Gagan’s made a point- we need a system in place that produces good leaders…not corrupt them at the very least..good job on the questions nayantara…

he talks really nice nepali and has very good command in what he says.nice
personally i do have moral support for him….but
so what is this new system? where’s the place for maoists in this new system? what will happen to royalists if we have republic nepal? what will happen to girija,makune, Joshi, Kum Bahadur… if we are having clean politics? what will happen to old system? etc ..aren’t these questioned to be answered first before going for republic… i don’t want all these leaders running out with Nepal Rastriya Banks money like Hussain did in Iraq…I(if not we) need answers not talks..

Well said Gagan. Kudos!!! Now it is time for action to end the evil chapter to rebuild our Motherland. We can do it and we are with you. Go Gagan Go. Lead us the right way with the right system being very positive. “Everything is difficult before they are easy.”

Gagan Jee,
I am fully agree with you views and ideas. This morning when i checked the kantipuronline and nepalnews, i was so distrubed seeing the pictures of the injured and dead of the protestor. I think time has come for Nepal to be established as Republic of Nepal. The place where the son of farmer can be President of Nepal. You have done great job and you have a lot to do. Keep it up.
Jai Nepal.

Gagan Thapa is our next president

EER, make that first President

Kudos to Gagan, He speaks his mind and has taken risks in challenging the old guard of the Democratic system;however, I wonder if Nepali politics is at the stage where people are willing to give him a chance.

Nepali Politics is still so entrenched within the parameters set by people like Girija Bau, Kishun Ji etc. You have a corps of “leaders” like Sher Bahadur, Madhav Nepal etc waiting in the wings to take charge, and I fear that people young in age but with a vision like Gagan’s are easier to throw asunder.

social and political change is always a slow and evolving issue…and im not sure about Gagan’s …VISION…but his WORDS are good to hear and I have in the past heard many of PROMISING characters believeing what they believe…and make others believe. We’ve had plenty such…non delivered…will Gagan deliver? Time will tell…when and if he has an opportunity and a role to play.
We need concrete plans,expertise, commitment, integrity albeit visions.

During these times, way to go Gagan!

Great Gagan Ji, what you have said about private education institutes is right. There are very few students in revolt who have education in private institute. We can change nepal into republic of nepal. What you have said about the past leaders and their contributions to the present, young nepalis should understand that and come into action. Gagan Ji, lead the way, we will follow you! Let’s form a movement towards the republic of nepal. I am in into your campaign.

Well, we have to make the start. We can participate and change nepal. Now, I am not in politics, but, studying medicine privately. I want to join your campaign to change the politics of nepal. India and China really have developed too much. what about our nepal? Now, time has come for students from private education institutes to join. I want to get into action!!!! How to get in touch with you?

hahahaha
Prithivi…jest aside, ur energy makes me want to take u to Gagan.

Toil hard mate n if u cud carry the integrity u have now all the way…u’ll have ur part played well!!!

Gagan should start his own party…

Seriously, there are many students like me who want to revolt against autocratic regime and take the country towards people’s republic. I was mistake about student not joining campaign to save the country from autocracy. Nepal needs us now. let’s fight together.

Well Harke and Bhudai Pandit, if Gagan ji has such clear vision about nepal and youths of nepal then he must open party where youths like us, craving for republic will give every drop of blood to save our nepal. If generation of old leaders like Girija Pd, madav kumar nepal, without any new vision and philosophy can mobilise people to fight, then why cannot Gagan ji? let’s toil together

for my thinking i think Gagan Thapa is telling he is only a sadharan sadasya of student party that means he is not happy and he wants power and post and he is very clever to say that in a smart way.

..Gagan seems to have understood the problem with our system and wants to fix it..but how?
Raising political awareness might be a way.Nepali people must realise that political leaders are there to take the nation on a progressive path, think and act for the good of the ppl and Nepal, and if they dont, they dont have the right to be there..
people must take their voting power seriously…watch the leaders closely, take action if they breach their promises..dishonor them if they are corrupted..publicise their bribes..
if masses of Nepalis can be made aware of these, through awareness campaigns, through education, through NGOs,through youth clubs which is not impossible feat…the system might change..and we might indeed have honest, dedicated political figures..

Gyane is evolving brutally.
He is moulding himself into a DICTATOR.
Our counrty is NOT his personal business.
I rage when I think of the injustice and menacing of people’s life by One single person.
Dogs like Kamal Thapa scaring the Gurkhali?
I rage and rant. It is disturbing my peace. I would not hesitate to draw on my sword for the head of the mis-behaving B******S for the freedom of my children.
The situation is suffocating me.
But where is my PN Shah and I wud have energy to draw???

as one famous nepali poet quotes: a tree laden with fruit always bows to the earth..a big rivers flows quietly, while the spring ‘khahares’ are the loudest…

Gagan’s being humble when he says he’s just a sadharan sadashya…ofcourse he’s not happy with the present situation,who is? it doesnt necessarily mean HE wants to get the power and post..his motives might be to see a peaceful and prosporous Nepal..there ARE people who do not always think about themselves first and are more than ready to make harsh sacrifices for the better of the masses…

System could be changed by two ways, either raising weapons against it or boycotting everything that is inside the system. If all people of nepal believe that there is no system of monarchy or corrupt political parties and start discarding them one by one, there will be no system left in few days. In making people educated for this, if system tries to interfere, then weapons could be used to topple the system in the name of nepal and nepali people.

Systems can be changed through co-ordinated programs which can provide fruitful alternative to great masses of nepali people. Youths of nepal need to unite and help each other. Weapons of wisdom and weapons of science should be used wiesly by nepali youths now to free and save nepal. Let’s unite!

