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To Speak or not to Speak!

Some of us were not happy when our PM Balen decided not to speak at all even when our honorable President was in the building to utter a few words to our members of the lower and the upper house. Our old media and the old corrupt politicians were like, this guy is dangerous for democracy because he did not speak in the House but a few days before that, he was giving his few-minute speech to the newly commissioned officers of the Nepal Army.

As usual, the old corrupt ones find it scary or fishy or are just trying to be conspiracy theorists on why Balen spoke at an Army function and not where all the lawmakers were present. They called it an insult to democracy. Well, 35+ years of loot was an insult to us all but democracy was never in danger. Democracy will survive in this land for many years to come while the old corrupt ones will either have to flee to foreign lands or beg for amnesty to rat each other out.

We had the three stooges, Prachanda, Deuba and Oli aka POD deliver their hawa-taari guffs in the House for the past decade. Well, we can make an exception for Deuba because none of us really understands the words coming out of his mouth. Even Chris Tucker would have left the Rush House franchise if he had heard Deuba utter a few words then.

Even during the recent election campaign, our Kidney Bean aka Oli aka national ukkan-tukka champion, spoke a lot but failed to come close to Balen during the vote count. Oli was even living like it was 2022 by promising once again, gas pipelines to all households within six months if he became the Prime Minister again. Well, this is 2026, and Oli's days of blabbering nonsense had finally come to an end.

Deuba is still drinking his whiskey and muttering himself to sleep in the Far East. Prachanda has no shame and still thinks he can get away with it, or has some magic potion to not get run over by any investigation that will soon come rolling to investigate his shady deals with dalal byaparis over the past two decades. But why do I have a feeling that he has finished all his magic potions, as he has no leverage in the House and his love for RAW vegetables will not save him now.

Deuba has not promised much during his political career. He was busy giving out funds and jobs to his folks in Dadeldhura and that was the only reason for not losing any elections from his home turf since 1991. Well, he decided to run away this time and not face his voters but he was very good at buying the opposition and his own fellow party members with gifts during his days in power.

Balen managed to win the election in Jhapa without going on a rant or whining about old corrupt netas or how he is going to transform Nepal into the next Singapore or Switzerland. He just uttered a few words or paragraphs and asked if they had tea or what could be done with our places to turn them into great tourist destinations, and how we can revive our once functioning industries. He did not have to make chatpatey or cry or help out with some chores to win the votes.

The media wallahs think Balen's vow of selective silence is a sign of dictatorship. Well, stopping the free funds to our private media in the name of government notices has pissed off most of our jholey patrakars in town. Why do private media wallahs need government advertisements in the first place? And if you are not getting any government ads, then how does it interfere with your mission to report fairly and freely?

Balen is the PM, like it or not. He may not possess the skill to go on a hawa-taari guff session like Oli or even Prachanda. I guess he truly believes that actions speak louder than words and we must give him not 100 days but the coming 1,000 days and more to do his thing and then if we are not happy, then we can always exercise our right to vote to choose a better political party or candidate the next time around.

Yes, the recent declaration of assets by our cabinet ministers has been the talk of the town but Balen will not speak to justify his 100+ tola of gold in his cupboard. He will not tweet about it or blame the media or the old jholeys for crying and whining. He will keep quiet and do his thing.

I think some of us have a lot to learn from Balen. Do not speak too much and get yourself in trouble. Do not get pissed at your detractors and let the haters hate you to death while you go around minding your own business. What is Balen's job? He is here to run this country and make it better, not ruin it and make it worse for the next generation. He is not here to crack jokes or BT (Big Talk as they say during Hamjayega's days in Darjeeling).

Balen will do just fine. We will have protests from the old school freeloading media, dalal byaparis, and politically-affiliated trade and student unions in the coming days. He will not speak even then because he knows very well that no matter how much the freeloaders cry, the majority of the people will back him and he has already won the hearts and minds of the ordinary folks who have seen incremental changes in service delivery in government offices and hopefully a more balanced reform in our health and education sectors as well.

After all, most of us are worried more about our education and healthcare costs than getting a license for a 10,000 MW hydro project or getting free public land to build our cable cars or industries or other so-called mega projects. Yes, we need to work on our exports and bring in foreign investments and encourage entrepreneurship as well but before that we need to wake up every day feeling good about where the country is heading! Good Morning Nepal!

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