“We the youth will not forgive if the Nepalese political parties do not get their act together”
Youth are the future of a country and country’s power. Youth are strong forces in social movements. Any idea of national development and positive change in a country is just a myth without the active participation of youth in it. If any section of the society in any country is most important for change, again it is the young generation. So, youth involvement for making new constitution and peaceful Nepal are the major challenging issues for Nepalese youths.
I hold Nepali youth political leadership in high esteem. But never has it, even once, conducted itself well and come up to my expectations. My high hopes and aspirations about old political leaders have been largely believed so far.
I sincerely believe that the reins of Nepali leadership should be in the hand of dynamic and energetic youths who are men of high principles and morals. They should be free of high sounding moral jargon and populist slogans to stir public enthusiasm and then let it die. They should be persons who practice what preach while keeping their minds open and receptive to new ideas and thoughts. They must understand the real problems of vast Nepali people and lead the country truly on the road to peace and prosperity. They must be wholly devoted to the nation and be free from self interest. People from the grassroots level to world dignitaries must have an unshakable faith in their ability and integrity.
There is no shortage of old Nepalese leaders who are giving fake dreams of “New Nepal” to the general public of our nation. All the late and ex-kings who ruled the country also tried to provide same kind of fake dreams but uncertainly failed. They claimed that they derived their power from the trust of the Nepalese people and youths but, in fact, no ruler cared even a bit about the real Nepalese and young generation of Nepal. The history of Tribhuvan linked with the emergence of democracy in Nepal; he tried to have an election to a Constituent Assembly (CA). But he died without making any arrangement for the CA election.
Tribhuvan’s successor Mahendra must have sworn more than a hundred times in the name of the people but took away the peripheral power granted to the people’s parliament. In the same way, king Birendra had tried his ability and was more committed to the people’s concept and agreed to give substantial power to the people but he was killed. The younger brother Gynendra tried to do some activities in the name of people and youth but took away all the powers of the parliament and the council of ministers. This resulted to end the life of king’s history in Nepal.
In the same way, the government of Nepali Congress and other political parties tried for something change in nation for betterment of Nepali people but unfortunately failed. The Nepalese people were expecting a lot from Unified CPN (Maoist) when the government of Pushpa Kamal Dahal swore officially in the name of people while taking the oath of office of Prime Minister. The government led by him too failed to give substantial power in the name of people. The recent government of Madhav Kumar Nepal has also failed to win the expectation of Nepali people and Youth of our nation.
Role of youth in development of the nation is an important path. Youth are the force that determines the future of the nation and governs it. However, the government has failed to understand their desire and the support they had provided before and would give in future. The state needs to rightly direct the youth force and provide them appropriate environment and opportunity. Youth should also know about their duty towards the nation.
There is very little time left for the fulfillment of the popular mandate, but the Nepalese political parties are dillydallying in their conventional style. If the constitution is not made within the given deadline, and country plunges into civil war or some kind of social problem, the youth will not forgive; and we will launch a tsunami of the popular revolt as “Youth Revolution I”. Such a tsunami will drown most of the parties and party leaders. It will be too late to realize that swearing by the people must have taken seriously.
-Rajendra Gautam