I only just listened to Gagan’s talk. I have to say he is very impressive - he seems to have a very good vision and he is articulate.
The question is if someone like Gagan will get a chance to ever take an official political role and direct policy. I don’t know what his personal affliation is - I assume the congress party?

i think gagan thapa makes a very important point..we cant expect change in 14 yrs…its too lil time to expect change ….democracy is a self-correcting process…..and india is the best example…it had its share of its problem..it still does…from the emergency in 1975 to various wars with china and pakistan to assasinations of two prime ministers to sikh riot in 84 to bombay bomb blast in 93…
still….democarcy survived and the fifty years of patience is paying off now…

we cant expect our leaders to do magic in 14 yrs..we choose our leaders..our leaders are as good as ourselves…
with ppl like gagan thapa, we can hope for better..
gagan thapa for president

those israeli female-army are ridiculous sexy. is it the guns or the uniform or whatever i got seriously turned on

Gagan is populist and a very good orator. A new generation also will be fooled. Guys, it is time we demand pragmatism. Lets bring those in public who have a roadmap.

he has his elder brother studying in germany, one of his younger brother is in US , heard another is trying to come to US. and gagan wants private students to participate in revolution. why can’t he engage his brothers in the revolution? why play with my brother’s life? gagan first call your three brothers back to nepal ask them to fight along with you and then only go and distrub my brothers studies. he you are a hypocrite.

In modern-day Nepal, one brother doesn’t decide for the others what they are to do. Maybe that happens in a folk lore, but not in real life. If Gagan spoke about individual rights and dragged his brothers into his political interests, then he’d be a hypocrite.

In other news, according to a former Minister who served the king’s cabinet recently, the king plans to give the parties one more opportunity for compromise, and if they don’t, “democracy will not be seen for a while.” If this is the case, the best roadmap is to do what Gagan is doing: declare parts of the country “Republic” one by one.

so sarahana , he can’t decide for his brothers then why to decide my brothers future.. i don’t have any objection him doing all his politics in open road but they are(atleast my brother is) good student and i want dirty politics to be outside his colleges.. i don’t want my brothers using up 6 precious years to pass 3 yrs course.. gagan’s life is politics but theirs is not.. so lets keep politics out of school.

If it isn’t this generation’s right to be involved in the shaping of Nepal’s political future, I don’t know whose it is. It would be dangerous to have students not be politically aware, or for it to be decided for them whether or not they ought to be political. I believe your brother is capable of making the decision himself. Given the reality that most of these schools are known for their politics (beginning from from their very inception, and before Gagan joined one of them), it would be best to not join these schools if avoiding politics is your intention. If you have managed to avoid it, then I’m sure your brother can too.

And don’t forget that most schools in Nepal are suffering from much more than “being political.”

adding to bhunte’s comment, my brother too wrote to me agitated wit the bandhs and stuff..he hates politics..hates guys involved in it…
and as a good elder sister,i’m supposed to tell him to stay out of it..
but how much of that hatred is pure ignorance?
what’s happening in nepal affects everyone not just gagan…we are affected..our families and friends are..our relatives are…our jobs(in nepal) are…our futures are….
so is it really ‘none of our business?’

sarahana..i don’t know which generation you are from.. my elder brother(mama’s son) got shot on 24th Chaitra 2046 and since he has been paralysed. he has been saying he is a burden for the family , though we always say its not but thats the hard fact.. i managed to stay out coz then there wasn’t any student leader like gagan who wanted to involve everyone for his benefit, and regarding students not being aware of politics.. what can my brother do , get shot like his elder brother and gagan will get good reason to shout and call other innocent students, but my brother, my family’s hope, his future will be perish. i have seen that within my family so i know how it feels, lets all of us do what we are good at, gagan is good at political leader ( i have nothing against him, n i do support republic nepal) but my brother is good at studies please don’t drag him in dirty politics

That was 16 years ago? I don’t understand how Gagan would be responsible for the shooting. Perhaps you’d like to elaborate. Your cousin was forced to come out on the street by a student leader at the time, and hence Gagan is responsible for it? Or are you saying, let’s not encourage students to come out on the streets because their lives are so precious? And are you also saying that the lives of “good students” are more precious than those whose lives are ruined by a corrupted system and lack of a good future? And that we should nanny all the smart ones, encouraging them to stay home? Or that they are more precious than of those who are caught in crossfires? That we should not get the idea of political involvement into their heads because they are good in school, or because they can’t decide that for themselves? I don’t get it. Please explain.

sarahana .. what i am trying to say is.. lets keep politics out of schools and colleges, either its smart or dumb, they need to get education. and for us (humane) nothing values more than a educational degree .. my elder brother is living a vegetable life right now, he lost his lower half, his upper half is paralyzed, … Gagan can shout in road,he can lecture in ratna park.. nothing against that, infact i have listened to his speeches and i really like those.. but why to engage innocent students. i just want politics to be out of schools/colleges thats it..i got carried away i have virtually lost one brother and i can’t see another loosing his career

Gagan could be a good guy…politically i think he is another FARCE…he has no whatsoever knowledge of governance and leadership. One day police take him and detain for sometime and another FARCE at the premises of SC and the BOY becomes a leader..VISIONARY when he woke up next morning, Tours around and speaks with wit. Very successfully, until now, he has made the case for himself of the vile unto him.
He seriously should be scrutinised for the days ahead, he has a long way to go and learn to lead the masses and force other elements of the society to engage in what he believes.
I threw and thro stones/bricks at the opressors and if Gagan disturbs the peace of Pvt. education, I have already saved a nasty brick against his forehead.

And who is the hot chick whose is the lame comprehension ’ In Modern Day Nepal…blah blah blah…then he would be a hypocrite’

In modern day Nepal, yes, we all know the poor education facilities, thus knowing so, ppl who can afford it, do so privately! My best guess???…so did u and any siblings u had in the house.
Why? to create an informed panorama of life and society.
And who says students are NOT AWARE of politics in Nepal. Just because they didnt throw stones?
They can rather better contribute in their own capacity, awareness projects/campaigns/forums etc etc.
I bet most of us here went to pvt institutions.
It would be disasterous to infringe the peace of pvt education institutions during these times and my own peace of mind is Gagan isn’t Whale enough to round up what he thinks priviledged onlookers. I f he tried, likes of Kalu Pa^de will whip his arse.

Focus on managing the agitating friends mate!(Gagan) . Try a effective system from within….system is everywhere…when best practiced, effectiveness&efficiency! Keep your focus, not otherwise!
You should rather protect these institutions, young minds than exploit them!
In that case I shall not target ur head…the BRICK shall fulfill better purposes.

