Amrika has Bill and Hillary. What do we have? We have Baburam and Hisila. Bill used to be a dirty young man who liked to chase other women. Today, he is running around campaigning for his woman to be the first naari in the White House.

Baburam used to be a smart young man who wanted to change this country. Today, he is running around trying to persuade us that his new political party, Naya Shakti, will solve all the problems in this land.  Bill had charisma and he got away with everything because of it. Well, Baburam has Karishma. But that might not work out too well for him because if our Kollywood superstar continues to host any more of the programmes of Naya Shakti then his party might get nothing. With due respect to Karishma, but why did no one ask her to do her homework, and maybe rehearse a line or two before making a fool of herself?

I think it would have been better for her to stick to Nepali rather than try to impress us with Angrezi words. And just a little tip: please make sure you get the names of bideshis right instead of trying to figure it out at the last minute. But we have to give her some credit too: it is not an easy job to speak in front of thousands of people.

When Bill was busy smoking a cigar with an intern at the White House, Baburam was busy writing the 40-point demands. But did Dr Saheb fulfil those demands when he was living in Baluwatar?

We are a secular state today but Kamal Thapa is not happy with it and it looks like Khum Bahadur, the corrupt convicted Congressi, is getting all the love from some folks across the border. The only good thing about the 40-point demands then was that daughters should be given equal property rights as sons. But the discrimination and exploitation based on caste continues even today. We hear about folks being accused of being witches and forced to eat human waste and suffer physical assault. The state does nothing about it.

It’s funny that Baburam wanted to hang all the dalals in the land and have their property confiscated but when our comrades came into power, it was the dalals who got closer and made more dough as usual. Swiss voters rejected the guaranteed income proposal recently but our comrades had wanted a stipend for all and guaranteed work 20 years ago. What happened to that natak when they were in power?

The government has yet to control inflation; daily essential goods are no longer affordable to common folks. It seems that our purchasing power declines every year whereas the net worth of our clowns, civil servants and contractors increase every year.

So what did we learn from Baburam’s demands from twenty years ago? That coming up with demands is easy but implementing them is difficult even for those who demanded such stuff, came to power, and had the authority to implement their own demands. So can Naya Shakti really change Nepal? Nope. Half the members of the new party are former Maoists and they want a leftist party. The other half are former civil servants and common folks who just want a democratic party that follows the rules. We all look at Baburam and see a smart Phd wallah. His only claim to fame is that he was a SLC board first once. Yes, he has the brains, but does he have the cojones? After all, you need both money and muscles to be a power player in this land.

Hillary is more than likely to be the next Amriki President if she can convince all the minorities to vote for her instead of a shady businessman who wants to be the next Hitler. Will our Hisila di be the first naari PM in our land? Nope. I sometimes feel sorry for Baburam. Yes, he is man of simple taste. He is not in it for the money. Two daal and some saag is his staple diet. But Hisila didi is something else. She is a strong woman and we must give her credit for her sacrifice to fight the system even though she came from a well-to-do family. But then, when once in power, she was no different than our Sujata auntie.

Naya Shakti is the new kid in town. The old bullies, our Kangaroos and the Unidentified Mundrey Leaders, are still around. Our Maoist and Madhesi parties will continue to share the loot with the old bullies. So if Naya Shakti really wants to change this country then first Baburam should apologise for the violence of his old football team where he was one of the leading midfielders. And if he really wants to bring peace and prosperity to this land then all those who are above 60 in his new party should have no active role except for being mentors to the young generation. Baburam should also find another emcee for his programmes and Hisila Didi should stop her corruption and nepotism nataks as well if Naya Shakti really wants to win the hearts and minds of the common folks.

Guffadi is a grumpy old man who blogs at guffadi.blogspot.com. You may contact him at [email protected]