There is a Nepali saying, “jos ma hos nagumaunu”. The English version will be: Don’t lose your temper during a fight. In Nepali, jos stands for energy, vigor and vitality while hos stands for consciousness and awareness. It is about speed vs. direction, process vs. outcome.
Obviously, Gen-Z movement gave us a youthful PM with lots of jos and jangar. But we are not sure about his hos and hausala. Equally, he has a matching Cabinet Members; the average age is said to be below 40 years. Even the new parliament is full of fresh, new, well-educated, young faces. What about their hos? Definitely, there is a speed. But the question is: Are we heading towards a right direction? Speed has no meaning sans direction. There is a famous quote from Alice in the Wonderland, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Faster you move, faster you get there - the destination unknown.
KMC style of leadership and management
So far, what we have seen is an exact replica or a replay of KMC style of leadership and management, at a federal or at a higher level. To do this he has kept his KMC advisors intact. Probably, only visible thing you see, these days, is the invisibility of Mr Raju Nath Pandey. He seems to be keeping quiet, may be salivating for the ball called “Home Ministry” to roll down, any minute, into his mouth.
During his stint at KMC, our energetic and enthusiastic PM, got isolated to the true spirit of his “independent” political status. His aggressive style earned him loads and loads of enemies. They ran from mainstream political party leaders to elite community to ethnic newars, marwadis to street hawkers and kawadi dealers. He got dubbed as chotta raja or simply, a mini-monarch in himself - Mr. Balendra Shah. However, there is one significant difference. Earlier, his actions were one at a time. First, he bulldozed those buildings having permits for basement parking. This is followed by clearing Tukucha river, demolishing Twa Chen, new road pavement expansion, actions against street hawkers and kawadi dealers. These came in a row.
This time, he seems to be fighting at every front of the battle in one go - old political guards, bureaucrats with “rats” inside, unionists of students and public official, contractors, squatters, land-mafias, the court, the media, business tycoons and even with our big brother in the South. Who knows he could to be fighting with his own party? I read in-between the lines when his Finance Minister says, “The country got a PM of 36 years and FM with 50 years of age. By the way, I am ashamed to have a person propagating for a liberal “free market system” who had a free-ship to study in BNKS.
The Mother of Gen-Z recently threw her tantrum over shattering the “dreams of Sapana”. It must be a paradoxical for a man, having a great distaste with political parties, to join a political party merely to contest elections. His style resembles so close to the days of partylessness panchayat. He don’t give a cent to his MPs, to his party, to the journos, and to the diplomatic community.
During KMC days, his last fight was with Saroj Guragain, Chief Administrative Officer, KMC. Who knows? This time it could be with the President. I already smell a rat here.
Earlier, KMC Executive Meeting got deliberately stalled. Who knows, this time, it could be the whole House? Did not you have a taste of it? Call a session today and put on hold next day. This was done, basically, to issue a slew of ordinances cornering the President. Refer to my earlier writing on The Chicken Game.
My way or highway approach
While giving priority over “speed” to procedural matters, my way or highway approach is going to invite big troubles. That is for sure. Take the case of government’s decision to recruit ambassadors through “lok-sewa” style open vacancy calls or firing bureaucrats en masse. They can and will backfire. Instead of jobs looking for the people, you end up with people looking for the jobs. If you still call this a merit-based system, you making a joke.
A wise man keeps silence
“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” This saying is attributed to President Abraham Lincoln. Even a fool remains to be a learned person until he opens his mouth. The best policy is to shut your mouth. Definitely, you can fool some people all of the time, all people some of the time, but it is too difficult to fool all people all of the time. Mrs Bidya Bhandari, our first female president got a mouthful of response, actually, a foul mouthful, for hinting at the arrival of “inexperienced” politicians.
Rule of law or Rule by law?
Rule by law cannot be substituted for “rule of law." When you think you can bend rules to your whims, you end up with a situation where rule by law becomes the principle of governance. When you end up indiscriminate ransacking squatters or sacking bureaucrats, you essentially end up with rule by law - rule has to be applied equally and indiscriminately.
Hold your breath and tie-up your seat belts
These day, both politics and weather are taking an unexpected turns in Nepal. Within 24 hours, you can expect sunshine, thunderstorm, hurricane and heavy downpour. Within a month of Balen Sarkar, we are already into a roller-coaster ride. Keep steady and tie up your seat belt. There are more unexpected things on the way. By the way, the next person to watch is not the President but Mr. Prem Kumar Rai.
(PS: Refer to this link, dated June 21, 2024 for the first part of this writing Mister Terminator - myRepublica - The New York Times Partner, Latest news of Nepal in English, Latest News Articles | Republica)
