Sikkim 2- Nonsense!
Bhutan 2 - Nonsense!
Has Bineet been listening too much to Ramesh Nath Pandey or what, who played the China card and was at times anti-India too? It's not gonna work anymore. China and India have economic ties - and their economic interests have are increasingly overriding their old time enmities. Raising the spectre of Sikkimisation of Nepal is old hat. It's not gonna fool Nepali citizens anymore. Nepalis can take care of their country better than anyone, certainly better than the royal family and its private army, thank you!
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well the palace is like a mafia family and the RNA (now Nepal Army) like their private army, so what can you do? the recent protest was about changing this exploitative set up, since both these entities are funded by people's taxes!
there is nothing wrong with the SPA trying to bring the RNA under the control of the PM. people have been paying for the support of RNA with their hard earned money, and the RNA should be held accountable / responsible to the people - not to the palace! This is standard practice everywhere in the world. This movement was not about reinstating " royal democracy" (competitive multiparty democracy and hereditary constitutional monarchy), this movement was about ushering "samabeshi loktantra" with the Constituent Assembly to decide on the fate of Monarchy. and Constituent Assembly is not just a Maoists' demand. Lest you forget, go back to 2007 B.S. and revisit Nepal's history and you will know it’d been a demand of Congress Party and also other parties then.
the failure of the 2046 movement was its failure to bring the army under the civilian control, so to speak. let's hope it succeeds this time.
lest royalists & reactionaries are quick to blame the political parties of corruption and what not, let me clarify that the abuse of power and misuse of money by the palace and its chamchas have made even the poster boys of corruption - Mr. Govinda Raj Joshi & Chiranjibi Kumar Wagles - look like saints with a “halo†around his head in comparision. Given the choice between anyone representing the palace and Mr. Govinda Raj Joshi, for instance, my vote will go to Mr. Govinda Raj Joshi each and every time. You want to know why?
This is because under "loktantra", eventually Mr. Govinda Raj Joshi cannot get away with corruption for very long. He will run out of luck sooner or later. He stands as an indicator of the maturity level of the democratic set up of Nepal. The instance he falls, we will know for certain that democracy is coming off age!
But under "constitutional monarchy", the palace's abuse of power or misuse of people's money is for eternity. As long as they are above the constitution, you cannot "bell the cat". They can even get away with murder, and allegedly have on more occasions than one.
It's not like the palace doesn't have lots of business stakes - with relative/absolute advantages over other private companies. They don’t have to pay custom duties - or income taxes. They have no business running a business empire (if they don’t want to play by market rules) and sucking up peoples' money at the SAME TIME. They have no business running National Parks & KMTNC on top of their business empire and people’s money. What could be more exploitative than this! This is fascism! This is greed run amuck! Which is why the stripped kings of India are offering their daughters to our Kingss sons or sons to the daughters of our top army brass? It’s a win win!
And yet when the palace sometimes preached about how free market economy or liberalising Nepali economy is good for Nepal, I have almost puked. You think these guys are for fostering competition. I think they are for killing off market competition, if any.
Ultimately what was wrong with the palace and the RNA was that they were intent on running Nepal like it was their own company, NEPAL INC - but with the hard earned money of the people. This was an out and out exploitative system - the worst elements of the feudalism combined with the worst elements of capitalism!
And the RNA was actually supporting this system! The Thapas/Basnyat/Ranas were being paid off handsomely to support this exploitative system with the guns, choppers, tanks, if need be.
The RNA is not without its problems. They are by and large composed of poor Nepali people – they have the kind of farmers’ face - and they have to wash clothes / cook foods /run errands for their masters. These soldiers’ salaries are paid by the people's money, yet they are told to protect the palace at the expense of the people. They are taught that ‘the people are their enemiesâ€. What nonsense!
The top army brasses' sons (who are also in the army) are stationed safely in Kathmandu, whereas these poor RNA soldiers - intended sacrificial lambs - have to fight it out in the Maoist heartland. You think the RNA is what it's cracked out to be. Mind you, it is a private army of the palace. It will sacrifice as many soldiers (children of people) as it takes to strengthen the palace and the few top army brass.
You don't need evidence to prove how bad monarchy & rna have been. Our great great great parents have lived under their system and we've lived under their system as well. And if we don't watch out, our children and grand children are gonna get it even worse.
Orwell wrote: Imagine a boot pressing your face to the ground FOREVER. this is what has characterized autocratic monarchy and RNA ever since the royal coup.
The SPA declaration has declawed and defanged the palace, and I hope it will bring the army under the control of the people as soon as possible, even if it has to remove some top army brass. This declaration – the Nepali “magna carta – the outcome of the rhodendron revolution - is good for the people as well as for the poor Nepali army soldiers who have been exploited for too long.
The rule of a few over the majority is finally over. The USA and UK have supported the declaration. So has India. The sooner the top army brass gets this lesson, the better it is for all concerned.
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