Look at the personal fight almost every single politician is fighting every single day. For example, look at Dr Baburam Bhattarai from the Maoist party who has had to struggle every minute for his own position in the party, to clean up his image as not being a pro-Indian, et al. Look at Mahantha Thakur – the once well-revered Nepali Congress (NC) leader – whose voice is losing strength every day. Within NC, almost every leader at the top level is deeply concerned about what will happen to their own future after the forthcoming General Convention. For CPN-UML, the individual leaders at the central level must be struggling hard to weigh which camp to align with to secure a better political future. These are just examples of the public type.
We do not know what their spouses and children are telling our politicians. The children might be cursing them for not choosing other careers. On top of all that, nobody is going to believe now if a politician tells their family members that they joined politics for the cause of some ideals. What could be more pathetic than this? Maybe, those 40-plus something politicians are OK for the time being as they run different ministries in the government but what about the others?
Imagine a day when all our politicians decide to give up politics as a profession. Well, of course, we will readily have some dictators to run the country and we will as well have the security forces to happily take charge. But then, who would we have to blame? It is a given that our politicians have not been able to do well. Because of this, we have not been able to respect the personal sacrifices they have made for politics. My point of view is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to continue to engage in politics in Nepal and one must acknowledge this fact with grace in favor of our politicians who have the patience to keep going.
Whether one is in politics or elsewhere, the fundamental universal human condition remains the same and one is constantly looking for some meaning in life through the ideals one pursues. However, the question remains: Why should or why do some people choose to be in politics as opposed to the larger number of people who choose to pursue some other careers? It is only for a small lot that politics is just a convenient choice, like for the people born into political families. For the rest, it is the desire to achieve some higher ideal by dedicating oneself to this cause. However, in the case of Nepal, politics seems to be just the wrong place to achieve those higher, sublime goals, at least in the eyes of the common people in general. Despite such odds, isn’t it simply formidable that we have politicians who keep on going amidst the unhealthy race within each party?
There is this general belief that the politicians must be criticized all the time so that they will be corrected. The media and civil society as watchdogs take it for granted that they should always be criticized. As a result of this, my observation is that the general people just think it is OK to blame the politicians without knowing what they are doing. And the poor politicians, like our constitutional president, do not even have a chance to defend themselves, nor can they even think of replying to people with ‘harsh’ words.
I am not saying that we will achieve miracles by starting to appreciate the role of our politicians. However, I see that fairness is sometimes missing in our criticism of the leaders. Let us just think about any politician of the central level (maybe things are better at the district level) from any party, for example. Then think about how they start their days early to attend meetings, go around to deliver speeches from Reporter’s Club to some NGO seminars, meet their party bosses or senior leaders, attend formal dinners and return home tired with very little time for their families. Maybe, this will change our perspective about them a bit.
bishnu.sapkota@gmail.com
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