Off the Record 054: Out with the old, in with the new

Issue 054 • 27 May 2022

May 27

It’s May 27, 2022, and you’re reading Off the Record, the weekly newsletter from The Record. We are an independent, ad-free, digital news publication out of Kathmandu, Nepal.

I’m Pranaya Rana, editor of The Record, and in this newsletter, we’ll stop, take a deep breath, and dive into one singular issue that defined the past week.

You can read Off the Record for free by visiting this link or subscribe on our website to receive this newsletter in your inbox every Friday.

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening from Kathmandu with a new mayor and deputy mayor. Balen Shah, the 32-year-old rapper-engineer, has been elected mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City with a resounding 61,767 votes, beating the Nepali Congress’ Sirjana Singh, who got 38,341 votes. The UML’s Keshav Sthapit, who many had believed would win the race, received 38,117 votes and came in third place. In the deputy mayor race, 29-year-old communications professional Sunita Dangol, running under the UML banner, was handily elected with a 68,612 votes, another thumping victory over Rameshwor Shrestha of the CPN (Unified Socialist), who got just 23,806 votes.

Compounding the elation at finally having two young leaders for Nepal’s capital city, three other important cities elected independent candidates as mayor — Dharan now has Harka Raj Rai Sampang, Dhangadi has Gopi Hamal, and Janakpur has Manoj Kumar Sah. Although, it should be noted that Sah ran as an independent after not receiving a ticket for the mayoral race from the Nepali Congress. What all of this means constitutes the long read portion of this newsletter, so more on that below.

But before we get there, a few other matters of import.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling overturning all of the Government of Nepal’s decisions regarding the proposed construction of Nijgadh International Airport in Bara. The airport had been widely opposed for its potential impacts on the environment, wildlife, and watershed. According to the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment, 2.4 million trees would have to be cut down. This would undoubtedly alter the ecological balance of the area, which is adjacent to the Parsa National Park. Countless settlements would also be impacted, leading to mass relocation programs.

Besides the environmental costs, the petitioners had also raised questions regarding the necessity of yet another international airport when Pokhara International Airport and Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa are both already coming online. The Supreme Court, citing the Constitution’s Article 30 ‘Right to clean environment’ and the principle of intergenerational justice, overturned all of the government’s previous decisions and asked it to find an alternative if there really is a need for another international airport.

While many have hailed the decision as a bulwark against the exploitation of the environment in pursuit of ‘development’, others, primarily political actors are not too happy. Former Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai called the verdict “fatal” and “regressive”, former Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said that the verdict had “encroached on the executive’s jurisdiction” and “jeopardized Nepal’s development potential”, and infrastructure ‘expert’ Surya Raj Acharya called the decision “shocking”, “unfortunate”, and a symptom of “judicial activism”.

Over the years, The Record has published numerous articles on Nijgadh. If you’d like to refresh your memories, please read:

Nijgadh: Prospects and priorities by Sanjiv Gautam, former director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

Nijgadh Airport: What is proposed and why environmental analysts are so worried by Abha Lal

Nijgadh airport to be catastrophic for Nepal’s tiger and elephant populations by Ishita Shahi

What does the Environmental Impact Assessment report say about the feasibility of the Nijgadh Airport project? by Yunish Ghimire

Oversold, overhyped, evidence-free development by Dewan Rai and Gyanu Adhikari

For the airport yet to come by Sabin Ninglekhu

The Supreme Court has really been in activist mode this past week. Again on Thursday, it reversed the Supreme Court’s own 2020 decision to reduce the life sentence handed down to former Deputy Inspector General Ranjan Koirala for the murder of his wife. Koirala had been controversially freed in July 2020 by the Supreme Court after serving eight and a half years in jail on the rationale that the life sentence was too harsh of a punishment and that the murder appeared “accidental”. That decision had been one of the issues that brought then Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana into disrepute and led to an impeachment motion against him. Koirala will now have to serve the remaining 11-and-a-half years in jail to complete his 20-year life sentence.

Meanwhile, prompted by the outcry against the rape that led to numerous stories of sexual abuse and assault being shared, the Nepal Police have arrested Manoj Pandey, the man accused of raping a 25-year-old makeup artist when she was a minor. It was the artist’s series of videos on social media that had sparked the outcry and led to a demand to remove the one-year statute of limitations on rape. Six lawyers have also petitioned the Supreme Court to review the statute of limitations.

And finally, Uzra Zeya, US undersecretary for civilian security, democracy, and human rights and also special coordinator for Tibetan issues, wrapped up her visit to Nepal on May 22. During her time here, she met with governmental and political leaders and also the Tibetan refugee community, even as the Foreign Ministry professed ignorance. This visit has apparently not sat well with the Chinese. According to a report in The Kathmandu Post, the Chinese have expressed reservations about Zeya’s meeting with Tibetan leaders, leading Nepali leaders to reconfirm Nepal’s support for the One China Policy.

