It is believed that the political crisis created by the Gen-G explosion will be resolved through the House of Representatives elections. The deadline for the electoral government has been set - the election on Falgun 21. The question in society is - what will happen after that? If there is an election, a new parliament will be formed, otherwise the term of the electoral government will be extended by a month and a half. There is no other option but an elected parliament, is there?

Rather, the question is – will the crisis of the Nepali state and society then go away on its own? Is it a crisis of a few leaders that will automatically be resolved after their departure? Or is it a multifaceted crisis arising from a crisis of ideas?

The election fever has reached its peak in the political circle. The internal power struggle within the Congress and UML, which are preparing for the party convention, is at its peak. It seems that the Maoists and other leftist elements have already formed new parties and entered the election fray. In the east, the ‘Harkist’ Labor Party has already gained electoral fervor.

Many new parties have also opened their shutters in a bid to make a dent in this election opportunity. This is the scene on the surface. However, what is surprising is that no one seems to be trying to find the root of the crisis that Nepali society and people are facing and find a solution to it. Therefore, the question is alive – are we emerging from the crisis or are we sinking deeper into it?

The tide of rebellion

The political explanation for the Gen-G explosion has been abundant. The role of the Oli government, the role of the police/army, the role of Gen-G leaders, the role of Balen, the role of arsonists, etc. are being discussed from all angles. The UML and its chairman KP Oli, who appear to be the most defensive, have interpreted the entire upheaval as a regression/counter-revolution. While those who believe that the system should be changed prefer to call it a revolution, they consider the situation of going to the polls a ‘lost opportunity’. Others are interpreting it in a way that will secure their respective political ‘locations’.

The historical fact is that no movement or rebellion without ideas, organization, and leadership can produce concrete results. If there is no clear idea and specific support, the path will be lost, and the goal will be blurred. Therefore, no one knows how the Gen-G movement strayed from its declared path and ended up somewhere else. How far the movement was and where the painful rebellion was born, it went beyond the knowledge and imagination of its organizers. Therefore, the leaders of the Gen-G movement have become the guardians of the paradoxical situation of not being able to take responsibility for the rebellion, but having to take responsibility for the government and the 'mid-term' elections that were born from the same rebellion. The history of sudden rebellions is similar.

Otherwise, every movement and rebellion organized from the mass level expands the rights and power of the people. It makes democracy more prosperous and developed. Be it the religious reform movement of Yogmaya or the anti-Rana initiative of the Praja Parishad, the armed/unarmed movements of the Congress or the joint people's movement of 046 BS, the Maoist people's war or the people's movement of 2062/63 BS, the Madhesh movement or the Tharuhat rebellion, the tribal movements or the Dalit movement, the women's movement or the workers/farmers' movements, every political/social movement has a history of expanding the rights and power of the people. It is because each step of the movement and rebellion has broken the traditional economic and political shackles and increased the economic, social and political access and power of the people that Nepali society has reached its current state.

Sadly, the Gen-G movement could not add a new step to the journey of democracy. It became a bloody history of martyrdom, but it could not become a new ray of consciousness. It created an amazing picture of smoke, but it could not become a pillar of trust for the grassroots people. Instead, the cry of those who made unnecessary contracts of thought grew stronger and the agenda of people's rights disappeared somewhere in the noise. In this way, the rebellion, which was based on an unthinking, unorganized and leaderless movement, broke the dam and released a flood for unthinking and opportunistic messiahs. Ultimately, the social, economic and political crisis became even more acute and deep.

The smoke of messianism

Why did the parties that took the responsibility of institutionalizing the federal democratic republic fall under the circle of questions within a few years of the promulgation of the constitution? We will discuss this question separately. However, the truth that the messianic trend emerged in Nepali politics from within the circle of that question is noteworthy here. Messianism sets up a messiah and therefore shows an airy dream of liberating the people by relieving all suffering.

Understanding the turbulent history of statehood and society, its contradictions, the struggles, hard work and progress of various sections of the people, and leading it with coherent ideas is not part of the curriculum of messianism. Therefore, messianism itself is opportunism and is the path to creating arbitrary and autocratic rulers.

It can be said without hesitation – Balen and Ravi Lamichhane are characters who suddenly emerged in politics by embracing this messianism. Even when the destructive rebellion broke out on the back of the Gen-G movement, the role of these two characters and their followers was clearly organized, suspicious and opportunistic. It was not surprising that messianism became the voice after ideas were abolished in politics. The collapse of the strongholds of political heritage and the formation of new ones can also be considered natural. But the world saw an example in Nepal that messianism can go to the extent of marginalizing the complex issues of public life and bringing the state to ruin for the sake of its digital revival of its messianic incarnation and its hunger for power. This too probably became a record worthy of being written in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Outline of the crisis

Eleven years ago, when the debate on state restructuring was going on in the Constituent Assembly, this columnist wrote, ‘The search for villains continues in Nepali politics… If a Panchayat-style constitution is made by discarding the issue of federalism and identity, it will not bring fundamental changes in the lives of the people… So who will be the new villain now?’ (‘Federalism: A Misguided Debate’, Kantipur, November 20, 2018).

