The case of Mr Ananda Raj Batas has unfolded many learnings to Nepalese society. Most specifically speaking, the hoi polloi can now picturise the tripartite relationship between the government people, the bureaucrats and the businessmen.
A leader is going to the government for a particular stint and he seems to give a damn about the country. He fulfills his greed and the interest of his close businessmen who in return help him financially during the time of electioneering. The leader does this because he never knows when he has to leave the power and the hot seat. Every leader who reaches in the government follows the same pattern of workmanship. The main culprit seems to be the political instability and when the political stability is felt to be achieved there is instability of individual power and position because there are too many leaders and most of them should obligatorily be appointed to the ministers to retain the internal balance of the political party. When one party is in power there are many other parties who are power- hungry and they constantly fight to make the current government a failure so that they can take turns to govern the nation. This is done not with a vision of resurrection but to take turns in order to devour what they were hungry for.
It is so pathetic to know how a businessman cracks open into the system in Nepal. It is even more disheartening to know that the leaders who we send to the government as a caretaker work together with the corrupt bureaucrats in order to ease the way in for the so-called entrepreneurs.
Admittedly, a businessman can do anything provided there is profit. Ananda Raj Batas, like any other businessman, may not feel a difference between a barren government land and a historic royal palace and so venture his capital concentrating his explicit connections. They buy legal and financial expertise in order to infiltrate into the system and find safe-landing loopholes. But, is it not the responsibility first of the government officials to curb the anarchy of those businessmen who obtrusively spread their claws everywhere? And, is it not the responsibility of political leaders in the government to provide moral support for the right thing the bureaucrats stand for? Bitter truth: all these three cadres work in unison to betray the nation and misuse the government fund collected from public tax. They are found to be involved in making the policy that serves best for the businessmen. In other words, money can buy everything including power and policy. It is an illusion when we think that a particular party and a particular prime minister is governing and leading the nation. They are just the puppet mostly of big-house businessmen and lessly of international players. They don't and can't work for the people because if they do so they will not get the ticket, will not win the election and thus will not be in power. True leaders are hence paralyzed by the environment around them and we always whiny about not getting the real leaders.
In a nutshell, leaders, bureaucrats and businessmen all work to fulfill the vested interest of each other, the price of which is to be paid by the general public in terms of social imbalances and economic burdens. All these three parties are equally responsible to make the corruption prevailing - it does not matter which political inclination they have.
[The article is written in the light of encroachment of Narayanhiti Royal Palace premisses by one of Ananda Raj Batas's company 'B-management' and was later backslashed by Tourism and Culture Minister Prem Ale resulting into the demolition of newly constructed infrastructures in January 2022. The contract was allegedly awareded to B-management under 'setting'.]
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