KaluPade obviously needs a re-education in ‘effective system and governance’ himself, when he clearly argues for efficiency and effectiveness without any initial cause or catalyst to promote such theories. Further, he needs to be acquainted with the ‘presiding masterminds’ of institutions like samudaya he visits at random, throwing scattered thoughts and leaving his dumb droppings all over the squeaky clean comments section worked on by samudaya sweeper. Perhaps throwing the same brick that hits Gagan back to his ‘khappar’ would provide ‘ghatto ma ghaam’ to his sleeping slave ass private education.

The likes of KaluPade and their typical ‘khutto tanne’attitude towards any other Nepali coming into prominence is exactly the reason we still have the ‘geriatric leaders’ running the show even while they are absolutely incapable of salvaging country from the despotic state and obsolete rebels. If getting detained by police is what it takes to be a student leader, damn boy, that is much more than most leaders around the world can proudly claim to have been so and put than on their CV. Besides, he is not even duly recognized by the party he selflessly advocates for. Thus, why should he be burdened to put out the ‘roadmap’ just so that senior party members can claim it to be theirs and the likes of KaluPade can continue scrutinizing him without any valid points and reasonable basis, which by his open declaration to throw a brick against Gagan’s forehead clearly reveals P^ade’s lack of aptitude in other areas except at ‘dhunga haanne’ and ‘khutta taanne’.

You wish to know who ‘the hot chick’ is. I tell you, she is the ‘presiding mastermind’ of samudaya, and her name shall be taken with utmost reverence from hereon. Now, bow to her!

Politics, especially in our part of the world has bad connotation. It is taken to be default professions of those who have no other discernable talents, no other skills that can be pursued and used as constructive elements in uplifting his/her own state of existence. Neither is it taken to be of practical solution in leading a fairly ‘honorable’ life. How such temperament have left us where we are. However, Nepal has a long history of student participation in politics, which is essential in shaping the sentiment and opinion of future generation. The 1990 student demonstration helped the country achieve whatever form of people’s government then and has been instrumental in providing crucial support to the larger movement itself now, which the likes of Paade seemingly endorse and expect to obtain but just hesitate to participate themselves and give credits where they are due. Yeah, save that brick to fulfill better purposes—build a wall around yourself more.

the idea is to try to reach out to the best of our young hearts and minds (such as this brother of yours) who can potentially be leaders in the next ten- twenty years. leaders not only in the political arena (i am perpetually frustrated by how this is defined so narrowly but lets save that for another rainy day) but leaders in his/her own expertise area.

what does your brother dream to be? a doctor? an engineer? a software genius? or maybe he wants to be a talented carpenter, open a fumigation plant so we can finally export our wood, create jobs for more nepali carpenters so that our wood industry can employ more nepalis and less indians for example (not that i have anything against them). or maybe he wants to be a hospital manager and make sure that the practise of medicine requires more than just having MDs around. maybe he wants to be a teacher and train other teachers and contribute to the shaping of our suffering curriculum.

the idea is to create a social, economic and yes a political awareness in young nepalis so that if and when a participatory political climate does arrive, they can hold their leaders accountable in constructive ways and help shape policies. because they know whats going on around them, they care to read the papers and analyze decisions taken and appreciate positive action.

it really has very little to do with ‘gagan’. no one suggested going into schools and dragging kids out to the streets. the suggestion is, that if equipped with an awareness of whats going on, a civic education, young nepali citizens can make more informed choices, that will affect themselves and their communities.

i personally feel an acute void between private and public school kids. finger pointing will only lead to greater class divisions in the future. and lord knows what other disasterous ideas we will come up with to resolve that.

well said mystichacker..hope kalupandey got a good lesson…pandeyji seems to me a kind of jackass bootlickers of gp koirala and sushil koirala who hates gagan thapa getting popular. dont scrutize much man..he is not going to be a clown like you.. you are not worth responding..but could not resist when you said hot chicks here somebody…is that what you are looking for here in this forum. or you respond every woman like that?

“the idea is to try to reach out to the best of our young hearts and minds (such as this brother of yours) who can potentially be leaders in the next ten- twenty years”

How does opening a union, akin to the student unions in government colleges going to contribute towards this laudable goal? From what I can understand, the student unions have been “mis”-used by whatever political parties that they have been affiliated to, from whenever they came into existance.

political awareness is more important than institutionalized education.
we produce more food than we can consume but still people are starving. why? because people are politically ignorant. you can have all the education you want but if your country’s political system is fucked up you say-oh well dirty politics and flee to country with better political system.
why do you think people with good education go live in democratic countries it is because the system is good therewhich is mainly because of political awareness.

get good education and flee the country has been the trend in nepal.

BTW, gagan’s brother suman was beaten up by 15-20 police during a protest and stayed in bed for several months. this was when he was in nepal few years ago. if you would like i can send you the picture of him bathe in his own blood. it was taken from kantipur paper i believe.

talking about brilliant student gagan always wa a good student i believe top five every year in college.

When there will be no country called nepal left, what will be our identities? Gagan ji is not telling students from private education institutes to join active politics, but to correct the ill-politics of nepal. Now it is time to leave grudge against each other, unite and discard every ill-system nepal has towards republic. Revolution makes lights in peoples’ minds, that will not matter to revolutionaries whose minds will be the brightest and who will lead and follow that path and clearly to make our nepal free from all ill-politics to establish scientific social system there needs sacrifice. Without sacrifice nothing can be attained.

twaaks,

Opening a union akin to the ones in government colleges help boost particpation of private college students in the ongoing movements. It is inturn the hope that through such participation the students garner a better understanding of the political system. A better understanding of the political system should inturn lead to a more progressive political discussion among the youth and of the issues that they represent. A better understanding of political system also means a well informed and educated electorate as well as smarter leaders that can help in turn to reform and progress the system.

