Love-hate relationship

 

Six months have passed since KP Sharma Oli took office. From big aspirations and high hopes in the early days of government forma­tion, his image is slowly declining. I have been closely following the prime minister’s statements, speeches, interviews, and the kinds of activities he is engaged in. In doing so, I feel I have developed a love-hate relationship with the man. Sometimes I feel he’s doing what he can in a difficult and complex system. At other times, however, I feel he is a waste altogether. When hating him, I’m asking myself: Am I being too harsh? And when I’m in admiration, I’m thinking: Maybe I’m being too kind.

Truth is, I want to be able to hold on to the aspirations I had during election time, not necessarily for KP Oli, but for a positive and forward-looking new chapter to begin. But I can feel these hopes being dashed as the days pass. I find myself constantly wondering what this ‘two-third majority’ is doing and why it seems incapable of delivering despite the electoral advantage.

Since taking office, Oli has announced so many things: zero tolerance of corruption, good gov­ernance, transparency, prosper­ity, balanced foreign relations with China and India, and more.

The issues of corruption, good governance and transparency took some momentum in the first few months but have since lost steam. In fact, on corruption, there seems to be a selective bias on who should and should not be held accountable, with those close to the PM and other NCP colleagues exempt from trans­parency measures.

In terms of building on relations with China and India, Oli has indeed taken some action to level the play­ing field. However, this obsessive focus on China and India has left other foreign allies in the dark, lead­ing to a feeling of isolation. As the foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali has highlighted, if other foreign allies are feeling isolated, that too is not a positive development.

As a result, what was once an overwhelming support for the administration has declined signifi­cantly. A good number of people still believe in this government and its intentions. However, there is a growing number of naysayers.

Recently, I have closely studied two of PM Oli’s recent statements: a speech delivered at the closing ceremony of the Conference on the Constitution of Nepal 2015 on August 13 in Kathmandu and this week’s interview with him on AP1 Television taken by Tika Ram Yatri.

While addressing the conference, PM Oli expressed his firm commit­ment to implementing the constitu­tion, abiding by its ‘letter and spirit’. Oli said, “Make no mistake. We will do what the constitution requires of the government, and deliver to the people peace, good governance, development, and prosperity”. He added, “Through the Constitution, we have adopted a competitive multi-party system of governance with constitutional supremacy, peri­odic elections, human rights, the rule of law, separation of powers as well as check and balance, and an independent judiciary.” It was probably one of the best speeches delivered—in English!—by PM Oli. It was rich in content and gave a holistic picture of our constitution.

The second instance, his inter­view on the Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya talk show, made an emotional appeal to the public. He said, “I don’t know how long I will live but I know I will try, as much as I can, to put Nepal on the path of prosper­ity”. He insisted, “I have nothing to gain at the personal level from this position. My life is for this country and the people”.

In both instances, there is a gen­eral commitment to progress and development. But there is little articulation—and thus action—on how that would materialize. As such, there is a lurking fear that all these promises will be relegated to speeches and interviews, with very little delivery as the months turn into years