Maintaining a balance between rival neighbours and curbing their influence has long been a Herculean task for Nepal
The Gen Z movement was something like a political earthquake. It had given a knock on the door like foreshocks in the form of a protest centred around the Maitighar Mandala earlier on. Then it jolted the whole of the country like the main shock on September 8. It was followed by a large aftershock the following day, which brought about a colossal loss of life and property. Even now, it can be felt in the form of small aftershocks in interviews and talks by Gen Zee representatives in the media.
An earthquake occurs when the stored energy becomes so high due to the collision of the tectonic plates that it is beyond the bearing capacity of the earth strata near the faults. The Gen Z earthquake also occurred because of the all-round corruption in the country which was beyond the bearing capacity of the country. Nepal's ranking at 109th in the Transparency International index, a vanguard of corruption in the world, provides ample testimony to this fact.
The brutal killing of 19 Gen Zees on the very first day, which has now exponentially surged to 76, was totally unwarranted. Not a single person died due to police bullets when Americans stormed the American congress, nor when Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis entered the parliament building. The death of several Gen Zees sent such a robust wave that the Home Minister and the Prime Minister had to resign within hours of the movement.
Several buildings, including the Supreme Court, Parliament building, office buildings, and the residences of politicians, were turned to ashes in no matter of time. The government enjoying anear to two-thirds majority tumbled within 27 hours, deserving to be recorded in the Guinness Book of world records as the shortest revolution in the world.
The movement catapulted to the helm a seven-member Interim Ministry led by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the Prime Minister with the solitary responsibility of holding the election within six months on March 5. However, quite a few demands have surfaced now whilst the Gen Z had a solitary demand of rooting out corruption from the country initially.
The most prominent are, firstly, the need to punish those who created such a huge demolition and arson and, secondly, the investigation of unaccounted wealth garnered by the post-1990 democratic movement politicians for suitable punitive action. The last one is the provision of a directly elected executive, the Prime Minister. One commission under the chairmanship of former Justice Gaurab Bahadur Karki has also been created to address the first demand.
After all the damage has been done, the focus naturally shifts to identifying who is responsible for this depressing state of affairs. The responsibility of the killing squarely falls on the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) political coalition, particularly on the home minister and the Prime Minister. The extent of the physical damage will be clear after the Karki commission submits its report. But looking at the synchronised damage throughout the country, it appears to be a well-planned activity with participation from both internal and even external forces.
The internal forces appear to be from among the volunteers of the Rastriya Swatantra Party in view of them forcibly bringing their leader Rabi Lamicchane out of the prison. Others could be volunteers of the Maoist-Centre as its leader had already threatened to topple the government, which had gone viral. But it could also be a routine threat in words but not the deeds of the opposition. The disgruntled volunteers of the NC and UML can also be other miscreants.
The external influencing factors beyond the borders cannot be dismissed, but it arises because of the deficient foreign policy. Political theorists point at neutralisation or hedging or bandwagoning as a policy for a small and buffer country like Nepal.
Neutralisation could be seen in the pursuit of the non-aligned policy which Nepal practised for a long time. It is applicable till the neighbouring powers are equal. For example, India and China were almost equal till the nineties, and Nepal followed the policy of equidistance.
Nepal also tried to follow hedging, which means an insurance seeking behaviour by proposing it as a Zone of Peace. It, however, could not be successful due to lack of support from India and also the banned political parties despite being supported by virtually all the countries round the globe.
Small states resort to bandwagoning by being nearer to the more powerful of the two. Activities like the covert orchestrating of the border blockade and later overtly constructing a road through disputed territory can lead to such events. This should be prevented at all cost.
Maintaining a balance between rival neighbours and curbing their influence has long been a Herculean task for Nepal. A symbolic example of such delicate diplomacy is found in the legend of the queen mother, who, in an act of wisdom and devotion, mixed milk from her breasts into the Chepe River. This sacred gesture prevented her two warring sons, Nara Hari and Drabya Shaha – stationed on opposite banks – from crossing over, as it is forbidden in Hindu culture to step across a mother's milk.
One such means would be the Hindu state, which would deter the Hindu neighbour from offending the only Hindu country of the world as it would be condemned by the majority Hindu population in the neighbourhood.
It is against this backdrop that Nepal continued with the provision of constitutional monarch and Hindu kingdom after its independence in 1950. But the undemocratic behaviour of King Mahendra and Gyanendra led to the removal of the Hindu kingdom from the constitution, making Nepal a republic. A Hindu state without a king can be restored through a referendum in the forthcoming election scheduled after six months.
