Politics Turns Into A Lucrative Business

BMD

A Greek politician, George Papandreou, once said: ‘I never thought of politics as a profession.’ Many politicians and academia from around the world still agree with Papandreou’s view and take politics just as a social work. But the case of developing nations like Nepal is somewhat different. A large number of political leaders are found dedicating their whole life to active politics in these parts of the world. 

Few families in Nepal, too, have been in politics for generations. They want even their coming generations to continue with politics as a profession. So, such people appear to be grooming their offspring to stay in politics. 

Lots of people, including educated youths, have shown their keen interest in politics. This trend was glaring even during the general conventions of various political parties held a couple of months ago. Even many teens have emerged as active cadres of the different political parties, including the Nepali Congress (NC). 

Although some people dismiss politics as a ‘dirty game’ due to some unprincipled practices associated with it, the growing preference of youths towards this profession is a positive gesture. This is because the nation’s political sector is now having well-educated and energetic leaders. It may definitely contribute to consolidating the local government institutions, which work closely with people. It also gives rise to healthy competition among the candidates belonging to various political forces and independent contenders. 

So, there are more chances for the deserving candidates being elected at the local level. This may help bring politics on the right track. Being the key driving force of any nation, politics alone could bring about the much-needed socio-economic transformation in the society if it is based on a good political culture.  It is needless to mention that politics, despite being a decent profession, has been losing its image with ever-increasing greed for power, post and perk.

Recent days were very hectic for the political parties in Nepal as they had to select their candidates for different posts at the local level. As there were more aspirants for a limited number of positions, it was naturally impossible for the parties to give a ticket to everyone. 

But there has been an increasing tendency among lots of leaders to quit their own party and join rival one to ensure ticket for the local polls. Such selfish political practice is rampant in all major and minor parties. This clearly hints at the leaders’ intense hunger for power. It exposes their loyalty to their mother party. This type of opportunism may not be in any way good for their political career and the governance system as a whole.    

The political parties also seem to be responsible, to some extent, for this trend as they want to field a more ‘influential’ candidate in every constituency just to win elections.  

With a lot of powers and responsibilities, and huge budget at the local level, mayoral and deputy mayoral posts have now become very lucrative. The decision on the part of some leaders to resign as members of the provincial assemblies to vie for the post of mayor in the Kathmandu Metropolis and Bharatpur Metropolis justifies it. Such an anomaly must be discouraged to promote correct democratic culture.

Anyway, learning from the successes and failures of the existing local governments, the upcoming local leaderships are expected to exhibit their better performance.