Political selfishness to usurp power has made our country insecure: Dr. Bhandari

Reporters Club Event: “Political selfishness to usurp power has made our country insecure,” said former Member of the constituent assembly and senior leader of the Nepali Congress Dr. Chandra Bhandari.

“Even though the government has a 2/3rd majority it has misled the people of Nepal who are innocent. We have to look into our borders and develop them, look at the Chinese side of the border as compared to ours. We have not been able to station any of our troops. This should have been done a long time back”.

“We are at a crucial time where lies, deceit, and corruption is rampant in the system while our citizens are largely innocent and place their trust easily on the politicians. The latter is only interested in maintaining power and administrating without putting in due efforts for the nation. There has to be a conscious resolve to save your nation, take all required steps if necessary but do not put the nation in a difficult situation like it is”

Dr. Bhandari also spoke about rampant corruption, and how facilities that would have made life easier, but since it is not available, people have to go abroad.

“Look at Civil Hospital or Bir Hospital, in the latter only one VIP used the service that was by late leader Ganesh Man Singh, most of our leaders go abroad for treatment which is not necessary if we could facilitate and have access to those resources and technology.

Corrective measures have to be taken in order to curb corruption and stop people from migrating to a foreign land in search of opportunity.

Dr. Bhandari also said that whether it is India or China, disputes have to be resolved through diplomatic means. He was thankful to the media for raising the issues of corruption that the government was involved in. NCELL, Airplane procurement, Gold smuggling, and various other corrupt activities are ignored while these are major issues to be raised in the Parliament but no one brings it up. The media has been doing a favor to the country by critically bringing out the issues time and again for an informed public”

“We have to educate ourselves on how to bring issues up for discussion in the parliament, when there was a blockade while there was not much debate on our side, it was Indian National Congress leader Mani Shanker Aiyyar who opposed the government’s move and there was a huge debate regarding the issue in the Indian Parliament. Why are we not being able to discuss our issues here?”

“We have a multidimensional relationship with India and we in people to people relations are closer than our northern neighbor. We have to take an educated, and diplomatic stand and resolve issues amicably which would not hurt the sentiments of the people on either side. Our Gorkha soldiers have sacrificed their lives for their nation. They do understand the intricacies of our relationship. We need to bring our problems forward and take a stand.

“We are steeped in corruption. While there is collusiveness between the mafia and the politicians this network is severely affecting the course of development for our country. We cannot just say they will be arrested, we have to initiate actions, and leaders have to show seriousness toward curbing corruption” he said.