--BY MADAN LAMSAL

The UK is leaving everyone behind in terms of development. The US is hoisting its flag everywhere in space. Japan is surprising everyone in the field of electronics and Germany is doing wonders in the field of automobiles. China is making sure that the whole world is flooded with its goods and products while India has surpassed the UK in terms of GDP.

However, here in this part of the world, we Nepalis are wasting our time gossiping about which politicians formed alliances and which ones broke them. After all, we are a nation where both the government and the people feel great at telling jokes. For some time, however, along with the jokes, the ‘bashing’ season, too, is underway.

These days, governments of all kinds have set in motion bashing campaigns of their own. In times of yore, the Nawab (ruler) of Awadh would thoroughly enjoy cock fights; today, our TV wallahs are running bang-bang shows where politicians bash each up other verbally. The mayors of big cities, on the other hand, have physically launched demolition and destruction campaigns of their own. Perhaps to find out where the rivers run deep in their cities!

Amid all this, as the African proverb goes, it’s the grass that suffers when the elephants fight! So, the poor people who happened to encroach upon the streets a bit to make their ends meet are having a hard time today. The commoners have become used to being bashed around every day and everywhere, so to speak. A day without bashing gives them the ‘something is missing’ kind of feeling!  

Nepalis love damage and destruction. In the days of yore, sabotage and destruction on the streets and in parliament was the favorite pass time of most comrades; the people, in total awe, gave them the keys to power. Today, they are applauding the acts of destruction and demolition. A person or two are cursing them also. But it seems they are going to find it quite difficult to survive.  

Petrol and diesel prices keep hitting the roof every other day. The plummeting value of the Nepali rupee has been hitting the commoners hard; now the rising value of the US dollar is battering them almost every day. That’s why people have stopped printing fake Nepali banknotes. The reason is if the genuine Nepali notes are that cheap, why would one take the trouble of printing fake ones?  

The share market, too, has kept hitting the general investors hard. The investors who think of making some money by investing in the share market have to bear the burden of debt, instead. When it comes to providing the people with food grains, fruits, vegetables and other goods and services, the local, provincial and federal governments, it seems, are taking part in a competition to clobber the people. All political parties, too, are fully involved in this act.    

The people are seemingly giving the new and independent candidates a round of applause. But it is not sure if they will give them their votes. The UML always seems to be ahead in the campaign to hit the rival parties with abusive words. The Maoists were borne out of the campaign to hit their rivals with bullets. But with the erection of mansions in the cities, the campaign to hit rivals has seemingly slowed down a bit. What about the Congress party? They seem to be busy in a campaign to clobber each other, rather than clobbering their rivals. In this way, almost all the parties are busy in their duties which include a healthy dose of clobbering and bashing so that the national bashing and thrashing campaign is pretty much the only thing that is healthy in the country.

In this way, from politicians to actors, ministers to the crooks, and bankers to mayors – everyone is clobbering the general public hard in their own unique ways. On the other hand, some people now and then go about burning paper or cloth dummies of ministers or even the prime minister. But it seems they haven’t understood that for the majority of people the dummies themselves have become the ministers and prime minister!

In politics, the programme to bash rivals with abusive words has always been a hit. This programme can be organized at one’s balcony or at Baluwatar or Khumaltar any time. There is no need for a special occasion to organize such programmes. And one can do this from the dais of a function, one’s own bed or in front of the camera in TV shows.  All that one needs is a mean and low-way of thinking. If it is being done at the dais of an event, one can grab the microphone and rant as many abusive words as one can. Creating a good video will suffice if this is being done from a bed.

Currently, Twitter and Facebook are full of these political rants carried out like a national agenda.