Late JB Tuhure’s song–A stream of migrants makes the heart of the stayers cry/ The country deserted for millions, a few felt paradise–became the mainstay of the leftist movement in Nepal so far.
Moreover, this song became the weapon of the Jhapa Revolt in 1969, the first-ever political crusade against the Panchayat system for land ownership and establishing tenants’ rights over the land. The columnist does not know where this song took JB Tuhure, but, surely, some of the politicians of the movement are living a high life.
But, where did they bring the so-called revolution? Nowadays, the politicians of these revolutions are breathing under capitalism. I don’t feel comfortable asking the question: were those revolts that took thousands of innocent lives a lie?
Ethics of lying
Classical thinkers like Plato in The Republic approved of lying on the condition that when telling the truth is the wrong thing to do. He tried to justify lying under certain circumstances. He affirmed that society must promulgate noble lies to promote social harmony. On the other hand, Aristotle denounced all lies.
Following the footsteps of Aristotle, German philosopher Immanuel Kant avowed that lying is always morally wrong. He labelled morality with the categorical imperative (CI). Kant characterised the CI as an objective, rationally necessary and unconditional principle that we must follow despite any natural desires. He further justified that all immoral actions are irrational because they violate the CI. We perceive that Nepali politicians’ actions are irrationally designed; they only build castles in the air.
Bentham and Mill (for the utilitarianism theory) base their reasoning on the claim that actions, including lying, are morally acceptable when the resulting consequences maximise benefit or minimise harm. Therefore, a lie is not always immoral; in fact, when lying is necessary to maximise benefit or minimise harm, it may be immoral not to lie. Our politicians’ lies do not fit into either perspective.
Dr Henry Cloud, an American psychologist and leadership consultant, once stated, “If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, the group will address poor performance and attitudes.” This is why there is a great chasm between the performance and the attitudes of the politicians as they failed to deliver an honest culture. Technically, our leaders are pathological liars who constantly lie for long periods of time to paint themselves as heroes.
Arnold Isenberg defined a lie as a statement made by one who does not believe it with the intention that someone else should be led to believe it. Actually, these pseudo leaders never believed in socialism and socialism, as such, was never their goal, which they vouched as the panacea for every kind of human exploitation and oppression.
They persuaded us that revolution is the only way out of exploitation and oppression. Both the democratic and communist forces in Nepal wanted to build trusting relationships with the people on the basis of false communication. False communication violates people’s rights, which is morally and ethically equivalent to theft.
Most disparaging lies of Nepali politicians
The Mahakali Treaty was ratified with the 2/3rd parliamentary majority, hoping for the export of energy and its pricing principle; formation of the Mahakali River Commission; equal sharing of waters of the Mahakali River; and status of the Mahakali River.
Later, it was found that such strictures were neither registered nor passed by the parliament. Initially, the Maoists raised their voice against the treaty and demanded it is scrapped, but later they backed away once in the power.
The most disparaging lie communists have committed is the murder case of Madan Bhandari and Jivaraj Ashrit, then secretary-general and head of the organisation department of the CPN-UML, respectively.
The communist parties- and Nepali Congress-affiliated politicians’ involvement in the Lalita Niwas land scandal to convert state property into the personal property was another lie to the public. The then Oli government’s corrupt involvement in the procurement deals for lifesaving PPEs and test kits during the Covid period, popularly known as the Omni scandal, was another lie to the public.
No work for two meals a day is yet another lie of the communists. A gas pipeline will be fitted free of charge… the monorail in Kathmandu and the replacement of the tuin (river-crossing cables) with a suspension bridge were complete black lies. Constructing view towers instead of constructing hospitals and schools in a country like ours is against the notion of living under socialism.
It is during the communist government that development, change, justice, and equality are kept open for sale. The communists’ proclamation of breaking the chains of criminals and corrupt people is just a myth. Some communists who consider capitalists their class enemy, ratified the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) on February 27, 2022, along with Nepali Congress.
Nepali Congress endorsed the controversial MCC deal as its achievement. This was the biggest lie against the sovereign people.
Less than four months after passing MCC from parliament, the State Partnership Program (SPP), another US-led imperialist document, came to light. No single party looks clean as they are all lying.
The communist politicians used to boast that the corrupt people are prosecuted on a regular basis. Former PM Oli profoundly says that he would not tolerate corruption within his administration. He was appointed as home minister in the country’s first-ever communist government 28 years ago and has already served three terms as Prime Minister, still claiming that corrupt will be convicted.
Gokul Baskota, the then minister for communication and information technology in the Oli-led government and one of Oli’s closest confidantes, however, openly accepted his involvement in the security printing scandal. No actions were taken.
The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led coalition government recently presented a budget of Rs 1.79 trillion, in which I found the gap between budget presentation and expenditure management. It looks like the budget is buttering up the voters to win their favours for the upcoming elections. The black lies could seriously hurt the Nepali economy.
Local election commitments
I have categorised some of the important resolutions the politicians proclaimed that were targeted for the local elections. They assured us that their representatives would not be lords; they would be the servants of the people; they would be the engineers of social awakening and development.
They said the municipalities under their leadership would be a model of good governance. Their representatives would set an example of virtue. They would not be the corrupt ones and would strictly control corruption. Anyone involved in corruption, adultery, irregularities, and exploitation of public property would be brought to justice. Elected representatives would not give jobs to any of their relatives at the local level.
Again, they wanted to use this election as a springboard for all sorts of swindling schemes. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the 30 years of kleptocracy of the politicians begets Balen Shah, Gopal Hamal and Harka Rai ‘Sampang’ as the mayors of Kathmandu, Dhangadhi and Dharan respectively.
In a nutshell, it is an offence to hide true political motives. Politicians need to be held accountable for their political speeches and actions. Our distrust of politicians is that we want their actions and speeches to be kept in constant check by parliament and the public at large. Antisocial lies of the politicians should be prosecuted by hook or by crook.
