Recently, I have had a lot of time for
myself and I spent most of this time doing one thing that I enjoy the most -
reading novels!
My recent read Satprayas left me thinking
and making comparisons between the Rana rule and present Republic rule in the
country. This book by Diamond Sumsher Rana, as most of his other works, tells
the story of the Rana reign in Nepal. It mostly revolves around Dev Sumsher
Rana, the reformist and probably the only democratic Rana ruler in the country
whose democratic and people-oriented ideologies didn't let him stay on power
for more than few months.
Dev continuously tries to work for the
betterment of the common people and development of the country which is not
liked by the selfish Rana rulers who are more interested in their own personal
development and entertainment. Long before he becomes the Prime Minister of
Nepal, he approaches the then PMs with the proposals of starting development
works in the country. The proposals are postponed with false assurances by the
rulers, which Dev happens to believe. When he comes to power, he starts to work
seriously on his dream projects, of opening schools, educating the common
people, starting hydro power plants in the country, etc. His brothers,
naturally doesn't like it and take over the power from him.
This reminded me how such things still
happen in our country. Whoever wants to do good are only given false hopes and
assurances by others. Power and wealth are still being misused by those in
power to support their personal development rather than the national
development.
The book is considered as a historic novel
so naturally, many things written there are true. I learned many things from it
which made me think and compare the two political eras of our country. Here are
some comparisons that I have made:
1. The Rana rulers claimed to be powerful and
strong. They were tyrant. But no matter how strong they presented themselves to
be, they were in constant fear. They did not have to fear the common people
like the politicians (if they do) have to now, but their own brothers. They are
known for killing and overthrowing each other for power. Killing of their own
kin was what brought them to power in the first place and it didn't quite stop.
Well, even if the killing did, the mistrust remained. They did not trust each
other and even a slight misunderstanding between one another lead them into
plotting and taking over the control for themselves. This practice still exists
in our political world. The leaders don't trust each other and if someone
(outside of their political party) is in power, they start plotting to
overthrow them and take the power for themselves. No wonder, we don't have a
stable political leadership in the country.
2. The Rana rulers lived extravagantly. They
loved to show that they had enormous amounts of wealth (which of course wasn't
theirs but belonged to the people of Nepal). They raised the taxes if their Dukutis were running low
on wealth. They took people's money and spend them for their personal interest
and entertainment. Looking at how our top leaders and country heads live and
travel, we can rest assure that the practice of using people's money for
personal benefit still exists. The only difference now is that the people are
educated enough to know that their hard earned money is being wasted but yet,
they do not seem to complain. The taxes still continues to rise. I wonder how
poor our late Kings must have been because even after nationalizing all their
wealth, our government has not been able to cover the loans and are in deep
debt which results as price hike that only seems to affect the common people
and not the ones riding the expensive air-conditioned vehicles around the clean
roads of the capital.
3. The newly appointed Shree 3 Maharaj (The title
given to the Prime Minister then) would transfer all the national treasure into
his palace. Few lakhs (One lakh of that time was more or less equivalent to one
crore of today) were given to the second and third-in-command like Mukhtiyars and Hajuria. I
fear the practice still exists, although not openly and not in the same way
(you need to show some respect to those guys at Income Tax office, don't you?).
The Prime Ministers and other Ministers in power still likes to live the same
way and spend millions on their unnecessary travels to the foreign countries
(apart from Sushil Koirala of course). I don't understand why discussions on
state matters require the PMs and Ministers visit foreign country with their
family (PLEASE let me know if this is necessary as my understanding of politics
is limited).
4. Many development projects are still 'under
construction' or limited to papers just like it was more than a hundred years
ago. We are given assurances and hopes but not results. We only hear promises
but do not see the actions. Dev Sumsher dreamed of starting hydro power plants
in Karnali and Koshi, which to date, has not been completed (I wonder if it has
been started at all).
There are many practices today which would
remind us of the Rana reign if only we had enough time to sit, think and
compare. We barely get enough time to spend with our family let alone compare
the political eras. Our everyday struggle to provide a better life for our family
does not give us any time to think about our country. We let everything happen
around us without frowning and which is why the political leaders have so much
control over our lives. They could easily turn our lives upside down if they
want because we have forgotten how much power we have over them. We let them
rule us when they are there only to serve us. If only we had enough time to
think and take some action.
Well, I did have enough time to think
after I left my job and waited for my college to begin. There was nothing else
to do, thanks to the hours of load-shedding, which made me grab a book and then
think about these issues over and over again.
The conclusion I came to often terrifies
me. We abolished the Rana rule decades ago but did we actually do it? Are those
days really over? Because from what I can see and feel, the system still
exists. I fear that the Republican system in the country is only the modified,
refined and so-called 'democratic' version of the Rana rule.
