Parmeshwar Devkota

Looking at activities of political leaders in Nepal after the advent of the multiparty democracy, we can mainly categorise them into two types.
The first set of leaders can be named as politicians. They are active but shrewd. They know how to woo voters in the elections. As they are highly ambitious, they can manipulate the existing systems for their own benefits. By birth, they are skilled at making theatrical presentations. Their performances and rhetorical speeches make people forget their past mistakes. They mainly focus their attention on the next elections. They know that every citizen has nationalistic feeling. So, they often play on people’s sentiments to get votes in the polls.
But, those leaders are pseudo-nationalists. They are so self-centric that they work only for their own interests. They are greedy and often ready to fulfil their personal interest at the expense of party’s credibility and public interest. They do not hesitate to get involved in shoddy financial deals to protect the members of their coterie. Since they always run after power and position, they never want to share the position. They have strong groups lobbying for them, and work in collusion with the bureaucracy. They will never get tired of glorifying their deeds. Jingoists, hypocrites, and demagogues belong to this group.
Statesmen belong to the second category of leaders. They are humble, simple and reliable people. Their presentations may not be impressive, but they have deeper commitment towards the people and nation. They prefer working for strengthening system in the party and the country. They are always concerned with protecting rights of others, rather than meeting their own interests. They are ready to sacrifice their posts for the sake of the hard-earned system in the country. They refuse to compromise with bureaucracy when it comes to providing better services to common people.
As discussed above, the characteristics of these two groups of leaders are apparently different, but the problem is with the voters. Being the voters, we either cannot recognise the statesmen or ignore the differences between them in the elections. Majority of voters do not bother to distinguish between them because they are busy making a living. But a chunk of voters recognise politicians and statesmen. But they are too biased on grounds of political inclination and family relation.
Yet, another group of people are local intelligentsia, teachers and officials who can differentiate between the two types of leaders. But they are so lazy and talkative that they put all the leaders in same category and pass their time criticising them. Only a group of negligible number of voters, who have the knack of separating politicians from statesmen, cast their votes for the latter.
So, the onus is with us to differentiate between the crafty politicians and honest statesmen, and cast votes accordingly for the better future. James Freeman Clarke has said, “A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman of the next generation.” We must elect responsible leaders for stability and prosperity of the country.