The Nepali Times Editorial two decades ago this week marked the 10th anniversary of the 1990 People’s movement that turned Nepal from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy, unbanned political parties and unshackled the press. It is prescient that 20 years later, we are writing another Editorial marking the 25th anniversary of the start of the Maoist armed struggle.
Nothing has changed in the 20 years following that Editorial, except adding more revolutionaries-turned-greedy-leaders into positions of power. We have written about it so many times in this space over the years that we now sound like a broken record even to our own ears. But these words from 20 years ago still ring and the message is still relevant.
The Editorial was titled ‘1951, 1960, 1972, 1980, 1990, 2001’, marking the milestones of Nepali history. To that we might have to add 2021 depending on which way the current political crisis unfolds in the coming months.
Excerpts from the Editorial from Nepali Times #30 16-22 February 2001:
As in Animal Farm, it is getting more and more difficult to recognise our erstwhile revolutionaries and freedom fighters. When we look at their faces we don’t see anymore the selfless sacrifice, incarceration and exile that many went through. All we see are the grinning, greedy countenances of leaders we trusted who have let us down-not once, not twice, but over and over again. The euphoria has now been replaced by disillusionment, apathy. Radicals from the left and the right, religious zealots and separatists will fill this vacuum.
From very early on, it was apparent that freedom fighters who went straight from their jail cells to take oaths of office were going to let the people down. But we told ourselves: democratic transitions are by definition messy, just give them some time. Now, time has run out, our transition has lasted too long, and it is messier than is permissible for a country with our capability. Today, ten years after the renewal of democracy, the stench of political decay hangs heavy in the air.
In the past ten years, the political leadership of all parties have had a chance to rule. But all they have shown is fecklessness, callous immorality, and a fatal deficiency in the art of governance. They have squandered their mandates in petty infighting, self-enrichment and self-centredness, radicalising a seething citizenry and bringing the country to its present state. Today, 50 years after our first taste of democracy and 10 years after restoring it, the moral of the story is: Democracy doesn’t come with an indefinite guarantee. It needs to be safeguarded by careful and vigilant application.
From the archives of Nepali Times over the past 20 years, site search: www.nepalitimes.com
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