For the time being, this action seems to have been deferred but the phantom of punishment hangs over Bhattarai like a sword of Damocles. This gentleman whom most people, irrespective of their party loyalties, trust and favor and who is one of the most acclaimed intellectuals of the country is slowly being cornered in his own party. Whatever the explanations from the party establishment, public knowledge is that he has been harshly treated for his democratic inclination, for his popular image and, more precisely, for his goodness. He may triumph in the long run, but in most likelihood, he will have to struggle hard to prevail in the party surrounding that is, apparently, intolerant of liberal ideas.
Bhattarai is one of many in Nepal who suffers injustice at the hands of leadership for a just cause. A bit older than this episode concerns Kathmandu’s Police Chief SP Ramesh Kharel. Kharel, whose transfer from Pokhara to Kathmandu brought the Pokhara residents to tears. His entry in Kathmandu brought beacon of hope to the residents of the Valley but he was subjected to punishment and now has been transferred to Nepal Police Academy, Maharajgunj and consigned to immobility. Kharel’s offence: He was popular among civilians, he was uncompromising in cracking down on criminals, and he favored justice.
Some actors in Nepali Congress (NC) share the same predicament. Take Gagan Thapa for instance. Considering his present status in the party and his rising fame, one may think that he has been cosseted by NC. But he has a bitter and miserable past. The party establishment ruthlessly dismissed him, for no convincing reason, from general secretary of Nepal Students Union in 2005. Later, he, along with his likeminded Narahari Acharya and Pradeep Giri, underwent series of ordeals in his party for his republican stand. This voice and hope of country’s youth would have been cornered in NC had it not been for his unparalleled eminence and growing public faith for him. NC must consider itself fortunate that Thapa shines in this party as a central committee member despite all the trials he was unjustly put to.
Such is the fate and fame of Nepali democracy; those who are most preferred by the people and those who honestly stand for the cause of people are not considered worthy by the leadership of their respective organizations and institutions. For me, this is the major flaw of Nepali democracy. Honest, sincere, efficient and visionary, whether be it in the government, bureaucracy, politics or elsewhere, have been grossly victimized or constantly hounded if not sacked outright by the leadership. Even time and circumstances seem to go against them sometimes. Thapa, Kharel and Bhattarai (they happen to be the most favored icons of the country) are the modern specimen of wronged heroes.
Honest, sincere, efficient and visionary, whether be it in the government, bureaucracy, politics or elsewhere, have been grossly victimized or constantly hounded if not sacked outright by the leadership. Even time and circumstances seem to go against them sometimes.
Wronging the heroes has its genesis way back in the seventeenth century in Nepal. History has it that during King Laxmi Narasimha Malla’s reign in 1620, there was an efficient chief minister named Bhim Malla. Honest, sincere, patriotic, loyal and capable administrator, Bhim earned wide fame. Jealous of his rise to that stardom other courtiers connived a conspiracy to oust him from his position. They concocted a false story of his plot to usurp the throne. The king gave to gullibility and sentenced innocent Bhim Malla to death. Extremely saddened and grieved by this injustice, his wife, before immolating herself as a sati (a recently widowed woman who would either voluntarily or forcefully and coercion immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre) into the surging flames of the pyre, uttered a solemn curse: “Let there be no justice in the court of Nepal. May the honest and the good always have bad day in this country!”
May be it was the curse but ever since, good men have suffered in this country. What happened to Bhim Malla has happened to scores of other noble-minded statesmen, politicians and rulers in this country. Prince Bahadur Shah, to whom we owe a great deal for Nepal’s unification, was hanged in a fort in southwest corner of Kathmandu valley in 1797. Kaji Damodar Pandey, who fought bravely with British India and who is the icon of Nepali valor, was killed likewise. No killing in Nepali history may have been as gruesome as that of Bhimsen Thapa. Bhimsen was falsely told that his wife was paraded naked on the streets of Kathmandu. Unable to bear this humiliation, he attempted to slay himself but could only manage half of his neck. He was left in pool of blood before he was dumped on the bank of Bishnumati River. It is said that he struggled for death for nine days. His dead body was fed to vultures, jackals, and dogs. During the Rana regime, Dev Shamsher and Padma Shamsher, history attests, were ousted by their own brothers for their reformist and liberal political inclination. BP Koirala had to face immense hardships and Madan Bhandari met with a tragic end.
Considering the scale of injustice and adversities these men had to undergo for their best intentions and goodness, modern Nepali heroes like Bhattarai, Thapa and Kharel have had nothing to face so far. But the nation cannot afford to rely on satile sarapeko desh (land cursed by the sati) interpretation and good-are-always-sidelined explanation to account for its perennial ill fate. It must one day rise to deconstruct such interpretations and prove that goodness and honesty always wins at the end. Paradoxically, this noble undertaking can be accomplished only if good men take the initiative.
mbpoudyal@yahoo.com
Related story
I have not wronged any woman: Sthapit
