalayas would cause the virus to mellow down. 

Such an attitude made the government lazy in its preparation to deal with the pandemic. As the power struggle in the ruling party ripened, to the horror of all, huge mass protests and rallies were organised by both sides. In hindsight, now, the apparent stupidity of our political leaders, and the ignorance of our people, seems to be an even graver injustice than the global inequality. 

As the pandemic peaked in India, we overtook our neighbour in the rate of rise of daily infections. And by mid-May, we had a higher percentage of deaths in proportion to population than India. Our hospitals ran out of beds, many private hospitals refused to take in patients with fever symptoms, and those with treatment facilities available were taking an exorbitant amount in advance for every patient. 

That we have a poor nationwide health infrastructure is no secret but it has been ignored by all our governments till date. The long wars activists like Dr Govind KC have waged against the criminal-political nexus that controls the hospitals and medical institutes has got a new validity now. Extremely unregulated medical business has made the medical infrastructure and education a source of easy money for what is now known as the ‘Medical Mafia’. In this grim scenario, people are left to fend for themselves.

The situation we are in is a result of many injustices, and will be a cause of further injustice for future generations. Unfortunately, this sad state of affairs is prevalent in all sectors. As the Western world is setting forth on a path to recovery, after fully vaccinating its population by this year’s end, it is also venturing out into a new war for geo-political dominance over China while we, along with other low-income nations, are living in the fear of death under irresponsible governments.

Have we learnt enough lessons from this? Whose responsibility is it to fight against these injustices? Who will sort things out for Nepalis?  

Will we, a nation with one of the youngest populations in the world with a median age of 24, learn and move swiftly to bring about a change in the political system that can make use of the window of opportunity this demographic dividend is creating? Will we learn from the repeated failures of our leaders to look after the interests of our nation and people and opt for an alternative? Under the present political system, established by the criminal-political nexus to secure their interests and maintain their unjust control over state resources, this seems a far cry.

These are the grave questions that our privileged youth, the ones who have access to education and a voice of their own, should ponder today. If our educated youths continue to be lured by better lifestyles and comfortable life in the West, there will be no one to shoulder the responsibility for curing the injustice. It is a time the youth unite to form an avant-garde force that sets an example.