Politics they say is a game of compromises, and one need not be labelled a coward just because one has compromised. Sometimes agreeing to disagree and yet attempting to move ahead might be the only way out. The question however is how far does one compromise?

Dr. Baburam Bhattrai tried to show his commitment towards ending corruption by allowing a group of anti-corruption activists to come to his office and accepting their T shirt with the campaign “Brastachaari lai kira paros” or may the corrupt rot. I wonder if he has given a thought to the list of people he has in his cabinet, formed after the four point agreement (read compromise) with the Madhesi front.

This is not to say that all Madhesi leaders are corrupt. One would certainly have to wait until this government too is ousted, to see who has earned what. But even among the current cabinet of ministers from the Madhesi front, there is more than one name that is tainted with corruption, money laundering, fraud, and ties with the underworld. Bhagwati Kafle, head of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, the poster boy of the anti-corruption campaign, must be having one hell of a time trying to put off pressure from some of the people in power, considering how many ministers have cases pending against them, and that too beginning with the man in charge of Home.

We all make compromises everyday of our lives. We are compelled to. The compromises of a common man are different from the ones that those in power make only because the commoner’s compromise affects the individual person or family, the powerful’s the entire society. The commoner  compromises out of necessity, the powerful out of desire. The common man has no other option but to allow the driver of the bus he is traveling in, to overload and risk falling off that precarious cliff for he has no other choice but to walk that long mile.

To get to power the politician has to compromise with the same people who were after his life at one point and will not hesitate to do so again. But the politician will do so because he wants that chair. Consider the current alliance between the largest party in the CA and a front made up fringe parties that are constantly fighting and breaking into smaller factions. By agreeing to demands made by the Madhesi front, Baburam Bhattarai and Prachanda both knew what sort of chances they were taking.

No wonder Prachanda was pranting about this being the final chance to resolve issues. But I wonder how they will resolve the federalism issue, on which they have already made their commitment to the Madhesi leaders for an ethnically based, fully autonomous federal state. This issue of federalism, based on ethnicity, was used by the Maoists in the past to garner populist votes, and adopted by the Madhesi parties, after the Madhes movement, even when rationale suggests that federalism solely based on ethnicity, language, culture, or geographical region alone will not be beneficial to Nepal’s sovereignty. Or do they intend to resolve it at all knowing how difficult it is? How many more compromises will Nepal’s politicians make? Until society itself becomes frustrated with itself and collapse?

Political parties have been making compromises at the cost of the nation and the people, allowing for our own standards to fall so low that it will take eons before we can bring some sort of order to our rotting social structure. Nepali society today is willing to compromise to anything for short term benefits. The Maoists want to integrate all their combatants into the state army, and take over complete power and authority, the Nepali Congress has long done away with the very principle that gave birth to the party, the UML has been constantly shifting positions to get to power, the Madhesi leaders are equally opportunistic and hypocrites, and the people, quagmired in fatalism and divided by sentiments that once united them together. No body wants to be a Nepali anymore.

Dr. Bhattarai may or may not be the savior of Nepali society, but I sure hope he knows what he is doing. It would be worse than just a pity if the state his ancestors helped create crumbles down because their offspring is making one too many compromises.

Kaziba is a Nepali who dreams of conquering the world every night, but ends up waking every morning in the same prison.

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