Shun Arrogance

Parmeshwar Devkota

Though the established political parties have a long history of struggle and sacrifice, they seem to have failed to come up with practical schemes to draw the attention of new generation in the changed context.

So, it has become natural for people to look at charismatic youths who are eager to lead the country. New leaders like Balendra Shah, Mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Harka Sampang, Mayor of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City as well as some new political parties have become household names today.  

In international politics, there is general belief that if someone becomes Mayor of London or Paris, s/he is assumed as the country's premier in waiting. So, the mayors of those big cities speak and comment on issues prudently. In our context, the people of Kathmandu have been considering Mayor Shah as the level of Mayors of those mega cities because of his professional expertise and commitments made during the election. But, it is sad to say that Mayor Shah has shown his impulsive working style since the very beginning. Though he is an engineer by profession, his works have not got public acclaim and his comments on social media do not suit his position. 

The constitution envisages a local body as a sovereign entity. Local governments are also given a lot of rights and duties. In addition, the constitution has other numerous other concurrent powers. So, if a local level happens to be at odds with the province or the centre, it should not be halted there and then. Instead, it should continue to work on other areas because the local level undertakes a greater responsibility. It is the door-step guardian of citizens. But, Mayor Shah often becomes ready for confrontation. The other point is that he makes emotional and objectionable remarks. His recent Tweet on garbage issue is the latest example, “…We need our heritage, culture, and civilisation, not politics.” 

He made this statement to please only a limited number of people who share his views. As the people of Kathmandu love heritage, culture and civilisation, they equally love politics. They have become critical in every political revolution ever since the beginning of the modern times.  Therefore, it is unjustifiable to say that a human society does not need politics. 

Except in utopian concept, there is no society which is out of politics, because the incident of politics occurs when people disagree on the distribution of amenities, goods and benefits. It has been considered that even other living beings have also do politics. To answer this query, a team was made in the seventeenth century to study political attitude of other living beings under the leadership of Samuel Purchas. He reported that bees do have politics and he coined the term, ’political flying-insects’. 

Therefore, politics is a sine qua non of a society. That is why the brave sons and daughters of sacred land of Kathmandu, even in the ferocious periods, took part in the revolutions and some of them received martyrdom. The popular movement of 2046 BS was launched under the leadership of ironman late Ganesh Man Singh, and millions of Kathmanduites took part in it. In the absence of late Padma Ratna Tuladhar, the people’s movement would not been possible. Therefore, Mayor Shah must not devalue the contribution made by the Kathmanduites to bringing about political changes in the country. He should recall his pledges and work in coordination with provincial and federal governments and abide by the order of the Supreme Court on collection of waste from the Singha Durbar.