As nayantara said nobody is talking about going into schools and forcing anyone to participate in rallys. Joining a union or not is like Gagan says a personal choice. What he is talking about is the exposure to the system, knowledge of ones rights. By reaching out the private colleges it is the hope to break through this virtual wall of negative connotations assocaited with politics. The fact is that knowledge of and understanding of the political system around is the basic ingredient to creation of better leaders and growth of a democratic culture. It is not only engineers and doctors we need. We need a well rounded and infromed electorate which is only possible by removing the negative connotations attached to politics and exposing the new generation to the system. No one learns anything if you baby them. People are saying stay out of private colleges. What about students who go to private schools and would very much like to understand their political system better. Do they not have the right to get exposed to that? Why must it be a exlusive choice between a decent education and exposure. In my mind a decent education entails not just a thorough knowledge of books but also of ones civic rights and duties.

well these are just my own opinions and it’s just that I have some questions that I believe need to be answered before jumping into the conclusion that we need more politicization in education.

If you want to start teaching civics and teach them more about the political system, maybe catching them younger is better. Things like civics, moral ed etc are best taught in primary level. I do not see any role for unions here, all you need is to have a better curriculum that incorporates this and maybe better trained teachers.

Politicising colleges will just bring down the standard of education in private colleges down to that of government colleges. I do not know if you have ever attended a government college, but there is a total breakdown of discipline and educational strucuture in government colleges. The unions have so much power as it is that they have a say in the promotion of a particular profossor. And I think that is too much power.

Democracy requires checks and balances. If you do not have them, then that means absolute power to a group, in this case the student unions. And as the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is why the student unions as it is have too much power. It is one thing to be politically active and to be an activist and it is another thing to burn tyres and bring a city to a halt just because some actor supposedly said something about nepal. (please do not forget that incident, it was absolute abuse of power)

Going by your argument, students from government colleges who’d worked in unions for at least a part of their stay there, should have a better understanding of the polity and of democracy in general. Well, I am sorry to say, I do not see that.

A friend once told me that the students are the most privilidged group of people around, they do not have to earn their living, the state provides it all, and all that they have to do is study these abstract ideas and be ready for the real world. Real life starts only in the real world. In a way it becomes hypocritical when a student demands his abstract ideals and brings a whole city to a halt. All that the student looses is a few days of classes, and at most will never learn a thing when in school, but can utilize the connections developed then for his future. But what about the daily wage earner whose kid has to go sleep in an empty stomach because of the work lost for a day?

In an answer to that question someone famously said that “you cannot make an omelette without breaking a couple of eggs.” Well, true but it hurts if the egg being broken is you.

kancha lay kay bahncha
naya nepal sambav cha bhancha

In Nepali societies, politics has a very negative connotation..i believe the impression of our previous and current(??) netaz and mantriz and overall political atmosphere has much to do with this negativity…how often do hindi movies(or maybe nepali) portray a good politician?what message do the masses get from it?and when they see their elected politicians doing the same, it only affirms their disbelief in the system…
in laymen terms in nepal, being a politican is associated with corruption,very self centered cunning individual who can make promises and easily forget about it…who once gets the ‘kursi’ can assimilate wealth for number of generations…shortcut to wealth without needing any education…
and politics as a whole is seen as a ‘dirty dirty game’

among youths, politically active almost means throwing stones, tod phod…and just create a mess…(and young ppl kinda enjoy it too..some action)

a large number of nepalis have this very view of politics…but politics isnt about all that..good political system is crucial to us..and our ppl need to realise that…we need politically aware voters..basically, ppl need to ‘know’ their political rights and identify the shortfalls in the existing system…

education is important…i dont agree that students should be pulled out of classes to throw stones at the police or burn tyres…but i dont believe their education is any good if they cannot comprehend their political structure..or see the flaws in the system which affects them and everyone around them…

as a matter of fact, until four five yrs ago, i had no idea wat really politics meant..and i despised it..mostly ignorantly..i was a ‘good student’..and getting involved in politics was a no no..but i believe its my basic right to know how,what and why socio-political factors affect the lives of all nepalis, including me..what good is my ‘education’ if that awareness is missing..

this awareness has to reach the masses..reach every corner of nepal..general ppl need to be concerned about politics…and not be mute to oppression..or corruption…

somewhere in between i got to read about taking bows.
obviously, its a hot-headed observation of the growing up.

to throw some light on people i am fortunate to know ; people like KaluPande, Bazaar and Globetrotter who whisk-by randomly do so due to their undertakings and important obligations. These 3 men command bows by their standards and I guess few in here know that its an honour to have them here, to steal some loose threads while they are busy bees.

it has been obvious when they dwell here once…others flock.

i would love to see more of KaluPande dai…Bazaar sir and Globetrotter sir.

“the students are the most privilidged group…”

Ha! Now that depends completely on the perspective you take doesn’t it? A Marxist would perhaps tell you to not work as long as you don’t have too. Working and earning a wage under this Capitalist liberal system means making yourself open to exploitation.

One of the reason unions are stronger in govt. colleges is becuase they have influence over their party in power. Thus an unhappy union could pressure the state (provided their party is in power) to stop the funding to the school (or hinder its daily operations). Private schools do not face the same constraints. Consequently, the power of unions and their ability to take the administration ‘hostage’ will be considerably lower were unions to be formed in private schools.

HOWEVER, talking about politcal consciousness among the young within these liberal notions of politicized voluntary associations (read: unions) is not enough. The point is not that we need more unions. We could very well do without these extremely politicized bodies that run merely on the force of numbers alone and on who can attract more students regardless of their social and substantive platforms. The point is that we need more non-coersive spaces that allow students (from both private and governmental schools) to become politically aware and socially active.

It then perhaps is not surprising that people are hesitant when student union leaders like Thapa express desires to expand their influence into private institutions. Such an expression is merely the need to respond to the changing times. There are today almost as many students studying in private 10+2 colleges as there are in government colleges. The more bodies unions they have out in the streets, the more power they can exert on the current repressive government. Do not forget that much of modern nepali politcs has been about street fights among unions and between the state and the oppostion (broadly).

