That day you used a piece of red cloth

To blindfold me and the sky

And asked me what do you see

I said I saw happiness

This really made me feel good

It made me forget I have no place to live

You asked me where I want to go

I said I want to follow you

I didn’t see you or the road

You also held my hands

You asked me what I want

I said I want you to decide

 

(Cui Jian, A piece of red cloth (‘yi kuai er hong bu’). Translation from Mandarin, mine) Some reckon it is too early to judge the Oli-led govern­ment. But, then, what exactly has he accomplished in more than four months in office, except making promises?

 

The promised and proposed trains, airports and major infra­structure projects take time and nobody is saying we want all those right now. But our pundits, politi­cians and journalists have meshed the infrastructure projects with nationalism and we are being told to silently bear the unbearable, tolerate the intolerable and not question the government if we want the train and other good­ies. But big projects with neither definite timelines nor funding or planning nor anything, do not constitute nationalism or devel­opment. Nationalism is not only about infrastructures; there’s much more to it.

 

If the prime minister were a nationalist, as his supporters make him out to be, he would have made sure that all schools in Nepal had computers and internet access before doling out expensive MacBook Air to his ministers to make the government digital and efficient. If he really wanted our well-being, he would have tried to upgrade the ser­vices, equipment and quality of government hospitals so that we, the poor majority, would get the same treatment in Nepal which the politicians, himself included, get abroad.

 

If he was concerned about us, he would have made sure that the Dairy Development Corpora­tion, a government entity, would send at least cleaner dairy prod­ucts to the market so that we can consume them without fearing coliform and E.coli infestation. If he really thought about our safety, he would make sure at least our roads have traffic sig­nals. If he wanted to make our lives easy, he would have made government offices efficient and corruption-free. If he cared about us, then the corrupt, past and present, would be behind the bars. Now ask yourself: what has the government done so far?

 

Taxes are raised but we have no idea where and how our tax money is spent because we still depend on foreign aid for almost everything. Our cash-strapped government loses almost Rs 350 million a day in customs revenue to leakages but it is doing nothing to control it, if not stop it altogether.

 

A doctor is waging a war against the medical mafia that wants to make money by providing medi­ocre education to students for tui­tion fees that’s beyond the capac­ity of the majority. A television program is allegedly shut down because the host dared to ask a minister uncomfortable ques­tions. But there’s not a word from the government on what exactly happened. Moreover, the places where Mr Oli himself protested and vandalized for the people’s rights are now restricted areas. Why doesn’t he do good things that will make people not want to protest at all? Instead he has asked his party cadres to strongly counter the voices that are ques­tioning him and his way of (not) doing things.

 

Why hasn’t the government been able to guarantee that the law of the land applies equally to all, rich and poor, weak and strong, politicians and common­ers? Nepotism and favoritism are still rife and you need to be either connected to someone powerful or be rich enough to bribe big time to get government and dip­lomatic positions.

 

The Oli government has made us forget that more than foreign evils, it is our domestic demons that need to be exorcised first. Stalin-worshipping fake commu­nists have made us forget all our present necessities and priorities by blindfolding us with national­ism and utopian dreams.

 

As Cui Jian, the ‘Father of Chinese Rock’ alludes to in his famous song, the government decides, we follow.

 

Welcome to democratic Nepal ruled by a nationalist government!