Imagine Nepal bordering countries in West Asia, Central Africa, or many other such conflicting zones. That is not the case and there is no point in imagining such a thing because we are neighbors to India and China. Nepal has two neighbors which are two of the strongest economies in the world. They are on the verge of changing the power configuration of the world system. Or they have already done that and completing the economic narrative of the twentieth century. They are the centers of trade and commerce, science and technology, and arts and sports. Nepal remains, not a comic but a farcical relief between the two.
We grew up with the Panchayat pretention that we are always at border crisis. The political statements were made as if the southern neighbor is ready to annihilate Nepal. Nepali nationalism was constructed on such self proclaimed threats. The tension with the southern neighbor was the determining factor of Nepali collective ego of the then politics and bureaucracy. The country was weak by the power of non-democratic political system. Economy was always in a wretched condition. Nepali nationalism had to boost on constructed animosity with the neighbor. We remained a poor country, one of the most backward nations in the face of the earth. The only gratification is that we have a dozen of third-world countries with whom we can compare ourselves.
We are satisfied by claiming that we have stopped bloodshed and have come to negotiating terms among ourselves. The positive political turn of event is that the fighting Maoists have come to Kathmandu to democratize themselves. There is no achievement beyond such negotiation. There is no any persuasion for economic and overall cultural development after such concession. To my mind, one of the major causes of the national problems is the continuation of the Panchayat political psyche toward our neighbors and toward understanding nationalism.
The Panchayat rhetoric was that of lamentation: That we are a landlocked country and hence suppressed and oppressed by being between India and China. We cannot work toward prosperity because we cannot trade with other nations by going into the seas. No one liked to think that Nepal is between two most emerging economies of the world. No one tried to vision that Nepal borders two great markets of extreme potentialities.
One of the major causes of the national problems is the continuation of the Panchayat political psyche toward our neighbors and toward understanding nationalism.
The ideology is the consequence of how we use terms and analyze them for our benefits. One uses the term “landlocked” and the other uses the term “market.” The Mahendramala ideology always preferred the first term of geographical lamentation. The Mahendramala used to be history text book which was forced in our curriculum. Many of the contemporary politicians are the product of Mahendramala time. The ideology is arguably embedded in the people of the generation. And the unfortunate consequence is present Nepali psyche shaped by the Panchayat ideology. We have not been able to shed off Mahendramala syndrome that our neighbor impedes the making of Nepaliness.
After all it is the economy, the condition of life, happiness and opportunities, art and sciences which boost the ego of a nation. Nationalism is primarily the matter of how well off we are. The rhetoric of foreign threat, slogans about the fear of the neighbors, and lamentations of being a landlocked country is meek nationalistic ideology of thoughtlessness.
Nepali politics creates a false impression of self importance by imagining that the neighbor(s) are interested to occupy us, destroy us, and weaken us. The mindsets of the past regarding viewing the other is the irrationally motivated factor for comprehending Nepali nationalism. Such ideology satisfies mediocre politics of the internal enemies of the nation.
Anti-nationalism is born in the very rhetoric of nationalism. Nationalism from the Panchayat time onwards have bred anti-national breed of politicians. Such nationalists are the very anti-nationalist who have never cared about using the potentials of the neighbors to make the life of Nepalis an economically stable country. Anti-nationalism feeds on nationalism and destroys both: The poisonous ivy itself and the oak tree.
Once you have peace and order, jobs and comforts of homes, all neighborly complexities are problems of two good neighbors not the defining conditions of nationalism. Someone suggest choosing one: Prosper and let the people of the country live comfortably or define nationalism and remain as an exemplary third-world nation of extreme poverty.
Nepali nationalists of the political kinds are not self destructive. They prosper on the cost of defining what nation and nationalism are. You cannot challenge them, teach them, and stop them. They don’t listen to you. This is the deep structure of third-world misery of Nepali kind. When they have nothing to say, they thoughtlessly shout, “Should we sell ourselves?”
orungupto@gmail.com
Related story
Lincoln neighborhood creates street mural to slow drivers
