Sometimes I wonder, if Balen is just a crazy gun or is this guy the smartest Nepali ever to be born so far? Nobody expected this guy to win the Mayoral race in Kathmandu, the capital of the greatest nation on Earth. You had two heavyweights slugging it out and we expected either the former Mayor Keshav or Ganesh Man's buhari Srijana Singh to continue the same old thing in the capital.
Then a rapper shows up. Balen was known to some of us, mostly the Gen Z generation as a rapper. When he fought the election, he became rapper cum engineer. He didn't talk about this and that or how he will make Kathmandu like Shanghai or Mumbai. All he kept on repeating was that he will protect, preserve and support the culture and traditions of Kathmandu while making it a better place to live. He even boasted that he will win this number of votes. The old guards were laughing all the way to the bank, not the commercial ones but maybe to the banks of Bagmati river but he did win and did his thing.
Not many were happy when it comes to his treatment of street vendors. Maybe we were not used to those in power who acted swiftly and did not back down in their decisions. In my personal opinion, street vendors should be allowed to operate at certain hours of the day, but they all must be registered with the municipality and food ones must have food safety license and need constant monitoring and they cannot block the crossings, roads and alleys. The last part is where it all breaks down. Unless, our sidewalks are at least 16 feet and, a minimum 8 foot clear path requirement in high traffic sidewalks is enforced like they do in NYC, then what good will I be if we allow street vendors to clog the sidewalks and make it difficult for millions of folks who walk on the sidewalk everyday in the valley?
What happened when Balen came to power? The old system of the mayor's party cadres bagging all municipality contracts came to an end because this independent maverick didn't have his cadres. Except for a group of advisors, most of his fans are not cadres or have any self interest to bag municipality contracts from him. I don't mean his advisors were bagging contracts either. What I meant was when it comes to old parties, they have their set of businessmen or woman or he she or they who used to get parking contacts where KMC (Kathmandu Metropolitan City) got a few token Lakhs while the parking operator made hundred times more in a year which also funded the main party, the mayor and many other cadres. Same with other contracts in the city.
And the most shocking thing I have heard about KMC's loot during the previous previous not this previous Mayor's tenure was that the Dharahara was contracted to a private party and they made millions of dollars not Rupees in a decade with the tickets, parking and leasing out spaces to food vendors inside. KMC received a few token Lakhs each year. Then the earthquake came and those who were killed in Dharahara have yet to be compensated. The private party was never held accountable and they made their millions and left.
Anyway, let's talk about KMC some other time. Who is Oli? I only know him as a guy who comes with funny one-liners. He is 'Ba' to his loyalists. It is their right to call him 'Father'. We should not have any problem with that. His claim to fame was that he spent 14 years in our prisons fighting the political system. Some say, he killed a Jamindaar in Jhapa and it had nothing to do with fighting against them old regime but plain murder. I may be wrong but he did spend 14 years in our prison and that was his experience to be a politician in our country because that was all it was need in the 90s.
But times have changed. People like Balen or younger ones were born after 1990. Most of our Gen Zs don't have much idea about the then monarchy. Half of the country is under 25 and yet, old 70 year old still want to lead this country because they think they have all the experiences to lead his country to prosperity and peace. But haven't they been leading this country since 1990?
More than 35 years have passed since we got ourselves a multi-party democracy. Almost two decades of this 'Republic' thing and we have become one of the most corrupt nations in the world. Where did we go wrong? Why is no one held accountable for the mess for the past two decades of 'New Nepal'?
You can't keep blaming the Kings for the mess in the country today. That would be like blaming Prithivi Narayan Shah for uniting us and not letting us live as independent kingdoms more than 250 years ago? Well, I have no idea if that makes sense but if we were to start the blame game then we will be blaming everyone to everything and at last blame the plate tectonics thing because if the two plates had not managed to hook up then we would not have Mount Everest or even our country. We would either be in Europe or Asia but what difference would it make? Well maybe the Euro or Rupee does make a difference but why are we always blaming everyone but not ourselves?
Why have our politicians and those in power have become so insensitive to the loss of innocent lives, especially those who have been killed in protests in the past 30+ years? We have seen it during Madesh movement, or Tharu movement or the Rajabadi thing and finally the Gen Z protest for the right to access digital tools at this day and age... no apology from those in power, no remorse, no repentance, no begging for forgiveness but outright ego blaming the protesters instead.
The Gen Z folks were not born when the Maoists handed over a 40-point demand to Sher Bahadur Deuba then even before any talks could happen, the then Maoists just hastily decided to start their war from the hills of Rukum and Rolpa. 17,000 dead in a decade. And then what do we see? The same Deuba and Prachanda joining hands multiple times to share power and share a lot of freebies. The same Oli also joining hands with Deuba to form a government when it looked both of them would be in trouble for their role in some scandals here and there. But where in the world do you see a Congress and UML, both parties poles apart sleeping together to hold on to power and enjoy the loot?
Is RSP the answer... I don't know? But do they deserve a chance? Yes they do like we did give the other parties a chance for years or say decades and more! The old parties have managed to paint Rabi as a thief and Balen as a Lucifer or the devil. And many in the old media also seem to favor the old parties for their own reasons Why do we have to judge the news ones so harshly while we let the old ones, those in and out of power in the past 30+ years run wild with incompetence and engage in massive corruption and nepotism and still continue to believe that this time they will get it right?
It's your right as a citizen to vote for your candidate. Vote with your conscience. Vote for the candidate whom you think will help your constituency more. If you are old party loyalists, and you still think your candidate is the best for your then good for you. If you a new angry bird and you want to vote for the new ones because they will do better then good for you.
It will be very difficult to eradicate corruption, nepotism and reform the bloated and incompetent bureaucracy overnight. 5 years is not enough. A decade might be needed. But real change must start soon. Hope this election will finally give us a way out instead of like the movie Groundhog day where we come to the same thing again and again and we lose our soul and our nation.