By Om Tat Sat,
In the 2019 Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) conference “as many as 76 candidates contested for 42 posts and representatives from 81 countries that were attending,” according to The Himalayan Times. What caught my eyes was the number of countries Nepalese have migrated to. It is astounding. Probably Nepal’s population is growing faster than the small land can accommodate. But most likely, Nepal is rapidly sinking to the bottom and anyone who has life left in them is abandoning the sinking ship.
There is not a single good reason why the Nepal’s government has to foot the bill and be the co-host for this organization. For one, these are the Nepalese who have mostly given up their citizenship and settled abroad because Nepal was not good enough for them, or for their materialistic dreams. Many have gone abroad and attained the success they would not have had in Nepal. But why are they still relying upon the Nepali government to foot their bill to host their conference? It is not as if they have shown any civilized attitude or respect for Nepal? The cardinal point of being an NRN, according to public opinion, is to disparage the Nepali culture of ineptness, corruption and disregard for propriety.
And these are the same attitude the so called “civilized” NRN’s from abroad have returned to demonstrate. It is as if they wanted to prove that “you can take a Nepali out of Nepal, but you cannot take out the Nepal out of any Nepali.” Their misbehavior tales from the airport, to the hotel and press conference are all making the rounds in the social media.
Interestingly enough, another coincidence was that the leftist government of Nepal co-hosted the conference, and one of the two panels contesting the election was also a leftist, which eventually won, despite the contrary expectation.
It is to be expected that one’s ties to the motherland cannot be overlooked, no matter where a person ends up residing, or where they have life’s opportunities. In fact, it would actually serve everyone better if the people who have ventured outside, lived adventurously and struggled abroad to make a success of their life turned and shared their experience and success with their native land. With true love and respect for motherland, people would be expected to help their birth place. Same sentiment might be working when the government takes an active interest in such an organization and shares of cost.
Had the success stories actually thought deeper, they would have been more magnanimous and earned more respect if they had refused the government expenses and not expected to spend tax-payers’ money on their conferences and elections. They would have earned great admiration for being different. They have sadly missed that opportunity. And to conclude it all, it is not as if the NRN holds the same intrigue and possibility as when Shesh Ghale was the president in 2015 and showed to all the ingenuity of his struggle and success in Australia. Things seems different back then.
It comes to reason that all the bad behavior shown by the NRN from creating a chaos in the airport that resulted in fines for foreign passport-holding NRN; absolutely absurd press conference where the president did not bother to show up on time, then had a second press conference in an empty hall again; and the vandalism that resulted in property damages in Hyatt Hotel, the venue for their event all spell bad development in the NRN.
The ill-will generated by the current NRN conference far outweighs in comparison the meager investment they have made in Nepal so far. NRN should look in the mirror before the next event.
The writer is a graduate of Arizona State University in Political Science. He is working as a social activist and motivational speaker for students across Nepal since 2007.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necesarily reflect the official policy or position of Nepalisite.
