The government is the administrative mechanism of the state. It implements the state’s policies by using the state power. In other words, the government is the user of the state power, not its owner. While the government is temporary and subject to change, the state and the state power are permanent in nature. It is the duty of the government to operate the state power and protect the state.

The government is formed by people who are selected for a fixed period by the populace to oversee, mobilize, operate, and protect the state’s main elements: the people, territory, authority, and sovereignty. The government must be fully informed, accountable, and responsible in the operation and mobilization of the government, state, and state power.

A strong state power is needed to strengthen the state. To make the state power robust by maintaining balance according to the principle of separation of powers, a system of three main organs—the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary—is put in place. The government carries forward its regular work on the basis of this three-pillared system of checks and balances.

The government has the capacity to maintain peace, security, and tranquility in the state and to face the most difficult circumstances that arise.

This means that the government must be vigilant in operating the state power. For the government to succeed, the honest and positive role of all mechanisms of the state power is essential.

Let us analyze the Gen Z movement of September 8 and 9 in the context of state power and government operation. The suppression that took the lives of young children on September 8 cannot be condemned enough. Following this movement, many questions have arisen regarding the process of government operation.

Was the government fully informed about the movement by its organs? Or did arrogance ruin things even when it was informed? Or did it underestimate the Gen-Z movement and not remain prepared? Or did the organs of the state power intentionally mislead it? Or was it something beyond the capacity of these organs? Or were the people in these bodies salaried incompetents? Or were the people in these bodies not loyal to the state and were being remotely controlled from the background? The answers to all these questions will not come immediately.

According to the superficial information available so far, the new government has not started concrete investigation and research on all these issues. It will not conduct a deep-level micro-investigation either. Forming an investigation commission is an old Nepali tradition. This is a mere ritual and its utility will only be to create a document. And will that even be made public? Although questions arise about the investigation of the incident, it is irrelevant to express distrust right now.

The initial form of the Gen Z movement was focused on the demand for the end of corruption and the opposition to the government’s step to suppress freedom of expression. But on September 8, by playing with the patience of the Gen Z participants, provocation was spread, and on September 9, the anger over the killings of the previous day also got mixed in, and the movement exploded in opposition to the state power itself.

The anti-government rebellion was necessary because the republican governments had failed to incorporate the feelings of the new generation and guarantee good governance, but that rebellion should not have been used against the state power and the state.

What is worth pondering is that the democratic government is temporary and keeps coming and going according to public sentiment, but an agitation against the state and state power is very fatal because they are permanent in nature. The answer may come that the destruction on the second day was a retaliation against the government’s repression on September 8.

 Public sentiment, when it retaliates blindly, destroys whatever it finds, but that did not happen on September 9. On that day, the main organs of the state power were destroyed. To be honest, it has been revealed that most Gen-Z participants do not even have information about the physical location of these organs. State institutions were destroyed in a planned, knowing, and deliberate manner, selectively in the nooks and corners of major cities and in the remote parts of the country. Some honest people also fell victim to this.

What is most frightening is that political figures from the bottom to the top were targeted in the second day’s movement.

This could mean discouraging the coming generation and turning them away from politics. Isolating them from politics, like beating the dog to drive away the guest. When the new generation turns away from politics, politics becomes a game for the wrong people and the state operation process becomes weak, which directly affects the sovereign state.

On the other hand, security personnel were targeted during the movement. Police offices were vandalized, set on fire, and looted. Uniforms and weapons were snatched, forcing the police to flee. In many places, they were stripped of their uniforms and made to walk semi-naked. Some were mercilessly killed by the angry mob. Discouraging the security agencies ultimately means weakening the state power.

A weak state power cannot protect the state. Those who work in the security forces are naturally, and should be, more responsible and loyal to the state.

It might have been an attempt to weaken the morale of the security personnel by attacking them and to spread psychological fear to even block the entry of the next generation into the security forces, which proves fatal to the life of the state in the long run.

Similarly, business establishments were destroyed in the name of the movement, intimidating industrialists, businessmen, and the capitalist class. When industrialists and businessmen are attacked, and industries and businesses are destroyed, unemployment increases, and on the other hand, the investment environment in the country deteriorates.

When the environment for industry and business in the country is disrupted, capital flight occurs, and an economic crisis arises. Rising unemployment brings frustration to the people. The pressure and expectations on the state naturally increase and anti-government sentiments are articulated. Anarchy and confusion increase.

Unemployment and economic crisis weaken the state power, and a weak state power can neither facilitate service delivery nor protect the state.

Was there a secret plan woven according to a long-term strategy behind such an attack on the state power and its foundations? Not only those in power but conscious citizens concerned about the nation are being forced to think.

State power is the sovereign and supreme authority. It is connected with the existence of the state. The government is the user of the state power. The government is the user of the state power and may either gain continuity or be sidelined based on its merits and demerits. Therefore, criticism, opposition, and movements against the government must be taken naturally. Such criticism and opposition force the government to become people-oriented and work on improving good governance and service delivery.

But a movement against the state and state power is unnatural; it is a crime against the state. A crime against the state is unforgivable and punishable. The way this movement, which started on the emotional ground of anti-corruption, went out of government control and became an anti-state power movement, where all organs of the state were simultaneously physically damaged. The world’s attention was drawn to Nepal.

The question arises, is it possible to destroy the entire country in the same way and nature in a single day? A preliminary conclusion has also been drawn that this is a dangerous game executed by those who had been planning and preparing for a long time, seizing the opportunity of the movement conducted with pure intentions by the Gen Z. Some international media outlets have even raised the issue of laboratory testing of the dangerous substances used in the arson of major state structures. We cannot easily believe that our geopolitics will allow such an issue to be settled here.

How to overcome such human-made risks in the future is a crucial question. The answer to this question is complex in a country of strategic importance like ours.

But we should not remain silent just because it is complex. The first thing is politics itself. The players in politics are the ideologically established parties. There is a need for purification in political parties.

The political source can only be cleaned by the involvement of the most competent and honest people in the parties, not by embracing relatives and cronies. The work of adopting a policy of complete prohibition of increasing criminalization of politics and the politicization of crime must begin with the parties.

Politics is a service job. People willing to do politics with a service mentality must get a place. Politicians can engage in professions or businesses to earn a living, but they should have no link or relationship with politics. Politics and profession/business must be operated separately. Only a leadership that is refined by the core principles of ideology and philosophy in the party can protect the nation through a capable state power.

If today’s experience cannot be used to prepare tomorrow’s leadership, we will be left with nothing but repeated regret. It is necessary to establish a system where public service delivery is hassle-free, transparent, and swift. The people working in the state mechanisms must be honest and skillful, true to that spirit, so that social discontent does not increase and the spark of dissatisfaction is not ignited.

The Gen-Z movement has revealed political consciousness among the youth. It has exposed the country’s geopolitical nature and its impact in a short time.

To guide this opportunity in the right direction, it is necessary to include moral education, the republican system, and a little about Nepal’s geopolitical situation in the school-level curriculum to produce honest and conscious citizens towards the nation. Internal management must be done by creating an environment for conscious, patriotic, and virtuous citizens to have access to the political and administrative mechanisms.

A strong state power is possible only through the shared effort of all, learning from all the historical events and the environment created by the recent movement, and protecting the country from the vicious cycle of geopolitics. Only a strong state power can protect the sovereign state.