An old new Prime Minister
An old new Prime Minister
Nepali Times ईspecial 12 - 18 July 2024 #1220
Hi all,
You have to give it to Comrade Oli’s staying power. He is back on the saddle despite having spent years in solitary for beheading zamindars in Jhapa, ousted several times by his party, his opposition and coalition partners. Could be that having four kidneys inside him gives KP Ba extra oomph. He even has a Covid strain named after him: KP.2.
Or it could be his sharp sense of humour and the molten hot barbs he hurls at rivals. Nepal’s stand-up comedians just could not compete with him, and surrendered long ago. Without doubt, the funniest prime minister in our country’s history (and geography).
Perhaps what has made K P Oli a great statesman is his vision. By no means exhaustive list below of Oli-Ba’s hyperbolic promises during previous three tenures as PM include:
Building an inland port on the Kosi so that Nepal’s ocean-going merchant marine ships can dock there.
National Windbag Authority to set up windfarms in every rural municipality so every household can shoot the breeze.
Exact quote: “A life lived without seeing an Asiatic One-horned Rhinoceros is not a life worth living.”
Turning Nepal into Switzerland is a promise Oli has kept, since they have cuckoo clocks and we have cuckoo leaders, and Nepali billionaires treat Swiss banks as their own.
In 2022, K P Oli promised piped cooking gas in every home.
Speaking of which, this week’s Nepali Times has an investigation by Editor Sonia Awale (page 10-11) on why Nepal should ensure reliable supply of cheap electricity to reduce the demand for state-subsidised LPG. Lowering Nepal’s petroleum import must include deploying EV vehicles as well as making household electrical appliances affordable.
11 July was World Population Day and Nepali Times peered into the future at closing window to take advantage of Nepal’s demographic dividend. Sonia Awale talks to experts to plot policy decisions that would make that possible.
We also interviewed the country representative of the United Nations Population Fund who has advice on Nepal being prepared for an ageing population in the coming decades.
Dirgha Raj Upadhyay takes us to Ladakh this week in a centrefold (page 6-7) report on Nepal’s links to this Indian union territory. Not just does Ladakh look like Mustang, it has a 400-year-old gilded Buddha crafted by artisans from Nepal and we track down a descendant of one of them. The report also includes interviews with Nepali raft and trek guides, restaurant managers and traders who have summer jobs in Ladakh.
All that and more.
Later.
Kunda Dixit