Analysis of a Leader's Reaction to Losing Power: From Grandeur to Despair

The comrade, adorned in a splendid suit and a perfectly placed cap, with gleaming shoes. A convoy of vehicles with sirens and security personnel in tow. Whether at Baluwatar or Singha Durbar: numerous servants and attendants stationed in every room. A constant stream of wealthy traders, businessmen, and foreign guests from morning till evening. Various inaugurations and foundation stone layings. Ten types of seminars and conferences. Acclamations from the masses. A royal procession accompanied by garlands, vermilion powder, and music. From inaugurating Baba Ramdev's Patanjali TV to inaugurating rural municipality buildings, he was constantly busy. High-ranking officials always maintaining a supplicating posture, rushing back and forth with files in hand. The comrade's beaming face and the scramble of dozens of television cameras to capture his every word. A gathering in the rooms of Baluwatar and Singha Durbar by petitioners seeking transfers, promotions, appointments, and contracts. A magnificent display of prestige and honor. Piles of expensive gifts. Heaps of expensive foreign brand liquors. And then, the sweet sleep after a day and night of being exhausted from 'serving' the people, the nation, and the revolution.

  Even more attractive were the foreign trips! Red carpets. Salutes. Stays in the most expensive suites of the most expensive hotels in foreign capitals. Minute-by-minute program schedules. High-level hospitality. Sparkling black limousines and Mercedes. The sweet sounds of grand state banquets and cheers. Meetings after meetings. 'One-on-one' secret consultations. Discussions on major national and international issues. Sweet rest after a busy day!

What days those were! Not everyone experiences that, but for some reason, that attraction to power proved fatal and intoxicating for the comrade. After being separated from power, the comrade experienced great distress and restlessness for a year. For a year, there was unbearable anguish, agitation, and restlessness. That restlessness was manifested in the comrade's speeches throughout the year in a way the world could understand. In the past, the comrade's two partners in power were also ousted, but they appeared balanced, restrained, and dignified. However, the comrade appeared extremely restless. Perhaps he had already guessed that those days would never return.

  Suddenly, the comrade was thrown onto the streets on July 12, 2024, after the UML-Congress formed a coalition government. With that, the rhythm of the comrade's lifestyle, filled with 'fury and heat,' was broken. Now, instead of the luster of 'Sringara Rasa' (the aesthetic of love/beauty), the clumsiness of 'Raudra Rasa' (the aesthetic of anger) and 'Bhayanaka Rasa' (the aesthetic of fear) began to appear on the comrade's face. 'Raudra Rasa' involves anger, while 'Bhayanaka Rasa' involves both fright and fear. After 'Raudra Rasa' displaced 'Sringara Rasa,' the Congress and UML leaders, who were democrats under the 12-point agreement until yesterday, began to appear not as 'partners' but as 'chiefs' of brokers and middlemen. The comrade started hurling abuses at the very parties whose ladder he climbed to secure some seats in the 2075 and 2079 elections, enabling his journey to parliament and government. The parties with whom the comrade had the coincidence of becoming Prime Minister three times overnight turned into brokers and reactionaries.

A democrat when supported, but brokers and middlemen when support is withdrawn! This strange outcry from the comrade, who didn't fit anywhere in the parliamentary game, was notable. Amidst the restlessness caused by his exit, the narrative was created that 'the government was brought down out of fear after the government he led started opening files related to top leaders of UML-Congress.' But that script, carefully prepared by the comrade, had no substance. It was mocking him. The question was directed back at the comrade: If Congress-UML were indeed the masters of corruption and middlemen, how did they remain dear to him for two decades? The reality of the Fake Bhutanese Refugee case is that after the newspaper exposed this case on April 27, 2023, it became global. Since the issue of sending Nepalis posing as fake Bhutanese to the US is directly linked to the security of the US, it was impossible for the government or any subordinate body to cover it up. If they had tried, the intervention of the powerful US intelligence agency, the FBI, was certain. In this context, Richard Neff, the US administration's 'Global Anti-Corruption' chief, visited Nepal in the third week of August 2023. Similarly, the case against the accused in the Lalita Niwas scandal was filed at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) during the Oli government's tenure in February 2020. The investigation had already reached the final stage, the phase of arresting the accused. In this case too, no one could cover it up.

   Was sending one or two leaders of the party and a few high-ranking bureaucrats to jail in the Bhutanese Refugee case and the Lalita Niwas case an act of bravery, as the Maoists claim? Absolutely not. There are numerous examples of high-ranking state officials being jailed in the past. For instance, during the Panchayat era in the 1970s, Bharat Gurung, an associate of Prince Dhirendra, and IGP D.B. Lama were jailed in drug trafficking and corruption cases. Those high officials were extremely powerful during the Panchayat regime. Similarly, Nepali Congress leaders Govinda Raj Joshi, Jay Prakash Prasad Gupta, and Khum Bahadur Khadka also spent many years in jail on corruption charges while their own party was in government. Jay Prakash Prasad Gupta was once a close confidant of Girija Babu.

Just a few days ago, the comrade exclaimed that the 'so-called new ones' are being manipulated by 'domestic and foreign powers.' It might have seemed somewhat appropriate if Oli-Deuba had said that, as they never conducted the 'People's War' from foreign soil. Whenever he has to step out of power, the comrade always raises the issue of foreign powers. Let it be noted that he recently returned after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chief security advisor in Delhi. When he was disgracefully removed from his first government in 2009, he also saw the hand of foreign powers. After leaving the first Maoist government, he vowed not to bow before foreign masters at a rally held in Baneshwor, Kathmandu, in December 2009. He has now clearly understood that he will never attain that pleasure of power again. Perhaps the 'Raudra Rasa' previously seen on the comrade's face in Rukum's Rari, and the 'Karuna Rasa' (the aesthetic of pathos/pity) that appeared on his face afterward, were expressions of this realization.