Stop Making Tall Pledges

It is the nature of people to be obsessed with certain things but unaware of general trend that impacts their personal and social life. We are proud of our forefathers for their bravery to unite the country and their diplomatic aptitude for keeping her sovereignty and integrity intact. 

However, a majority of people may not know the nation’s economic status. Our country is one of the five poorest nations in the world today. At least, I did not know this fact till recently, which made me so sad. An Indian boy named Kautilya Pandit, who is so prodigious that he can answer tricky questions under the Sun. An Indian TV channel asked him to name the five poorest countries in the present-day world. The boy mentioned five nations, including Nepal, as the poorest nations. I feel humiliated and I tried to examine the reasons behind our abject poverty and who are responsible for it. 

Nepali people have been making adequate sacrifices for the stability, democracy and rule of law over the years. The majority of them are law-abiding and prefer development. Despite this, we are among the five poorest countries on the planet. Who are responsible for our miserable condition? It is the political leaders who are responsible for our economic plight.

Politics is the superstructure, with economy the base. The leaders control the superstructure so they command the whole system. But, they are not found being accountable to the people. Instead, they deceive us in every election by making tall promises but perform less when they are in power. 

Look at their manifestoes unveiled ahead of the local polls slated for May 13. If you happen to read one, you will find how those documents keep you under illusion. First, manifestoes are so big that it takes quite a considerable amount of time to finish reading them even for an educated person. It seems that they have intentionally made the manifestoes thick so that general people should not perceive what is written in them and they cast their votes only on the basis of their election symbols.

 So, providing a permanent election symbol to political parties gives them an upper hand. At the same time, it undermines the people’s choices to pick a right candidate. Second, manifestoes are filled with hopes and hollow commitments. 

The voters are getting fed up with the false hopes and dreams that the candidates sell them during the poll campaign. It appears that their pledges are confusing and illusionary. Promises made by some parties can hardly exude hope but torment them the people. This reminds us of Friedrich Nietzsche’s saying:  ‘Hope is the worst of evils for it prolongs the torment of man’. 

The hollow commitments sometime confuse the voters to identify as to who are the best candidates in the fray. High sounding rhetoric in the manifestoes may mislead the people to vote for the incompetent candidates instead of the genuine ones.

Aware and enlightened citizens do not vote for corrupt candidates. If the genuine candidates are elected and hold the public office, the nation will see good governance, democratic order and sustainable development. It is high time the parties stopped selling rosy dream and promise, which only lead them down the garden path.