It was the first week of November. A villager asked me, ‘What are you doing these days, brother?’ I said, ‘I’m writing a book.’

He said with great disappointment, ‘Brother, where did you waste time writing books when you should be building a country?’ He said this – Let’s say, doctors are wasting time in hospitals instead of building a country. Professors are wasting time in universities instead of building a country. Athletes are wasting time on the field instead of building a country. Poets are writing poems instead of building a country. And writers are writing books instead of building a country. 

Brother is just one representative character. Nowadays, I have met many people like him here and there, who are running around day and night in a hurry to build a country. Sometimes there are meetings and gatherings to build a country, sometimes there are training and conferences to build a country. On one hand, speeches to build a country on social media, on the other hand, press conferences and memorandums to build a country. Let’s say, Nepalis are now possessed by the ghost of ‘building a country’. The longing for the country has awakened. Therefore, nowadays, teachers have stopped teaching and rushed to build a country. Artists have left their art and started working on building a country. Youths have left their colleges and started working on building a country. Businessmen have left their businesses and started working on building a country. And, for that, everyone has chosen only one job – politics. And, there is only one goal – power. They are running like this, as if everything else is useless, the main thing is to build a country. 

Of course, the politics of the country are now in disarray. Because politics has deteriorated, many other things have deteriorated. And, improving it is the imperative task of the present. But does the discourse of building a country guide politics correctly? Or is it another delusion that in itself makes politics directionless? Today, let us discuss these and similar questions.

It is certainly true, when you hear it quickly, the talk of building a country sounds very appealing. Like a rhythmic poem. Like a dream seen by a revolutionary. Like a passionate slogan to be carried on the street. Enthusiastic when heard, patriotic when seen. But when you think deeply, you find no life in this slogan. Neither can it be decorated with its edges, nor its top. What is meant by building a country? When you seriously consider this question, the more attractive this slogan sounds, the more it seems hollow. This is a slogan that does not address people's lives, does not guide politics, but instead leaves it more ambiguous and confusing. 

Because, the concept of 'building a country' is itself a very abstract thing. Whose country to build? What kind of country to build? This is such an abstract concept that separates the country and the people. In other words, this concept likes the national song, but ignores the person who sings that song. This is such an abstract thing that sings the song 'There should be equal jasmine for everyone', but does not give that jasmine a place to stand on the street. This is such an abstract thing that likes the song of 'Mantha', but does not consider Mantha a person. This concept talks about giving life for the Chucche map, but separates the people living within that Chucche map from its politics. This concept considers it justified to expand roads, but does not see the tears of the homeless when the roads are demolished. This is such a stereotyped and traditional view that one gets happy when seeing a photo of swaying rice stalks in Madhesh, but gets upset when one talks about giving land to the farmers who grow the same rice.

‘The talk of building a country’ is mainly an empty dream of those people who neither like the language of those who sweat in the hot sun of the Terai, nor the feelings of those who endure the peaks of the Himalayas. Of course, they find the plains of the Terai attractive and the meandering streams of the Himalayas enchanting. But the people there? They find them disgusting. They like tall houses, big roads, loud cars and feel disgusted when they see a worker standing next to them. 

In this way, the slogan of building a country does not represent the real life of the people. And, this is where countless problems in politics begin. That is why the slogan of building a country is not a suitable slogan for those who do people's politics. It is not a suitable proposal for democratic politics. It is not a people-centered idea. It is not a humanistic commentary. In this sense, today we need politics that does not build a country, but that changes people's lives. What needs to be understood here is that when people's lives change, the country naturally changes itself. But there is no guarantee that all people's lives will change when the country changes. Why is this said? Politics should understand people and countries from multidimensional meanings and relationships. Let's think about what a country is? Geography, borders, soil. What happens if we separate the country from the people? And, what does it look like if we separate people and build a country? 

If we ask people who are rushing to build a country today what 'building a country' means, they will not get any concrete answer. This is also natural because building a country is abstract. What is concrete is changing people's lives. For which people must be assured of their self-respect and prosperity. Let's think about how people achieve self-respect and prosperity? How do people's daily lives prosper? How do the conditions of education, health and social justice change? How do production increase? How do jobs get created? These are the questions that need to be discussed today. But those who are fascinated by the issue of nation-building prefer to play with unemployment figures rather than the unemployed. What should have been done was building hospitals. Building universities. Increasing agricultural production. Improving tourism. Increasing employment. Ending corruption. Ensuring justice. But leaving all that aside, when politics gets stuck directly on the abstract dream of nation-building, then it is certain that everything becomes confused and nothing that needs to be built gets built. A

question may arise, what is worse than nation-building? The abstract language of ‘nation-building’ makes it easy for politics to escape responsibility. Yesterday, half a century was wasted trying to build socialism, but not a single good school and hospital was built in the village. Perhaps if we had dreamed of building a good school and hospital in the village yesterday, it would have been built. But we jumped into the abstract dream of socialism. Similarly, today, the abstract thing of nation-building will take up our next half decade, but it is certain that not a single old age home will be built in the village.

Because when all politics runs after mirages, then the wells found on the way are left unnoticed. And, the thirst of the people is not quenched. It is certain that when people embark on the big mission of building a country, they lose sight of small tasks. Then, even if education is not improved, even if the health system is in disarray, even if the lives of workers are insecure. Because it can be said, ‘We are building a country.’ What is more dangerous is that this abstract commentary gives leaders the opportunity to escape responsibility. It inspires them to become extraordinary by remaining neutral on the concrete issues of the people. When people are shown the ‘big dream of building a country’, naturally, small dreams become secondary. And, politics disappears from the face of the earth. 

Therefore, what we need to build today is not a country, but life. If any politics cannot make the lives of the common man safer, more respected and more hopeful than before, then its ‘country-building’ politics is just sloganeering. A country is built when a young person is no longer forced to leave the country. A country is built when the sick do not have to sell their property for treatment. A country is built when farmers get the price of their produce. A country is built when women can walk on the streets without fear. A country is built when citizens get a stake in the state. All these are questions of life, not empty slogans of building a country. Therefore, the politics we need today is the politics of ‘changing people’s lives’. Otherwise, talking about ‘building a country’ without changing people’s lives is just a ‘fantasy’ – nice to hear, but unrelated to life.