In the space of one week, some political pressure groups closed down the country in support of ethnic federalism, others did the same to protest federalism. The Maoists fanned out to border hotspots to shake angry fists at India, while in Kathmandu activists rallied at the statue of King Prithvi Narayan Shah.
One of the offshoots of the 2006 Andolan and Nepal's transition from monarchy to republic is the ongoing debate about the symbols of our nationhood. In this great churning, accepted beliefs are being challenged, traditional values questioned. There is a genuine and understandable desire on the part of many groups that have historically been marginalised by Kathmandu from decision-making to have their grievances addressed.
The tragedy is that it is all coming at a time of political instability, which means even moderate political leaders have been forced into radical posturing to keep their flocks together. Some donor-funded NGOs have now gone from being development organisations to political pressure groups with incendiary ethnic, racist and separatist agendas. Their views are now so extreme and rhetoric so radical that their political hothead mentors look moderate in comparison.
Things are made worse by a rigid, exclusionary state burdened by politicians who seek to compensate for slipping support by raising slogans of ethnic autonomy without really meaning it. And beneath it all is the volatile substrate of a crumbling economy, the lack of jobs and opportunities, and over-centralised decision-making by unaccountable politicians.
Nepal's neo-republicans love to vilify Prithvi Narayan Shah, but that king showed more foresight, vision and wisdom than any of the leaders of this supposedly 'new' Nepal. Prithvi Narayan didn't conquer Nepal militarily; for the most part he coopted principalities and allowed them self-governance and autonomy. Even when the Valley fell after a military siege he was way ahead of his time in merging his kingdom into Kathmandu rather than the other way around. Prithvi Narayan was much more of a federal democrat than today's sloganeers on the streets.
Prithvi Narayan's gaudily painted statue in Kathmandu may look like a caricature, but it reminds us what true nationalism is. True nationalism doesn't consist in going to Susta, Kalapani and Khurdalautan to deliver xenophobic and paranoid tirades but in being more self-reliant, having more self-respect, and cultivating a sense of unity and nationhood. If we want to reduce Indian influence in Nepal, it is more important to reduce our trade gap through prudent use of our natural resources, and make India dependent on Nepal rather than the other way around. True nationalism is celebrating our diversity, not using it to divide us.
