Offshoot of a weak state

The coming together of the Newar community of Lalitpur district Friday to enforce a violent banda to press the state to mete out stern punishment against the killers of 21-year-old Rosy Maharjan tells two compelling stories: One, the people have long lost faith in the Nepali state’s ability to act proactively in favor of what is right. Two, bandas – violent bandas, to be more precise – have unfortunately become the natural choice among Nepalis to protest anything and everything.



It is quite understandable that Friday’s Lalitpur banda was different in the sense that it was an emotional response to an extremely heartrending incident rather than something politically motivated, which is more often than not the case behind most bandas, however differently they might be projected. But the very fact that the people decided to opt for a district-wide strike to compel the state to act swiftly is the clearest indication that the people no longer trust the state to wake up from its slumber unless it is prodded to do so. This is dangerous. When people lose faith in the ability of the state to provide justice, eventually forcing them to take the law in their own hands, it will lead to anarchy in the society.



The people, on the other hand, too can apply pressure on the government to act and do the right thing through many other ways but ironically, more often than not, they too resort to the same medium that they complain have been all the time abused by the political parties since the restoration of democracy in 1990. The only way to address this ill is to have in place a fast justice-delivery mechanism. People will have to be convinced through examples that the state will right the wrongs without external pressure. The state now is a mute spectator when bandas are violently enforced because deep within it knows that it has failed to protect the rights and dignity of its people. Only when it knows it has played its part will it have the courage to come down heavily on those who misuse this means of protest.



It would, however, be foolhardy to expect too much right now. Until the time political parties and their leaders, who shoulder the responsibility of bettering the system, themselves continue to see this as a favorite arsenal to score brownie political points, a change in the near future is hard to imagine. We continue to believe that banda enforcement should be criminalized. But along with that it is equally important to develop a mechanism for speedy delivery of justice.

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