Nepal Politics 101: Don’t let them wear you down.

If there is one tactic that political forces in Nepal use all the time, most effectively it is this:

They wear you down !

Lets say, you have been victimized. So you launch a hunger strike or agitation or a pressure campaign for your demands to be addressed. In Nepal, your opponents (political forces, government etc) will wait till the last moment and then they promise you something they know they are not capable of delivering. Then they come to you amid-st huge media attention and declare that they have gladly addressed the demands. Everyone (media, your supporters, public) thanks them for helping solve the problem they started.

After assuming that this case has been settled now, your supporters and media attention now shifts to someone else with a new exciting cause. You yourself feel confident your demands are very close to be met. You get taken to meet a few high flying people in the government or political force/organization/party/alliance. You feel your cause is getting due attention. More promises follow. But as time passes slowly you realize this negotiation is just a stalling tactic. You realize that you will have to compromise your demands a bit, because that might help the process move ahead. So you give in an inch. They take in a foot. They know you are now weaker and in a position to settle for less. Then another excuse and then another..

Then one day with desperation, you threaten them with another agitation. They usually only  show a sober face to repeat that they are under instructions. They cannot deliver much more than this. This is how things work here, they say as they sympathize with you.

Most of us usually give up at this stage, bitter and angry. If you approach your supporters and media, they have already latched to another cause so will only write a 5th page synopsis or a byline in television on how you have been misled. But none of us cares or has energy to  find out this is a usual tactic employed here in Nepal.

If you are determined enough, you usually launch another agitation to demand again. This whole process repeats until you tire and fade away. And my friends, this is Nepal Politics 101 !

How do we tackle this ?

The key here is “relentless pursuit of your cause”. Otherwise they will out-run, out-tire and out-fox you. Be warned !

• Never lose your guard until you get. Accept you will only get what you want by out-tiring them.
• And always create and keep an alliance of positive forces that are persistent in their nature. And do align them in the same direction. You will need them at times like this.

Take some heart from Doctor Govind Kc of Teaching hospital who persisted in his fast till death campaign against politicization in hospitals (public institutions).

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