Democracy is bound by the writ of the state’s several attributes. People’s sense of belonging to the Nepali nation is not just psychological and emotional but also physical, which provides space, resources and identity and enables the shaping of shared history, culture, symbols and core values of public-spiritedness, rules and institutions for peaceful coexistence. The sages, heroes and builders of the nation have stirred the feeling of a sense of political community where all natives have a common identity of equal citizenship to Nepalis above the tribal ones. People complemented each other’s shortfalls and built virtues to lend support to the weaker ones through dan (giving) and cutting their social vices. Social norms, education and public discourse socialised the mortals, where songs, tales, poems and treatises reflected the lightening of dharma beyond law. Awareness of self in the cosmic web gave vigor to the social conscience, thus bonding empathy to all living species.
Nepali state cannot cease itself from the democratic ideals of public service as sacred and inviolable duty despite the subtraction of its social and economic power by heartless neo-liberal leaders who consigned the market, civil society and NGOs to carry out its social duties. It sought to subvert the civil liberties of people for justice expressed in their party promises, parliament, constitution and SDGs. True democracy does not renounce the sovereignty of parliament in policy making, passing of law and test of general will. The legislative power of people is the soul of sovereignty and alienation from it corrupts democracy. The blazing hit of democracy lies in taming the productive, creative and evocative life of Nepalis in proper disposition. Their dignity, discipline and autonomy can come through their civic competence which democracy expects.
Psychic glue
The nation’s soul is a psychic glue that binds natives into nationality, humanity and divinity. Yet the dereliction of native tradition of enlightenment by ideologues and social scientists marks the darkening of the soul. The pursuit of material gain smears morality and spirituality. It is based on the determinism of the voiceless, not to think together and exercise free will.
Nepal’s classical treaties define the rationale of education to tend awakened persons with the ability to know self, assume social responsibilities and reduce the use of muscular clout in social relationships. For character building attuned to larger democratic duties, native Nepali scholars have emphasised the primacy of inner light over outer knowledge of science, administration, skill and technology, though they are essential for career enhancement and fulfill specialized needs of society.
They stressed on producing good leaders like Plato envisaged, not only powerful and cunning who can add the weight of absurdity in society to confuse, but capable of knowing and analyzing the problems through inter-disciplinary aptitude vital to offer real solutions.
Many of them have fallen victim to guilt and a defensive attitude, rather than reflecting, reforming and transforming to become true to self and acquire a democratic personality. Nepal’s educational ideals of release spread the language of communication, sanity of tradition, religion and culture so that people come out of the state of nature, fatalism and bondage of every kind even avidya, false knowledge. Modern use of artificial intelligence may increase efficiency but it lacks conscience and human touch for the creation of a fair society so that the poor can earn all means of survival and progress and settle the unsettled question of justice and its trauma flattening down the generations.
Nepal is an old nation born out of its own knowledge, society, leadership and nature. It is, however, ironic that captive social scientists and ideologically-indoctrinated political leaders are unreflectively colouring it by the Westphalian frame to interpret its attributes, without knowing its origin, purpose and duties. The modern intellectual life of Nepal is thus disembodied from the common life of ordinary people. It does not utilise indigenous knowledge in many areas of life. It is detached from popular feelings and prone to rationality not of national context but of the choice of elites, which creates disharmony between the state and society, unlike the native knowledge which did not create friction between them.
The mobilising factors of people and the will of national leadership to brace state-society coherence have fostered a sense of collective national identity which is now atomised by the market, post-modernism and instrumental politics. They erode common ground for public deliberations and action. As a result, the democratic potential of modernity remains feeble.
The onset of democracy has provided equal civic rights to Nepalis for their self-empowerment, to select responsible leaders and claim opportunity and public goods. Scholars and journalists, however, face interpretative strains about the narration of the state of leaders’ performance, hobbled opposition, instability of governance and constitution and the impulsive tendency of youth to remain as restless as gadflies in search for the safest anchor.
Democracy reconciles social and political contradictions of society by mediation, incentive or law to keep a sane political order. It is disfigured if its principles fall prey to the power bargain of rival forces, the unity of opposites and self-interested leaders who make the nation largely ungovernable. The risk of convulsion against the civic spirit has not relapsed. Opposition is cobbling together to open fissures in politics, degenerate political processes and spur a bloom of litigation. It is suffocating self-supporting and self-perfecting democracy.
