Selfies on the prime minister’s bed

The scenes from Dhaka on Monday were eerily similar to the ransacking of the residences of Ferdinand Marcos or Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Protesters took selfies lying on Sheikh Hasina’s bed (pictured above), they lounged on her sofas, feasted on biryani, and looted whatever was portable. 

As is usually the case, it only takes a spark to light a revolt when a people’s fury at ruthless rulers reaches the tipping point. Hasina’s regime cracked down brutally on demonstrators, killing more than 300. 

After another day of bloodshed on 4 August, Hasina lost support of the security forces, and jubilant protesters watched as their prime minister of 15 years fly off to India. Army Chief Waker-Uz-Zaman announced an interim government would be formed.

There is a vital lesson from what has happened in Bangladesh for the rest of South Asia and beyond. Rulers cannot rest on their laurels just because they were freedom fighters. If citizens do not benefit from regime change, they will sweep rulers into the dustbin of history.

History is replete with examples of despots who plunder, torture and kill opponents, but are overthrown sooner or later. Sheikh Hasina, was elected for the fifth time in a rigged election in January that was boycotted by the opposition BNP, and accepted only by India.

Hasina's fate is also a lesson for regional powers who back tyrants for geopolitical reasons: what they gain from such support can be tenuous and short-lived.

Nepal is presently not ruled by an elected despot, our press is the freest in the region, and the check and balance of democracy here function relatively well. Yet, the events in Bangladesh have an important lesson for our elderly rulers and mass media. 

Are we in the media also partly to blame for increasing public frustration with politics as usual that is making Nepalis cynical and apathetic?

Nepal’s new politicians have exploited the fecklessness of old rulers by using the new media to gather populist support. Journalists are seen to be comrades-in-arms of the legacy leaders, and are collectively held responsible for Nepal’s decline. 

In the age of citizen journalism, there is a misconception that the mass media has become redundant. However, in-depth journalism is more essential than ever to help citizens navigate information overload, disinformation and deep fakes. 

The mobile phone and its algorithm-driven networking platforms are more for entertainment than information. And if information is a major part of content, then more often than not it is fake news and toxic trolling. Readership has not decreased, it has just migrated, and the sources of information have changed.

The main reason Nepal's politicians and journalists find themselves targetted is because they played active roles together in the people power movements of 1990 and 2006.

Indeed, journalists have been at the forefront of the restoration and protection of democracy and in upholding press freedom — through the conflict years, and after king Gyanendra’s coup in 2005. 

But when democracy fails to deliver, the public and populists tend to blame not just elected politicians, but also journalists. 

The irony is that Nepal’s leadership is reluctant to credit the mass media for helping defend democracy and making it possible for them to get to power. Instead, many politicians would like to muzzle the media because of its role in holding their power to account and exposing corruption in high places. 

The media is playing its mandated adversarial role in Nepal’s democracy, but click-bait media and populist politicians see public-interest journalism as competition for public attention.

We in the legacy media therefore find ourselves being distrusted by old guard politicians, and as rivals by YouTubers and TikTokers.

The state itself refuses thus far to recognise the communication enterprise as an industry, and successive governments have tried to weaken the traditional mass media by laws and policies. The ban on alcohol ads on grounds of public health, even though such goods can be openly bought and consumed, is part of that strategy. 

New leaders like Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah were propelled to power by new media. The RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane also fanned cyber-populism to get elected, which is why he is so dismissive of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ (१२-भाइ एडिटर) of the legacy media that exposed his wrongdoings.

The lesson from the Bangladesh upheaval for Nepal’s rulers who have been at the helm now for decades is this: clean up your act and start delivering, or else face a similar fate.

Sheikh Hasina persecuted the press, allowing social pressure to build up until it all exploded in her face. A free press is democracy’s safety valve, and it is in the self-interest of Nepal’s political parties to defend it.

Gunaraj Luitel is the Chief Editor of Nagarik Daily in Kathmandu.

@gunaraj