Irreversible System

Parmeshwar Devkota

The nation is marking the 15th Republic Day tomorrow with various programmes to raise awareness among people about their rights and duties in the free society. 

In the long history of republican system, the Greeks have led the world. The importance of republicanism has clearly been explained by them in 44 BCE. In the funeral speech of Julius Caesar, Brutus says, “It was appropriate to kill him for his ambition… anyone who loves his freedom must stand with Brutus’’.  Brutus killed famed Julius Caesar in defense of republic.  

Ignoring such historical facts, some people in Nepal are raising voices for regressive changes. It is sad to note that even some very important persons are found actively working to defame the republican system. 

It seems that the people who are working against federal republican setup do not know the facts of the merciless history. If a man is a political animal as claimed by the first empirical philosopher of Greece, Aristotle, the political history of mankind may have begun immediately after the permanent settlement started some twelve thousands years ago. So, the long political history has not been smooth, straight and strong.  Instead, it has been twisted and tangled and divided into layers. 

The first layer must have been run under the guidance of faith healers and religious gurus, because our forefathers were in the primitive stage of civilisation. The second phase came under the command of kings and empires, and expansionists who exploited and tortured the majority of innocent people for long. And, the last phase of politics was championed by liberators under the guidance of revolutionary theories and practices. We must feel ourselves lucky because we have already been liberated by bold leaders. Our forefathers fought vehemently against the Rana oligarchy and the Shah dynasty for ensuring personal rights and liberty.  

In the period of monarchy, we were not free. We used to hear about scandals of various types such as Namita-Sunita murder, Galaicha scandal and idol thefts under the leadership of the ‘royals’. But we neither could utter a single word against such scams in public nor were the perpetrators punished ever. 

Everything has now changed for the better due to democracy. Everyone not only can share his/her view about the fake Bhutanese refugee scandal, but also can express his/ her concerns without any fear. It is the beauty of the federal republic which is the outcome of seventy years of sacrifice made by Nepali people and political parties. 

In the early days, the rightist parties had fought for democracy. Later on, even the leftist parties organised themselves and stood against monarchy. As monarchy did not buzz to the demands of the leftists, then both the rightist and leftist forces of the country formed an alliance against the monarchy. The Nepali people extended their full support to the parties. So, the federal republic is an outcome of historic revolutions.  

The Nepali people love the republic system on two grounds:  First, it gives unlimited freedom and rights of self-determination to them. Second, it practices bottom-up approach in development works. If the republican system of governance is practiced with high morals, it will help accelerate the process of development and make people more civilised and stronger. So, the federal republican system is timely, progressive, and irreversible. All the three-tier governments, political parties and citizens must make additional efforts to strengthen and institutionalise the hard-won federal republican system of governance.