The negative connotation attached to politics has always been a very specific response by the valley elites to the dirty game of politics. If we are advocating for mass mobilisation (and I take it that people here are interested more in some sort of a politcal awakening rather than piggy backing on the existing politcal parties) we must be crystal clear on how that mobilisation is supposed to help the cause. What gurantee is there that this new group of people that are mobilised will be for a plural inclusive democratic politcs? They could very well fight for a more rigid, class startified society that would look after the interest of the middle class valley elites and kick the rest of the country and the poor in the ass.

We automatically tend to associate all student politics as some sort of a progressive force that will automatically bring good bring about “complete democracy” (what ever that means). It is important to support new and up coming leaders like Ganga Thapa who are smart and articulate and are capable to reaching across various class and social boundries. But there is also a need to look beyound the enticing rhetoric to figure out how these processes will get to us to where we eventually want to be.

:r

as you say it’s perspectives. the guy who told me that line was a chinese guy that i know, who was a student leader in ‘89 in Tiananmen square. is he a marxist? i do not know, as i did not ask, but it seems he has changed his mind about sudden changes in society. has he reverted to the ways of chairman mao? that too i did not deem polite to ask, maybe he got brainwashed by the regime.

but my broader point was, yes we do need a youth body that is politically aware. but politics by default is not burning tyres in the streets or picking up a fight with the politicians. not the way i understand it anyway, but then again, what do i know, i’m not a political scientist, or a social scientist or an economist or even a darned activist. i;m just a guy with an opinion.

to me to exploit the student body of a college, especially that of 10+2 ones as Gagan seems to have been advocating is plain wrong. what’s the age range of kid’s in 10+2? 16, 17, 18 maybe some 19 or 20 year old if they gave SLC late. how does that then become different from prachanda’s child soldiers?

it’s all fine and dandy to talk about these airy objectives, but the fact of the matter is the party with the most muscle will almost always win in these so called union “elections”. and the disruption to the education system system itself will be unforgivable. i’d rather see people getting into politics, if they’re interested, outside of the school and campus.

its really miracle how things turn out to be.

Out of all the “big stars” in Politics Gagan, a nowhere man, has turned out to be a hero. This shows how much respect Nepal lacked for its politicians. Like all other Nepalese my mind also had been made up for young, compelling, non corrupted leader. THe result is the mess we went through. All of us had made our “superman.” Gagan represents that. ofcourse that is till now.

But waht will happen when all this mess ends out as we all have imagined? What will be expecting from him? Perhaps too much.

Gagan Ji!!! kasle diyo tyo LAMAR UNIVERSITY ko T-shirt… he he he…

anyways, Gagan keep up your good spirit and we wish that you are different that old politicians that crave for power and money. If you really want to earn political goodwill and want to see the prosperous nepal, you have to give up your personal life and dedicate yourself to nepal aama. I hope you understand this.
Good luck.

twaaks

“but politics by default is not burning tyres in the streets or picking up a fight with the politicians.”

I agree with you here completely. However if we agree on this do we not see that this is precisely what the youth needs to learn. The only way to do this is to be more “politicaly” aware. You also mentioned there are better ways of teaching civic and moral education especially at a primary level. However these are only ideas that are in books like a geometry therom to be mugged up if they are not related and translated into real terms what good are these. If you are never going to dream of being a president or prime minister of your country what good is learning about the house of representatives. Hence for true political awareness I contend it is not only the study of political science that is important but participation in real political discourse. As you say it yourself the image attached to political discourse today in our country is of burning tires and throwing stones. That is precisely what we need to change and the only way to do it is by getting in there and changing it. Not by staying away from it afraid of getting dirty. Political discourse is more than just this. Real political discourse is about talking about and mobilising for issues you care about.

In most developed democracies politicians seem to go out of their way to relate to the youth. Do you see that happening in Nepal? I rather see this archaic idea that if you are below the age of 40 you have nothing valuable to contribute. Are we doing anything to change this? Lets not just blame the old guards of our political parties for the failure in emergence of any new young leadership. The fact is that they never had a reason to listen to the youth. We always stayed away from politics and they never had to listen to us cause we never voted as a block anyways. If Nepal is to have a future it is up to us to start getting our hands dirty. you can not expect anything to change unless you yourslef get in there and try to change it. I am not saying that everyone needs to be a career politicians but everyone at least needs to understand what they care about. When was the last time anyone of us read any of our political partyies manifesto to see what they actually stood for? Its easy to say nothing will change. Its harder to believe in a better Nepal.

twaaks

“but politics by default is not burning tyres in the streets or picking up a fight with the politicians.”

I agree with you here completely. However if we agree on this do we not see that this is precisely what the youth needs to learn. The only way to do this is to be more “politicaly” aware. You also mentioned there are better ways of teaching civic and moral education especially at a primary level. However these are only ideas that are in books like a geometry therom to be mugged up if they are not related and translated into real terms what good are these. If you are never going to dream of being a president or prime minister of your country what good is learning about the house of representatives. Hence for true political awareness I contend it is not only the study of political science that is important but participation in real political discourse. As you say it yourself the image attached to political discourse today in our country is of burning tires and throwing stones. That is precisely what we need to change and the only way to do it is by getting in there and changing it. Not by staying away from it afraid of getting dirty. Political discourse is more than just this. Real political discourse is about talking about and mobilising for issues you care about.

