Uncaring, unpopular

It takes breathtaking conceit on the part of Oli and his close circle not to see their unpopularity.

As the KP Sharma Oli government completes a year in office on July 15, it is rocked by yet another corruption scandal, as a minister stands accused of accepting bribes in order to transfer civil servants. There must hardly have been a week in the past year that the government has not been a part of some controversy. Some opposition parties are still protesting in parliament asking for the resignation of the home minister over his alleged role in the ‘visit visa’ scam. Sure, it is nothing new for opposition parties in Nepal to try to pull down a government, sometimes from its first day in office. Yet many accusations tend not to stick, as those in the opposition bench have plenty to account for from their own time in government. But more and more of the mud flung the government’s way seems to be sticking. As we have written in this space multiple times of late, Prime Minister Oli must take the bulk of the blame for the unpopularity of his government. He has spent most of his time in office blaming the opposition and critics for all that is currently wrong with Nepal rather than doing something about it.