With the violent suppression of Gen-Z protest today, the political relevance of the two leaders at the center of power—Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba—has ended.
Their relevance expired with the tragic death of at least 18 youths who were shot during street protests on Monday.
If PM Oli and NC President Deuba had even a little leadership ability, a little sensitivity toward the lives of common people, and the patience to listen and understand what others had to say, the Gen-Z wouldn't have had to take to the streets today.
And so many youths wouldn't have had to lose their lives to police bullets.
PM Oli has always been intolerant of social media. Using the unruly protests and indecent behavior of a few people on social media as an excuse, he has always tried to shut it down.
He even tried to bring in a law to severely punish those who write on social media when he was leading the CPN government. Even when he was in the opposition, he not only supported the government's attempts to ban social media but also encouraged it.
Ever since he took over the leadership of the government this time, he has shown an intention to rein in social media.
Using an instruction issued by the Supreme Court about a year ago as an excuse, his government issued a notice asking social media companies to register within a week. The day after the seven-day deadline expired, the government shut down social media. The government decided to ban social media without even creating a law, as the Supreme Court had instructed.
The Nepali Congress, the main partner in the government, also supported this.
No NC minister in the Cabinet protested the decision to ban social media. They also supported the PM.
NC President Deuba appeared so clueless and incompetent that even after the government had already decided to ban social media, he was publicly saying, "We haven't said we're going to ban social media. It's not going to be banned. We've only said we will regulate it."
When he was saying so at a program in Biratnagar on Saturday, it had already been two days since the government had banned social media.
NC calls itself a champion of freedom of expression. Yet, when social media, which has become the primary medium for citizens to exercise this right, was shut down, NC President Deuba seemed indifferent.
At the NC working committee meeting on Sunday, about half a dozen leaders expressed strong dissatisfaction over the social media ban. They protested, saying such a big decision was made without any discussion within the party and that it was a mistake. Several of them said NC should make its position public and the decision to ban social media should be reversed.
But Deuba didn't listen.
He ended the meeting, saying he would talk to his party's ministers.
Even if he couldn't assess the situation himself, he should have immediately talked to the PM and convinced him yesterday to lift the ban on social media after half a dozen of his own party's leaders explained it to him. He should have told PM Oli that if the ban wasn't lifted, the PM would be responsible for the consequences. He should have even threatened that NC would leave the government.
But Deuba is captivated by the lure of power. He is preoccupied with running the coalition government under Oli's leadership until next June without opposing him or making him angry. He is focused solely on his agenda of becoming PM himself after that.
Both Oli and Deuba are so far removed from the reality of society; they have no idea how technology has tied people's lives together, how it has become an integral part of their daily routine. They did not understand the upheaval that banning major social media platforms would bring to the people's lives. When others tried to make them understand, they didn't want to listen.
After the government banned social media, Nepali media widely protested. They explained that this not only takes away the freedom of expression of Nepalis but also harms people's daily lives. Many intellectuals also tried to explain this.
Many people explained that this affects people in almost every profession and business—business owners, doctors treating patients, students, farmers who check the prices of their vegetables in the morning, and people in disaster-prone areas who receive information through social media to save their lives.
Many media outlets, including Setopati, wrote stories to explain the widespread impact of this to the government. They wrote editorials urging the government to immediately lift the social media ban. Senior citizens also tried to make them understand.
PM Oli, however, was overcome by his own arrogance.
From the UML's Statute General Convention held in Godavari from Friday to Sunday, he asked a counter-question, "Is our country's self-respect greater, or the jobs of two-four people?"
Due to PM Oli's arrogance and NC President Deuba's helplessness, more than one and half a dozen Nepali youths have lost their lives.
These two leaders will not be able to shirk their responsibility for this. They cannot blame it on anyone else. May they not have the audacity to do so!
One thing must not be forgotten here—the immediate reason thousands of youths came out onto the streets today is the ban on social media. But that is not the only reason.
The systemic chaos, bad governance, and corruption that have been going on in the state for years, and the inability of those in power to even offer a glimmer of hope that "things will improve, are improving, we are working toward that," are also a major cause of youth dissatisfaction.
Along with this bad governance, the way every state organ has fallen into the grip of political parties, and the way party leaders and workers have violated laws and gotten away with it, has added salt to the wounds of common Nepalis, especially the youths.
All political parties, whether new or old, have defended their leaders when they have violated the law or done illegal things. They have tried to protect them.
Because of this, common people have begun to feel—the law is only for us, it only applies to the helpless!
This had been adding to, piling up, and escalating public dissatisfaction for a long time. When the social media ban came, this dissatisfaction exploded.
When the UML and NC formed a government a year ago, there was an opportunity—to move reforms forward.
In a democratic system, it is rare for the two largest parties in the country to run the government together. The relevance of the two largest parliamentary parties, NC and UML, forming a government together could only be justified by moving reforms forward and instilling the belief that tomorrow would be different from yesterday. It could not possibly be about making Deuba and Oli, who have been PMs multiple times, PMs yet again.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.
Apart from amending a few laws at the beginning, UML and NC could not take any steps toward ending the past chaos or moving reforms forward. Oli and Deuba showed no interest in working toward that direction.
There was already a suspicion that the top leaders of the parties were not fit for this. Many people had said so. They had written about it.
Setopati has repeatedly and consistently advocated for institutional reform. We have written many times about how the three top leaders of the three major parties have become an obstacle to reform. We have written that these three leaders are pushing the parties into an unprecedented crisis.
Immediately after the 2022 election, Setopati also wrote:
Not everyone in today's world has the patience to endure the same leader for thirty years and keep putting him back in power even after he has failed repeatedly. Nepali voters will not endure Gagan Thapa, Balen Shah, or Rabi Lamichhane for another 30 years, either.
Therefore, the current top leaders must understand that their time is up. In exchange for the sacrifices and struggles they made, they have already reaped the principal, interest, and even the compound interest many times over from the opportunities they received.
What is left for Oli, Deuba, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'to gain? What is left for them to do? What miracles do they have left to perform by becoming PM again?
The things we have been saying repeatedly for almost three years have once again been confirmed today in the form of a sad and heartbreaking event.
And now, Nepali society can no longer endure Oli, Deuba, and Dahal who has been leading the Maoist party for the past 35 years and is just as responsible as the other two for the current chaos and political instability.
All people are products of their time. Time produces them, and time also destroys them.
The Hindu epic Mahabharat says:
कालः सृजति भूतानि कालः संहरते प्रभुः।
कालः सुप्तेषु जागर्ति कालो हि दुरतिक्रमः॥
Kalaha srijati bhutani kalaha sanharate prabhuh.
Kalaha supteṣu jagarti kalo hi duratikramah.
(Roughly translated as Time creates all beings, Time destroys them as the Lord.
Time remains awake while others sleep, for Time is indeed invincible.")
In the present context, this can be interpreted as:
Time creates personalities, and time also destroys them. No one can stop time, because even when everyone is asleep, time is awake!
This is also true—every person must perform their role while there is still time. They must fulfill their duty. Time waits for no one. After a person's time is up, no matter how powerful they are, they can do nothing.
For this reason, we believe—the time of PM Oli and NC President Deuba in Nepali politics has ended. Their relevance has expired. The time of Dahal, who is at the center of the political chaos of Nepal, has also ended even if he was not involved in today's incident.
This is because our democracy cannot move forward with these three top leaders at the helm. The three major parties cannot get anywhere by keeping them in power. The people will no longer accept this.
The sooner the leaders of the three parties understand this, the better it will be for them, their respective parties, and the country.