In most developed democracies politicians seem to go out of their way to relate to the youth. Do you see that happening in Nepal? I rather see this archaic idea that if you are below the age of 40 you have nothing valuable to contribute. Are we doing anything to change this? Lets not just blame the old guards of our political parties for the failure in emergence of any new young leadership. The fact is that they never had a reason to listen to the youth. We always stayed away from politics and they never had to listen to us cause we never voted as a block anyways. If Nepal is to have a future it is up to us to start getting our hands dirty. you can not expect anything to change unless you yourslef get in there and try to change it. I am not saying that everyone needs to be a career politicians but everyone at least needs to understand what they care about. When was the last time anyone of us read any of our political partyies manifesto to see what they actually stood for? Its easy to say nothing will change. Its harder to believe in a better Nepal.

private students being aware of politics and private students fighting with gagan is two different thing… i doubt any nepali studnet is not aware of politics.. how can’t they be… there are more nepal bandh than public holidays, all we (i found more people with similar view like mine) want .. is lets keep politics out of schools and colleges that’s it.. students want to join private school/colleges because they can study in peaceful environment which public schools/colleges aren’t able to provide.. if you look at all established doctors now most of them passed from ASCOL.. now look at quality of education in ASCOL .. whom to blame.. aren’t student leaders like gagan who are responsible for it? what have they(student leaders) done to make life of students better? they are more of political leader than student leader….. making student aware of politics doesn’t mean destroying their youth. being aware in politics won’t give him bread.. but for gagan politics in his career so why would he care about others life .. so please stay out of private colleges.. i beg you .. they need to concentrate on books and exams

Gagan is future President of Nepal!

bhunte, lop garne ho?

pyari bhunti

The 21st century is the the era of REPUBLIC NEPAL; IF THE KING DENIED TO HAND OVER THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE; he must be taken to the judiciary of INTERNATIONAL COURT: Why nobody has thought till now to appeal against the king in International court?

We are thinnking to do so.

bhunte,

Again I agree with you that most people associate politics ith bandhs and burning tires. But we are contending that we need to change that. Politics is not just about bandhs and burning tires. Political awareness that gagan is talking about is exactly burning through these stigma. Plenty of people are political and can still focus on books. Yes they need to focus on books and exams but their country needs more than just book knowledge from them now. It needs them to be able to think for themselves and stand up for themselves. Again don’t take standing up for oneself to mean protests. I am talking about being able to have meaningful discussion about issues, Issues like job opportunities, education reform, education spending just to name a few and then being able to move towards real solutions through organisation, campaigning, lobbying and voting. That is what we are talking about. I am sure everyone of us agrees that disruption to educational institute such as those that we experienced in out 12 year stint of democracy is unfortunate. The unions definitley did not function. But I say that this is one of the major reasons why democracy was a faliure. The unions never learned that democracy or being political does not just mean burning tires and closing schools. That is exactly what we need to change if we are to succeed in our next attempt. Its not less politics we need but it is more. I agree with you that students should be free to pursue their studies and this is perhaps the biggest issue for the youth now in our country. But why should the unions or political leaders need to listen to you. You are not a member of the union nor are you ever really going to organize and vote. If you want to make them listen you can’t just sit on the side and hope they will come to senses. You have to get in the middle of it all get a hold of them and shake them to their senses. That is why we need more politics not less. We all agree Nepal needs to change. But it is time we stop expecting someone older or someone from outside to come and fix everything for us. It is time we grew up and actually started taking things into our own hands. it is time we brought about change instead of just talking or longing for it. But the first step in any democratic system to bringing about change is political awareness. Look at France. The youth got out and organised and stopped a law that would have effected them that the majority did not agree with. They had to listen to them because they were organised and the government was up for reelection soon. They were all parts of the union. Its not unions that are the problem in our country its the lack of political awareness that caused our democratic experimentation to go awry. If we were so worried about disruption to educational institutes did we ever manage to organize and oppose these unions. We never even tried instead we just accepted politics is a dirty game and since we are good students we should stay away from it. It is not just joing unions that entails political awareness. Political awareness entails opposing them as well. So I beg of you lets not keep politics out of schools but rather lets have complete awareness and not just half harted attempt. Like they say little knowledge is dangerous and that is what we had. No one knew what democracy or political awareness was for our experimentation. That is why at the smallest thing it was lets throw stones. Political awareness is more than that. If these unions were truly and completely politically aware perhaps many of the issues that they fought for could have been fought using diplomacy and politics rather than stones. So I beg of you lets not keep ourselves in ignorance anymore. The need of nepal is no just a book smart doctor. the need of Nepal is a aware doctor. This is not a zero-sum game. One does not have to chose between being a good doctor and a good citizen. You can be both.

GermanBasi Nepali,

I agree with u, gyanendra must be penalized for all his crimes and deeds. He must be brought to justice. Thank

Kanchha : “But the first step in any democratic system to bringing about change is political awareness.”

Yes I wholeheartedly agree with that statement of yours. But my contention is that unionizing private schools is not going to create the political awareness that you are talking about. Instead, what it will do, is disrupt the educational environment on those institutions. Don;t you think that what Gagan proposes to do infringes upon the rights of students who “choose” to keep out of politics. Again, if we are to represent a democratic polity, we must begin by respecting the right of those that do not want to participate. Forcing people to participate will just create a backlash. Instead I would much prefer people to participate because of their free will and concience. Unionizing will create more problems than it’s going to solve.

Nowhere in Gagan’s statement do I hear that he wants to force anyone to join anything. I am not even sure he is talking about unionizing private institutions. I feel he is talking about participation in future programs of the current movement. I also prefer prople to participate because of their free will and concience rather than coersion. Unions or no unions this is always true. Even if you had unions the strength of a union is from the participation of its members. So I essentially feel that no matter what no one here is talking about dragging anyone out to protest. Let me make this clear once more when I talk about political awareness it is not limited to unionization. That is only a small aspect/metod of political awareness. I never said this was a necessary step. That decision should entirely upto the student body of the institution. What I am talking about and what I understand from Gagan’s statements is of a greater political awareness. This awareness can in my personal view can be achieved without unionizing. However my argument is not for or agains unionizing rather for the removal of stigma attached to any portion of polity. I just feel your argument that unionization of private institution suffers from the bias against any form polity that we suffer in our country. As for unionizing creating more problems than solving that is entirely based on its implementation, transperency and accountability to its memebers in my mind.

Kanchha:

“Even if you had unions the strength of a union is from the participation of its members.”

In an ideal situation, yes. But as situations go, this is always less than ideal and is monopolized by the muscle of the union. If a union calls for “tala bandhi” of a campus, I doubt that all the students in the campus agree, or if a union decides to boycott an exam, the same thing applies. As it is, the unions have too much power. Image a frat house having the amount of power in a state university that they can decide on the tenure of a professor. Gagan does say that in his interview, that he wants to open unions in private colleges too. That is what I am against. Universities should be playground of ideas not something else.