The geopolitical great game appears to be growing in Kathmandu. The visits of a congressional delegation and undersecretary Zeya will now be reciprocated by a visit to the Pentagon by Nepal Army chief General Prabhu Ram Sharma in late June, followed by an official visit to Washington, DC by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in July.

Before we move on to the deep dive, one somber reminder: this Tuesday was the two-year anniversary of the Rukum Massacre where six Dalit and Janajati youths were killed over a marriage dispute. Nabaraj BK and his friends were murdered over a love affair with a Chhetri girl by a mob of ‘upper-caste’ locals. Two years later, the family of those murdered are still awaiting justice and according to reports, efforts are being made to not pursue the case as one of caste-based discrimination. Witnesses and family are reportedly being bribed with money and motorcycles to not give testimony by local politicians. A poetry recital and a candlelight vigil were held in commemoration in Kathmandu and Patan, respectively while a Bheri Pratirodh March was held on the banks of the Bheri River in Rukum to protest continuing caste-based discrimination in the country. If you’d like to read more about the incident, click here and here.

And now, on to the deep dive.

The deep dive: Out with the old, in with the new

Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah and Sunita Dangol are going to be leading Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital and most consequential city, for the next five years as mayor and deputy mayor, respectively. On Friday, the day their win was certified by the Election Commission, the mood was festive with cafes in Kathmandu giving out Balen discounts. On social media, Balen’s supporters, much more than Dangol’s, were in full celebration mode. And it is no wonder. After all, when has an independent candidate with no background in politics, and that too a 32-year-old, even won a mayorship in Nepal? And as if that wasn’t enough, his deputy is a 28-year-old.

Harka Raj Rai, the new mayor of Dharan, is also already winning hearts across the country, not just in his hometown. His quiet, humble manner and focus on ground realities have earned him much praise. His priority, he told The Kathmandu Post, was to ensure a reliable water supply to Dharan’s residents.

In Dhangadi, Gopal ‘Gopi’ Hamal, a businessman and social activist, won comfortably with a sizeable 12,000 votes. Hamal was already a popular personality in Dhangadi. His social work and efforts promoting tourism in Nepal’s far west have endeared him to a lot of the locals. Hamal was previously affiliated with the Bibeksheel Sajha Party but on the advice of some well-wishers, decided to contest the election as an independent.

The wins of these three independents have brought about much-longed-for elation and hope among those of us unaffiliated with any political parties. But even those in the parties appear to have taken these victories in stride. It is just a matter of whether the acknowledgment of the wins will translate into any real change within the political parties. I do hope that the parties will do some introspection and work to ensure that they field more young, capable candidates, rather than the same tired old faces who’ve only received tickets because they were in good standing with a more powerful politician.

But, there is also a fear that the parties, stung by their loss at the hands of untested, young independents, will play spoilsport. After all, the mayor of a city is not all-powerful. Whatever plans Balen Shah might have, he will not be able to push them through on his own. Each city has its own municipal council, which acts as the legislative body. So any mayor will need the support of the council, which is composed of all the ward chiefs who in turn are all party stalwarts. If they so desired, they could easily conspire to sabotage someone that they see as a young upstart.

It will also be difficult for the candidates themselves to live up to their promises, especially in Kathmandu. The city is a notoriously chaotic mess and cleaning it up — quite literally with the garbage piled up on the streets — will be easier said than done. Balen has made modest promises, including improving community schools and focusing on technical education, free home check-ups for the elderly, road and drainage repair, public toilets in all wards, and a ‘one house one tree’ campaign. These are all achievable and if he is able to deliver on them, he might even get a second term.

I for one would like to see a bigger focus on roads, especially pedestrian footpaths. Balen has promised to plant more trees on footpaths but I hope he’s seen how that exercise has unfolded so far. Footpaths one feet wide have a large tree planted smack in the middle, forcing pedestrians to step onto the street to avoid them. Balen hasn’t really spoken much about urbanity and what he thinks Kathmandu should be as a city, but I hope that his vision includes turning Kathmandu into a city that caters less to the car and the motorbike and more to the pedestrian and the cyclist.

What we need in Kathmandu is what every city needs — water, drainage, public transport, parks, and footpaths. I would like to live in a Kathmandu that is as walkable as it was 25 years ago. I would like to sit in a neighborhood park after a long day and read a book. And when going home, I would like to take a bus that arrives on time and doesn’t have passengers lining the aisles and hanging out of the doors. At home, I would like to see that the garbage has been picked up, the taps are running, and there is electricity. These are all basic necessities that Kathmandu once had. But Kathmandu is now a city of a million and the city leadership has ignored these basics for all too long. We really, really don’t need metros, no matter what Surya Raj Acharya says.

