Thursday, February 10, 2022

Ask The Government Of Nepal To Come To Dialogue With The Kisan Andolan (Farmers' Movement)

The Kisan Andolan that is being waged across the southern plains of Nepal in most districts as well as Kathmandu for almost two months now is a clearly defined peaceful movement of mass mobilization in the leadership of the Janamat Party that has the track record of being the most peaceful political party in the history of Nepal. By comparison, the Prime Minister belongs to a party that once hijacked an airplane, Arafat style, the de facto Prime Minister is none other than the self-proclaimed "Fierce One," or Prachanda, the Maoist supremo, the number one man in his party for as long as the party has existed. For a country that is so thoroughly agricultural, it is mesmerizing that this is actually the first Farmers' Movement in the history of the country. And Nepal has had major mass movements, several just in the past decade and a half. 

The Janamat Party is led by Dr. CK Raut, a Cambridge Ph.D. in Computer Science, who shows every promise of being another Lee Kuan Yew. China eradicated poverty, but only in China. Nepal in Dr. CK Raut's leadership could eradicate poverty in the rest of the world by sheer example by giving a 20% growth rate for 20 years straight, an unprecedented track record for any country if it happens. Nepal has been in a revolutionary fervor since 2005. The newest revolution could give the world its most advanced democracy. Dr. CK Raut is on his way to pulling a Macron. He has never held office before. But he is on his way to becoming Prime Minister within a year or two. I think he is going to be Time Magazine Person Of The Year that year. That he was jailed more than two dozen times in contravention to Supreme Court orders in a country whose constitution guarantees free speech for peacefully expressing his opinions is dramatic, but not the only dramatic part of his life. 

It is tragic that I was the only full-timer Nepali across the United States when we worked to push out a dictator king to make way for the current political class in Nepal. I took clear, studied, and sustained stands against the US foreign policy establishment that kept saying a military solution was the only possible solution against the "Maoist problem." I vouched for a political solution, and it worked. The civil war did end. But that was a decade and a half ago. The masses did not come into the streets for this or that political system. They came hoping for the betterment of life. They hoped for prosperity. The delivery has not been made, and thorough corruption is the reason why. 

When the people revolt, they are always right. But that you tell dictators. Apparently what we have in Nepal are dictators passing as democrats. They have been utterly impervious to a raging mass movement. At this juncture the country is headed for a political confrontation. All the government has to do is sit down for dialogue to address the 11 demands of the Kisan Andolan. Some of them can be met with immediate effect. For some others the two parties could together agree on a roadmap. And the movement could get off the streets. But the Sher Bahadur Deuba led government would not do even that. It is a shame.     

And so I ask the international community to step in and pressure the Government of Nepal to seek dialogue with the Kisan Andolan so as to bring it to a conclusion. I ask the Government of India, the Government of China, the two large neighbors, the governments of the neighboring countries in South Asia, namely Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, the five members of the UN Security Council. 

And I directly address the people of France. Here is your opportunity for time travel. In case you ever wondered what might have transpired in France during the French Revolution, you can see for yourself in real-time. This time also a thoroughly corrupt, venal ruling class is asking a revolting people to eat cake. Well, they are not. Not yet. So far they have not even acknowledged the people are revolting. 

A few weeks ago a cabinet minister while addressing a mass meeting openly threatened the life of Dr. CK Raut. She is still in the cabinet. That is not normal. But in a corrupt Nepal, it is. 

This revolution will not go bloody, but it will also wipe out two-thirds of the military, the police, bureaucracy, and the judiciary, so as to give Nepal a lean and efficient government, a set-up that is corruption-free and digital like in Estonia, and it will wipe out the entire political class, the corrupt people who have held Nepal hostage for 30 years straight now. They need to go. 

My appeal is also to the Nepali diaspora around the world. One out of every three working-age people in Nepal is outside the country. In 2005 and 2006 we all exhibited unity for the cause of a political revolution. Now we need to exhibit the same unity. The cause is now the country's economic revolution made impossible by the thorough corruption in the country. We need a clean slate. We need to start afresh. This is no time to either stay neutral or show partisan loyalties. 





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