A few years ago, there was a debate about Nepali intellectuals in the public media. A debate has begun again about intellectuals, intellectuals and thinkers in Nepali society. The debate about Nepali intellectuals continues with an article titled ‘The Traditionalist Circle Fearing Departure’ by political analyst and writer Bishnu Sapkota published in ‘Kantipur’ on 3rd Jestha. Sapkota has not only glorified the newly elected Prime Minister and the National Independent Party that has emerged as a new political force, but has also expressed his anger at the ‘old intellectuals’ being criticized for their slander.

Sapkota has not even been able to explain the simple question of whether intellectuals are ‘new or old’. In the history of the world, no intellectual has been defined as ‘old’ or ‘new’. Who are the ‘old intellectuals’ mentioned in the article? Who are the ‘new intellectuals’? What is the difference between them? A simple answer has not been given to the basic question. He seems to have expressed three main intentions in the article.

One, Balen's rise in Nepali politics has been exaggerated as an international miracle through slander. This is an expression of collusion with the ruler, that is, it is an intellectual undertaking to legitimize autocracy. Two, Sapkota has interpreted the election results as a defeat for Nepal's leftist intellectual thought. The article rejects the intellectual group that criticizes and warns the state from a theoretical-ideological perspective. The intellectual bankruptcy of not being able to distinguish between 'leftists' and 'communists' in theory is visible in the article. He has emphasized the context that the people sought liberation from 'hollow' ideology. However, the country's economy and politics are operated only from certain ideas and perspectives.

The fact that the process of understanding, synthesizing and finding solutions to socio-economic contradictions is based on a certain ideology has also been ignored. Just as politics is not possible without thought, he is also not aware of the fact that there are no intellectuals without thought. Third, the evaluation of intellectuals should be based on the intellectual contribution they have made to society, politics, economy, culture or any important field. However, Sapkota's article contains the idea of ​​'I am right' and 'I am a competent intellectual', which is the product of arrogance based on hegemony. It is not natural for an intellectual to be arrogant.

The role of intellectuals
Intellectuals and intellectuals are different. Intellectuals make a living by buying and selling their knowledge in the labor market. They perform some service or do directed labor within a certain scope. Therefore, an employee of national and international organizations is an intellectual. Those who work according to the needs of organizations and make a living from them are not intellectuals, they are basically intellectuals. Naturally, they protect or serve institutional interests or the interests of the breadwinner. Intellectuals are not loyal to any master or are not controlled. They independently produce knowledge, expand critical consciousness, and always keep the state on guard. Intellectuals are established as the most intellectuals in Nepali intellectual discourse.

Intellectuals analyze the contents of society and produce new knowledge. They do not just collect information, they analyze that information based on a certain worldview and make it public as new knowledge. Such intellectual food helps to move society, politics, and the economy forward.

The rise of Balen in Nepali politics has been exaggerated as an international miracle through slander. Nepali society has class, ethnic, gender, linguistic-cultural diversity. There are also contradictions among those diversities. Intellectuals can analyze those contradictions, identify problems and provide a solution. But ironically, Nepal is dominated by intellectual patriarchy, and women are not accepted as intellectuals.

Indigenous peoples and tribes have immense cultural civilization, but society is not ready to easily accept indigenous peoples and tribes as intellectuals. Nepali society is not even ready to listen to Dalits and marginalized people as intellectuals. Khas Arya men are considered the main intellectuals of Nepali society. The question arises, the main contradictions of Nepali society are based on patriarchy and the caste system. Can there be public intellectuals who do not have deep knowledge on these issues?

Intellectuals play a very important role in expanding critical consciousness. Historically, when knowledge was limited to certain castes and classes, it basically acted as a defense mechanism for power. It is the intellectual's job to challenge the narratives created by such history and to create alternative ideas. For example, some intellectuals strongly oppose the reservation given to marginalized communities, but they are not ready to calculate the atrocities committed by the state against the oppressed community in history and the economic, political, social and mental damage it has caused to the entire community. Intellectuals have an important role in critically analyzing the narrative created by the state and in creating critical and alternative knowledge.