In his victory speech, Balen did say that he would work to make Kathmandu the most beautiful city in the world but I am going to excuse him this one hyperbole. Nepal has seen too many politicians promising to turn Nepal into Switzerland so we don’t need grand ideas that are clearly not feasible. Let’s hope that he doesn’t get into the habit of making such statements as time passes. I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, which he certainly deserves. But after years of suffering under unbelievably incompetent leadership, it is difficult not to be cynical.

The road ahead for Balen and Sunita in Kathmandu, Harka Raj in Dharan, and Gopi in Dhangadi is certainly going to be difficult. They do not have any party machinery behind them and will have to be careful in choosing who their advisors are. But they might perhaps also have an easier time, since they are not beholden to any party bosses. They also don’t have to cater to any business interests that might have financed party campaigns at one time or the other. For someone like Harka Raj, who pretty much ran a one-man election campaign, he is free to do as he wishes. And that is what makes him a symbol of hope.

The focus, however, will always come back to Kathmandu. It still remains the city by which all other cities are judged. What happens in Kathmandu tends to recur in other cities. It is not ideal but it is the state of affairs. The entire country will be watching how Balen and Sunita perform because they’re not just independent but also young. If they perform well, they will be held up as ideals of what young people can achieve but if they fail, politics will go back to business as usual and all the momentum will be lost. So there is a lot riding on their shoulders and I am certain that they know it.

But what does this all portend? Does it herald a sea change in Nepali politics? Of course not. Only 13 independents are chiefs of cities or municipalities; all the others are still led by the parties, the Nepali Congress followed by the CPN-UML. So no, this doesn’t mean that everyone has had it with the parties and is going to vote independent. But it is a sign. Once large cities start rejecting the parties, smaller ones will soon follow suit. The politics of kith and kin can only go so far.

As optimistic as these local elections have been, the upcoming federal election, slated for later this year, are certain to be as depressing. Structural changes take a long time and changing age-old mindsets take even longer. And Nepalis are too used to voting along party lines. This is not to say that the political party system is bad in itself, but the manner in which it has been applied in Nepal has been a farce. The parties don’t work the people; the people work for favor from the parties. Still, there is hope that some things are changing, however slowly they might be.

At the local level, we have our Balen, our Gopi our Harka Raj but at the federal level, our next prime minister is still going to be a Deuba, an Oli, a Dahal.

On The Record this past week:

Sajeet M Rajbhandari profiles the artist Samjhana Rajbhandari

Tim Gurung concludes his series about his life and times with an ode to his wife

Prasansha Rimal reports on the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Nijgadh Airport

Happenings this week:

Sunday - The price of fuel went up yet again in Nepal with a liter of petrol now at Rs 180, an increase of Rs 10, and a cylinder of gas at Rs Rs 1,800, an increase of Rs 200. Prices have been rising steadily for nearly a year now and are at an all-time high, affecting the prices of daily goods and food supplies.

Monday - May 24 marked two years since the Rukum Massacre where six primarily Dalit boys were killed by a local mob. Nabaraj BK, one of the boys, had planned to marry a Chettri girl, which had angered the mostly ‘upper-caste’ village locals. In the ensuing violence, the boys jumped into the Bheri River to escape and drowned to death. Two years on, there has been no resolution and no justice.

Tuesday - Two teachers from St Lawrence College in Chabahil were arrested on allegations of sexually abusing students. The students had been protesting both at the school and before the Gaushala police station, demanding that the prepetrators be taken into custody.

Wednesday - Rabindra Mishra resigned as chair of the Bibeksheel Sajha party after suffering massive losses across the country. The party has only won a handful of ward chair positions, being roundly defeated in major cities. In Kathmandu, the party’s candidate placed a distant sixth with just 647 votes.

Thursday - The Supreme Court overturned all of the Government of Nepal’s decisions regarding the proposed Nijgadh Airport in Bara, asking the government to find an alternative if they deemed a new international airport necessary. The verdict was hailed by environmentalists as a great victory.

Friday - The Election Commission announced 32-year-old Balen Shah and 29-year-old Sunita Dangol as the new mayor and deputy mayor respectively for Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

Article of the week:

‘Gulabi Sambad: Discussing what needs discussion’ — Prasansha Rimal profiles a podcast that is providing a space for young people to talk about menstruation, sexual and reproductive health, and abuse and harassment.

That’s all for this week. Off the Record will be back in your inboxes next Friday. I shall see you then, in your emails, for the next edition of Off the Record.

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