“I just feel your argument that unionization of private institution suffers from the bias against any form polity that we suffer in our country.”

I am not biased against any form of polity. I do belive that our king is being pig-headed and needs to give the power back to the people. burning tyres on the streets and waging pitched battles with the police may not be my idea of fighting for such rights, but that is beside the point in this discussion. yes the youth need to be more aware about their political rights, not only more aware, but also resposnsible.

i once visited shaker dev campus in the mid nineties, in the peak of our democracy. i used to study isc at some other college at that time. i just went to shanker dev for the fun of it. i think it was winter, we were hanging out smoking in the basketball court, teasing the girls. some kids were just horsing around. one kid, affiliated with the union was so unruly that he went about disturbing a class. the teacher was frustrated that he tried to chase out the student picking upa brick in his hand. later, this kid got his “union” dais together and they manhandled the professor out of the class. we of course being the “anti-authority” students cheered on. now this kind of incident is not uncommon. and it was abuse of power by union. there is no check and balance against this kind of activity. now that i think back to that incident, i have to bow down my head in shame.

yes being politically aware is important. maybe ideals need to be learnt in classrooms and not in the streets. and the place where rights are exercised is in ballots during elections. that’s where you show “people power”.

this discussion may be moot, as we do not have “democracy” right now and the king is sitting on top of it, and maybe the street protests are required. but once things get back to normal, i;d rather see that these uniions be dismantled and things return back to normal. and i;d rather see education sector not politicized. it always is counter productive in you have parallel power structures in a strictly herarchial institution.

kancha i totally agree with you on
“I am talking about being able to have meaningful discussion about issues, Issues like job opportunities, education reform, education spending just to name a few and then being able to move towards real solutions through organisation, campaigning, lobbying and voting. That is what we are talking about. I am sure everyone of us agrees that disruption to educational institute such as those that we experienced in out 12 year stint of democracy is unfortunate. The unions definitley did not function.”

Gagan was in student union since he joined ascol in 2051( i guess) later he joined TC.
so gagan has been student leader for last 12 yrs and according to you .. he is a failed student leader.. according to you..
but i am not trying to say what gagan is or he isn’t. i have great respect for him as a political leader, i hope he stays there. he has changed the way we think.. but he may not always be right.. everything he says must not be correct .. we must not blindly follow whatever he says…

we all know getting into student politics means throwing stone and burning tires..
thats what gagan thinks students should do.. he never asked for class boycott, exam boycott, he has forcefully postponed lots of exams
student leaders love to give jutta ko mala to professor’s and campus chiefs…
so until he changes his way of protest how can i trust my brothers won’t follow that?
sometime back there was a news that a guy was kidnapped by maoist 5 yrs ago .. he was member of Student Union in TC then i.e. 5 yrs back .. .. has any student leader said anything for him? has that guy been released? i haven’t heard anything… seven parties have working relation with maoist .. what about a student and more important their activist is under maoist control..

kancha .. i do have great respect for your view on how clean student politics should be.. but reality is totally different
i am doing what i can by sharing my view here.. atleast i am saying what i feel…i don’t
need to be in sadak to make my views heard…. i don’t need to throw stone or burn tires to
get attention … atleast yours?

and i am making difference for nepal .. i outsource atleast 30000$(increasing each year) worth of work to nepal .. i can easily send that to India for lesser cost but i do my best to convince my boss to send those to nepal .. thats what i can do and i am doing my best ..coz i believe students can help nepal more if they have educational degree not jail degree..

bhunti.. i am already engaged.. :)

Everybody knows mistakes were made. To Err is human. The mistakes were not only by the despicable political leaders but also on our part as well. Yes probably Gagan all that you mention but did we do anything to stop him. You talk about a shameful experience and I am sure all of us have instances where we could have done something but did not. Mistakes were made if everything had gone to plan we would not be in this situation. However the real question is how do we go forward. We must recover from those mistakes. The only way to do that is to correct our mistakes and in my mind our greatest mistake, yours and mine, was not that we wanted democracy but that we stayed quiet. So I am saying we need to change to. We can no longer keep quiet when things are getting fucked up by our so called chosen leaders. The only way you are going to that is if you are more politicaly aware.

I don’t for one minute think nepali politics is all clean nor is this a utopic dream of a clean transparent nepali polity. All I am saying is yes things are fucked up but the best way to change is not by ignoring it but by actullay grabing the bull by the horn and getting in the middle of it. Everytime we falter we can not just say lets go back to the start and erase everything we have done. We have to keep moving forward that is the only way we are going to make any progress.

Your example of outsouring jobs is exactly what we need. more jobs and opportunity in the country. However I do not see how being politically aware has anything to do with having a jail degree? I would assume awareness only adds to your educational degree not take away from it. However here is my question to you. I agree you are doing something great. But why aren’t more people doing it like you rather than just complaining? Secondly what are we doing to make the government listen for the need for foreign investmnet and lack of opportunities for the youth in the country? Nada. I say we are doing nothing. Yes its all well and good to do things at an individual Nepal and one man can do a lot. But sometimes you need to bring about sesmic changes for which it is no longer enough with individual efforts. It requires something more. Something called political awareness. Look at any major rights movement or revolution in any democratic country it always involves a aware electorate that knows what it needs and is not afraid to stand up for itself and in most cases most successful are the movements that are non violent.

good to hear gagan.

he has to open a new party and with a road map to revolutinize nepal.i think he will get the support from all intellectuals. he can be the first president of nepal.

Why mot maoist? they may evolutinize. the current Spa led protest is not worth supporting. if you support this ongoing strike headed by leders like girija ,again they will be coming in power and do nothing. instead maoist may have real patriotic idealism to change nepal. why not supporting prachanda path? waht is so scary about it?

if maoist are not the answer then a new leader with new party and vision is the answer so that we get rid of tyrants like girija, madhav nepal who had 12 long years to run the country. they should have no more chances. time is up and they have to be abolished but its going to be tough. challenge and face the truth , you can do it and leader like gagan may be suitable if he really wants a change.

we dont want girija babu back to system.

jai nepal

good to hear gagan.

he has to open a new party and with a road map to revolutinize nepal.i think he will get the support from all intellectuals. he can be the first president of nepal.