Intellectuals have a responsibility to warn, not to be a pawn of power. After World War II, American writer and thinker Dwight MacDonald wrote an article about the role of intellectuals. In an article published in 'Politics' around 1947, he described the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in the name of ending the war as the greatest crime in history. And, he continued to write that the Americans were basically responsible for this. The meaning of his question was that it is the duty and responsibility of intellectuals to question the tyranny of the government. When extreme tyranny is being committed against the poor, squatters, workers, women, Dalits and marginalized communities in the country, ignoring these issues is not fulfilling the duty of intellectuals. Nepali society does not really need such intellectuals.

In fact, the intellectual community continues to resist the tyrannical system. In 1967, American thinker Noam Chomsky wrote in an article, ‘Intellectuals must speak the truth and expose lies to make people certain, clear and empowered.’ Chomsky, a thinker who questions the serious weaknesses of the American government, is constantly raising such questions or, let's say, arguing to shake the world capitalist power. Nepal's Finance Minister is working hard to steer the country towards an economic system that openly enriches the capitalist class and traps the poor in a vicious cycle of poverty. It is the responsibility of the intellectual class to have a public debate on the extreme inequality that such an economic system can bring.

The stronger the opposition in a parliamentary system, the stronger it makes parliamentary democracy. There are many examples of parliaments with a weak opposition that have basically promoted anarchy and autocracy. Similarly, intellectuals should play the role of a permanent opposition to move society forward with ideas, perspectives, and knowledge. Being subservient to, brokering, and manipulating the government is not being an intellectual.

Intellectual brokering tendency
In principle, intellectuals challenge the government and stand strongly against anti-people actions. However, not all intellectuals become the opposition of the government and society. The intellectuals of a certain elite class, who are exercising the power of hereditary power and oppressing the oppressed classes and communities, have no particular interest or concern for the justice and liberation of the people. That is why most of the elite intellectuals in the Nepali public sphere have no interest in patriarchy, nor in the end of the caste system because they benefit the most from this system. That is why they glorify the ruler who parades the bulldozer on the chests of the poor, squatters and landless. They consider the barbarity of the cruel ruler who plays Holi in the blood of the people and swims in tears as grand and democratic.

As the Italian Marxist thinker Antony Gramsci said, the elite of society uses all available public means to fulfill their interests and create a monopoly on knowledge. Women are subjected to daily violence, rape and murder, they turn a blind eye. Millions of people are forced to live a daily life of humiliation because of caste, forced to face violence at every step. None of these issues become an issue for the intellectuals who broker power. The working class, forced to live in extreme poverty, is being exploited by the capitalists on one hand, and is being forced to suffer from extreme inflation on the other. The state is trying to move forward at a rapid pace towards an economic system that feeds the capitalists and robs the poor, farmers, and workers. However, some intellectuals see this as economic prosperity. More than two workers are forced to return from abroad in shrouds every day, the state does not keep any account of their life value.

As the Italian Marxist thinker Antony Gramsci said, the elite of society uses all available public means to fulfill their interests and create a monopoly on knowledge. Especially in the past, in the guise of education, knowledge and intellectualism, the crowd of those who have been following the Rana, Shah or party has reached the Balen circle. When there is no desire to do intellectual work on the issue of oppressed gender, caste, language, culture and community, it is the circle of power that they do. Such a tendency has been dominating the Nepali public intellectuals for a long time.

There was a large group of intellectuals who provided fascist knowledge to the fascist ruler of Italy, Mussolini. Giovanni Gentle and his group of intellectuals played an important role in legitimizing Mussolini's fascism. The fascist ruler of Germany, Hitler, also took the help of intellectuals like Joseph Goebbels and Alfred Rosenberg. The intellectual community has a very big role in legitimizing all autocratic, dictatorial and right-wing regimes around the world. Such intellectuals obey the autocratic regime, write articles and books in the construction of the regime's commentary. And, they disseminate toxic anti-people ideas. Nepal is also not exempt from it, the role of intellectual brokers is basically significant in the work of strengthening the authoritarian ruler.