At that time, the issue of bringing the Singha Durbar-centered regime closer to the people through state restructuring was at the center of the fight. The Congress-UML were essentially against this issue. KP Oli was the most vocal leader against the essential issues of identity and rights of oppressed communities, including ethnic, regional, and gender.

After the 2072 BS earthquake and blockade, Oli became the common leader and hero of the Congress-UML and the liberal elite who did not want to change the character of the traditional state. Who did the Gen-G rebellion that exploded eleven years later declare the villain? The same KP Oli and the Congress-UML. What does this strange coincidence of history say that if change is left half-baked without giving it its due, it will give rise to rebellion over time.

What happened by insisting on not restructuring the organs of the state under the influence of the Thalus? Could such a state withstand an uprising? What did it prosper by maintaining the character of the state by paralyzing the provinces and even requiring local level people's representatives to go to Singha Durbar to get the budget? Did you find yourself safe within the four walls of the metropolis, where even the fire brigade was locked when the Singha Durbar was set on fire?

What was the philosophy enshrined in the Interim Constitution by the People's War, the Second People's Movement, and all the movements that arose from the masses? To increase the political, economic, and social power of the people and to make them public servants by pulling out the teeth of the elite power centered in Kathmandu. If this promise had been honestly fulfilled, there would have been no dry field where the fire of rebellion could be ignited. The pit of messianism would not have been awakened.

After the life of thought was taken out of politics, it became nothing more than an election game. As the roots of the ideological crisis deepened, the branches of the multifaceted crisis spread. What is more serious is that even in the political landscape after such an explosion, the debate of thought is equally absent. Is this normal? In fact, this is an abnormal thing that has been normalized. There is a clamor about corruption, but there is no debate on the structure and character of the state that breeds corruption. There is talk of anger and despair, but in the silence after the uprising, there is hope that the gunpowder is still not sure.

What is certain is the escalating economic crisis, the increasing crime rate in society every day, the collapse of the family and social system in the dream of Europe/America, the dilapidated agriculture and all sectors of production, and the expectation of one explosion after another. What is even more certain is the messianic talk of generating electricity from garbage and lighting up the city, the political rhetoric of getting rich overnight by selling stones/sand, and the talk of ‘building a country’ like an abstract island, leaving the people in the abyss of poverty, inequality and discrimination. These and similar crises, and these and similar stunts are loudly sounding the trumpet of an ideological crisis.

Outline of the crisis

Nepal’s crisis cannot be understood in isolation from the crisis seen in the world system. This does not mean that just because populism has become dominant in Europe/America, it is inevitable that a new variant of messianism will prevail in Nepal. Rather, since our crisis is closely linked to the world order, it is not isolated from the ideological crisis that the world is facing. Basically, parties based on liberalism and Marxism have created the history of Nepal's democracy.

Another truth is that Nepal had been entangled in the economic and political entanglement of the Euro-American world order since the Panchayat period. The democratic system has moved forward by adopting that economic and political tradition. After being mixed with parliamentary practices, even Marxists have been adopting it.

The historical character of the Gorkhali regime and the Euro-American economic and political system have merged to form a hybrid character of the Nepali state. The federal democratic republic was expected to change the character of the Gorkhali regime, but Oli's politics have also ruined that.

The more changes there were, the more the elite and neo-elite of the monarchist trend were not digesting them. They were watching with dismay the Dalits, Janajati, women, Madhesi, and Tharus from far-flung and marginal areas of the state structure. That is why on the same day of the Tinkune demolition on Chaitra 15, the RPP leader of the elite family of Kathmandu, Rabindra Mishra, was shouting and calling for the Parliament building to be stormed. Wasn't the 'target' outlined on that day?

Well, another strange coincidence is that the fire of rebellion has almost ended monarchist politics. Perhaps the greed for the throne, which could not be achieved even in a vacuum, was somewhere in the minds of the former royal family, but it has been consumed in the fire of that rebellion. However, the ideological crisis has not abated, so our society is sitting on the ashes of many other social, economic, and political explosions.

Finally,

Sushila Karki's elected government, as soon as it stepped into Singha Durbar, took the initiative to take foreign loans, cut the budget that reached the villages and focused on big projects, etc., which character does it reflect? The same hybrid character of state power. Taking loans for big projects in the name of development, and swapping contracts and contractors.

A dependent character of making laws, budgets, policies, and programs not to truly meet the needs and creativity of the society and the country, but to truly meet the standards set by the neoliberal world order. A race of modernity that will never be understood and never be found by constantly insulting the indigenous knowledge, skills, crafts, and hard work of the people. In this and all such inconsistent state knowledge and character-changing ideas and knowledge production, we are producing a messiah in a crisis time. And which issue of Gen-G will the election address? Which crisis will it overcome?