Can Nepal Be Our Valentine?

Looks like an odd question to be asked in the day in which the lovebirds are supposedly celebrating the joys of their love. But as we celebrate the Valentine’s Day as if its an integral part of our culture, I came across a few things which led me why can’t we request each other to make our country our valentine.

On Feb 13, the Maoists celebrated the 13th year of the initiation of their people’s war. The ‘revolution’ cost us more than 10,000 lives and a big destruction that may take a few years and billions to rebuild. Prachanda, the Maoists leader, declared to capture the reign through legal means.

Today, the newest issue of Himal fortnightly seemed critical to what the Maoists have been doing. Their cartoon gives the most powerful message of the issue: a cadre painting the wall – Salute to President Comrade Prachanda – with the other guarding a man (symbolizing the people) who is bleeding.

The cartoon in Himal Fortnightly. (c) Himal Media

One thing for sure, I know the People’s War had done some good for the political awareness but the ‘vote politics of Maoists’ and their Young Communist League (YCL) have encouraged everybody: to unite and do anything as they wish (be it closing the road or beating a person or threatening people).

Nepal is in such a state that anybody would believe ‘well, if this is Loktantra (total democracy), then it is no good‘. A student of mine asked me this morning was not the royal regime better than this. It was obvious questions as the city traffic seemed halved due to short supply of fuel, and we are having eight-hour of loadshedding for electricity every day and the Tarai being paralysed.

Then, what can we do? Alone, we are helpless. We cannot form a unit because we are more divided by political interest (or ‘I hate politics, leave it‘ feeling) than united by the love for the nation.

Therefore, the hope of being good in this troubling nation is: loving our nation more than anything else.

Can Nepal be our valentine then?

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