Every political leaders show great concerns for the development of the nation in their interviews and in other public gatherings. But their words are hardly translated into actions. Apropos of the news story “Deuba dares government to crack down on black-marketeers” (THT, March 20, Page 1), we listen to their speeches promising to make a prosperous nation. But nothing has happened so far, and the government has not been able to provide shelters to the earthquake victims though it has been one year since it devastated the country. In the interview Deuba has said he is well aware of the present state of affairs, particularly the victims of the earthquake and rampant black marketing flourishing after the blockade. Sad to say he has not outlined how he will be able to resolve these pressing problems facing the country. Nor has he given any convincing solution to the government as how things need to be done. Immediately after getting elected  PM KP Oli had also promised to address the fuel crisis and resettle the quake victims. He has also failed in his mission. The National Reconstruction Authority formed to reconstruct and resettle the quake victims has been on a snail’s pace as the employees hired for the reconstruction works have sought transfer from NRA. How can it start the reconstruction and rehabilitation works when it cannot set up its own institution through which all reconstruction and rehabilitation works are supposed to go ahead?

Susmita Humagain, Kavre

Mistake

Apropos to the news story “Suu Kyi’s lieutenant presidential proxy” (THT, March 11), it is important to mention that Myanmar made a major mistake in spite of doing a great job towards establishing democracy. The military junta rulers being afraid of the rising popularity of the leader like Suu Kyi undemocratically prevented her from taking the position as head of state which she deserves. Proxy setting is a political game that is going to harm Myanmar’s long term interests as Suu Kyi will continue to serve the nation from behind the scene and her proxy will only carry out her directives. A similar situation arose when Sonia Gandhi of the Indian National Congress placed Dr. Manmohan Singh as proxy Prime Minister ten years ago. Her occupying the seat as head of the Indian government in spite of sweeping election victories were criticized by an opposition and a section of Indian voters contesting her naturalized citizen status, as she was originally an Italian citizen married to Rajiv Gandhi who was heir to the Nehru dynasty. The approach only weakened the Indian PMO considerably as most decisions were taken by her, weakening the pillar of democracy and finally weakened the party leading to a severe election debacles post-independence. Myanmar did not learn from this lesson from its neighbor and has made the same mistake. We need to remember that history never forgives major political mistakes.

Saikat Kumar Basu, Canada