Why mot maoist? they may evolutinize. the current Spa led protest is not worth supporting. if you support this ongoing strike headed by leders like girija ,again they will be coming in power and do nothing. instead maoist may have real patriotic idealism to change nepal. why not supporting prachanda path? waht is so scary about it?

if maoist are not the answer then a new leader with new party and vision is the answer so that we get rid of tyrants like girija, madhav nepal who had 12 long years to run the country. they should have no more chances. time is up and they have to be abolished but its going to be tough. challenge and face the truth , you can do it and leader like gagan may be suitable if he really wants a change.

we dont want girija babu back to system.

jai nepal

why do the loonies write so loong??? can u not put it in a short n sweet way?
nobody reads it…honestly nobody does, unless u do it urself.
and non of the looooong musings say anythings new/interesting either…its boring guys
just like Neta’s Bhasan
be precise! straight! open!
that is articulation
going round and round and round…make u GORU!(OX)

bhunte,
Oh, you are engaged…cho cho me poor!
How close do you know Gagan? As a classmate? Opponent? As his “kanchha bau ko chhora”? I heard he is a SLC distinction.

pyari bhunti

bhunti.. i have read lot about him. i have met him couple of times,while i was back in nepal. i do my best not to miss his interviews, anything on or about gagan,i want to know more about him and his views. i don’t know him personally but i have friend who knows him and his family very very well so i got to know lots of things through my friend.
I don’t know about his SLC, but have heard he was good students. heard his brothers are very very good in studies

bhunte: when you don’t know about him, and don’t want to miss any of his interviews yet. So why hue and cry against him? If he doesn’t have a leadership quality, no body would listen to him. It seems you have an ideological difference with him. Otherwise, why would you say:

“….gagan first call your three brothers back to nepal ask them to fight along with you and then only go and distrub my brothers studies. he you are a hypocrite….”

We need more Gagans for the future of Nepal, not Gyane or Girija (by the way Girija is doing good now, so we can give excuse to his past mistakes).

why should we excuse girija? or for that matter all the members of the old guard who’ve run the country to the ground?

mila ji,

i like girija’s stance. you should have known by now that it is Gyanendra’s long time conspiracy who brought nepal’s democracy to this situation. And Girija is one of the scapegoat of Gyane. Read Girija’s recent interview. Also read Krishna Poudel’s write up in blog.com.np

Pls dont be illusioned what our leaders did or didn’t in the past. It is no thing but king’s “khadyentra” for long time

i have nothing against gagan.. i have huge respect for him as a political leader… i am only against him trying to drag private college students into sadak politics .. that’s it.. i have already said i got carried away and thats why i wrote about his brothers , nothing personal… if it had meant anything else. i apologize. personally i might not know gagan way you do, but i don’t think we need to know all leaders personally. do we?

and as mila said.. why should we excuse girija? have we forgotten his corruption and natabad-kripabad

Alright bhunte. girija has clarified about natabad-kripabad issue in his interview. check at kantipuronline.com

bhunte:
I haven’t read the previous arguments but I completely agree with you that college campuses should not be politicized like the way it is in Nepal. The politicians just use the students for their own agendas. At least private colleges should not be dragged into politics.
I see that in Bangladesh the government colleges are very political and there are constant strikes etc. all disrupting education, but private institutions are left alone.
I think it is a terrible idea!

A KALU PANDE WROTE THIS AND STARTED THE CASE AGAINST POLITICIZING PRIVATE EDUCATION FACILITIES.
WELL DONE PANDE, VALID!

No cloning other’s comments
-the sweeper

Of course yes!! Gagan is in point!! Being in Nepal and fighting from front line what i realized is we need more Leaders like gagan. Might be it’s our tragedy but it’s a reality as well!!
Peoples are fighting every day and very sad they are even ready to die as well for the positive change, I mean for the republican state but where the leaders of many parties are.
As i understand there most be at least 205 leaders from at least 5 parties but i am very sad to share that there are 5 or 6 leaders who are fighting in front line. It’s our tragedy that we don have more leaders like GAGAN who is fighting for the democracy in side party and out side party…
Our leaders are still waiting for the soft words from king…..why they don understand all the peoples are behind them and they just have to lead the mass??
But now things are changed people are more aware than 2046 and they are not going back again. Our leaders should think twice and more before going in front of this Gyane!! If they are playing with all the innocent people of Nepal, it will be more expensive for them coz we the second Generation are ready to lead and leading as well. Now people of Nepal realized that politics is a not dirty Game, but players are dirty!! And they are ready to pay any cost for the freedom of Nepal and freedom of the comming generation.
Keep it Up Gagan we are with you!!

Gagan is our future President. He has got the potential to lead the country. So we will have to forget Girija, Madhab and Sher. Gagan Ji keep it up. We are there where you wanted to be.

Is there any truth to the RUMOUR that he was ALLEGED sending people abroad to study/work and making a lot money for it ??? something like 7 lakhs for each person ??

well said……..i hope you mean whatever you just said.

impressive!…he is very optimistic about Nepal and he shares with you the ROAD MAP.He seems like one of our last few hopes for revival. Go gagan!

I agree on his comment about lack of participation in politics through private colleges. It is true and in fact, I faced it personally and i felt obliged to politics only after years of my daily accidental readings. The idea of ‘dirty politics..uggh’ still prevails around the country and people fail to see politics as their own weapon for good.

No wonder why Gagan thapa has all the people rallying behind him in the protests on the streets. He sounds like an effective speaker with a vision.
Good luck.

Why people are not thinking about our real condition. Think now bhunte, bhunti every one gagan is the best and only one leader we got in nepal at the moment.

I must say that he is a good speaker..atleast his speech wont make you sleep..hheheh..like other mantri…i just hope since he is gaining support of lot of public school, private school and even student abroad ko trust i hope he realizes that lot of younger generation support him and hope he can make a difference…i hope he doesnt break a whole genreation trust.;