Functional democracy in the Nepali state requires many options: civic education to people to transform them into equal citizens, shift of their loyalty from subsidiary identities to the nation, strengthening of a vibrant public sphere where people of all ranks can participate in opinion formation and policy debate, vitalising local party committees and government to aggregate and articulate people’s needs, rights and demands and shape common ground for cooperative action. But as powerful elites have corrupted all public institutions to hide in hedonistic life and become strangers to the people, they have overlooked impersonality and duty.
Consequently, the faith of people breathes their last breath, not in democracy but in transient leadership without the wisdom of statecraft and commitment to sustainable progress. In such a milieu, Nepalis are bound to vent the scream of tremor and emotion stoked by populist politicians, radical intellectuals and social media who do not bear the cost of their deeds and hide against what Nepalis hope to accomplish. The more robust the Nepali state operates under constitutional principles, the better the public and private affairs of the nation are managed under civil laws. Public administration is then made accountable to the state above, to people at the grassroots and stands to prevent the penetration of predatory geopolitics. This makes the local institutions of people efficacious.
In Nepal, they represent the legislative power of people, their will and popular sovereignty and humanise the action of political power by equal civil liberties, rule of law, checks and balances of power, the concept of electoral legitimacy and precocious social change. It can enable uniform conformity to the principles of the constitution and loyalty to it as civic duties that stitch all communities together to embrace the rule of life and balance the personal ambition with public duty of leaders. In socially, culturally and geographically diverse societies like Nepal, only a middle path defined by the constitution can shape their worldview and resolve problems.
But in Nepal this path is, however, mauled by ideologues, cloud capitalists and geopolitical interests under the pressure of regime change. In this sense, the nation needs to cultivate civic patriotism and civic mindedness as a highest virtue. It liberates Nepalis from feudalism, parochialism and colonialism and musters loyalties to the state upon which democracy flourishes. This altruism may look like national selfishness. Democracy itself is constructed to promote public and national interests. By doing so, it harnesses national unity. The critical challenge is how Nepali political parties, founded on partial perspectives and with leaders obsessed with expanding electoral constituencies to win election are socialised in the general tenets of democracy and its particular form, affirming cultural relativism.
Heritage of tolerance to diversity in Nepal has fostered a political culture of democracy but the instrumental nature of party politics that creates great walls around differences stoke prejudices animus to it. They relish the inequality of privileges where the unprivileged ones lack potent agencies for empowerment. The health and educational advantages which privileges buy do not leave opportunity for the poor, the same privilege enabling them to exercise political power even if they hold the majority. This turns democracy into a charade and decays its moral vim. Liberty is not an abstract idea; it relates to the life and hope of Nepalis. Its diffusion in the entire society helps them acquire the means of a better life, an ability to choose their own way and hone civic virtues of mutual respect and recognition.
Creative solutions
The ability to negotiate with diverse groups of society is not an inborn quality; it is learned by practicing the art of politics and finding creative solutions that satisfy all sides. To escape from inhuman determinism, all Nepali leaders need to be socialised into civic sense, a culture of empathy where opposing views are tolerated and opposition is given a space for expression so that national laws and policies are built on consensus, keeping with the spirit of the constitution and international humanitarian obligations. Too much preoccupation with one’s own career, class, age or party, regardless of others' legitimate concerns, breeds ego-centric leadership averse to transfer power to the next generation and thus create an inhospitable environment for power balance across generations for political stability and sustainable peace.
A political culture of insensible glorification of leadership is off beam. It breeds authoritarianism. Political cadres, civil society and ordinary Nepalis have the right to question the integrity of leaders and enforce accountability to their promises. Nepali leaders must assume that they are public persons and, unlike a professor, cannot afford to enjoy a life of mind only, or an engineer who is perfect in the technical details of a construction, but have to deal with fleeting circumstances, anguish and frustration, demand and demonstrations of people.
(Former Reader at the Department of Political Science, TU, Dahal writes on political and social issues.)
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