In a quiet corner of the Kodai-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, a robot named Mindar stands before a group of worshippers. Clad in robes and programmed with the capacity for compassion, Mindar was recently inducted into the Buddhist faith. It was granted the dignity of a spiritual identity and the freedom to "choose" a philosophical path. It is a striking irony of the 21st century. While the global community explores the "sentient rights" of machines, the Nepali government is moving to strip those same rights from its own citizens.
With the recent Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) directive (May 13, 2026) threatening to dismiss civil servants for party involvement, and the ongoing push to dismantle student unions on campuses, we are witnessing a retrograde attempt to build a "Land of Robots"—a place where humans are expected to function with mechanical precision but remain hollow of thought. This isn't just an administrative tweak; it is an assault on the very foundation of what it means to be a thinking member of a republic.
The Kitchen Table Parliament
When I first read this news, I felt a sense of stifling suffocation. My first thought was: How can they do this to something earned by the sacrifice of so many? Politics, for me, was never a dirty word or a party badge to be worn for patronage. It began long before I saw a ballot box; it began at my father's kitchen table.
In my childhood home, dinner time was our first parliament. My father insisted that mealtime was for more than just sustenance; it was a designated hour to express our views, to debate what was working in our lives, and to decide collectively what needed to change. We were taught that even within a family, every member has a "say in the matter." This was our first lesson in the intellectual identity of a person.
Aristotle famously called us Zoon Politikon—political animals. He didn't mean we were born to join a partisan wing; he meant we were born with the unique, evolutionary capacity to use reason and speech to distinguish between the "just" and the "unjust." This "thought progression" is the engine of human growth. When a government tries to "muffle" this instinct, they aren't just cleaning up the system; they are breaking the human spirit. An educated person cannot be forced into a life of mere "shop talk" or movie reviews. To deny them a political identity is to demand they become robots, functioning without a conscience.
The Educational Paradox: Model UNs and Muzzled Teachers
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The irony of this "gag order" is nowhere more visible than in our schools. When my sons were students, they participated in Model UN sessions and World Councils. I watched them spend late nights researching the needs of foreign nations, learning to advocate for justice, and negotiating peace in simulated global crises. They were learning that leadership is the art of debate and that politics is the tool we use to avoid violence.
If the government’s logic holds, how can we continue to teach this? If a teacher is banned from "political activity," the very act of guiding a debate on freedom, the French Revolution, or our own hard-won Constitution becomes a sackable offense. We are effectively telling our educators: "Build us world leaders, but ensure they are leaders who have never been allowed to think for themselves."
We are asking for a generation that can follow a directive but cannot define a value. If everyone who is active and educated—the teachers, the students, and the workers—is banned from having an opinion, who is left to run the democracy? Are we to leave the future of the nation to those too young to vote or the completely disengaged? A democracy without its educated core is not a "pure" state; it is a vacuum.
The Shadow of the Gag and the Weight of Banaras
History is a graveyard of democracies that traded their voice for "efficiency." We must remember that even Hitler was elected. He did not seize power in a vacuum; he used the frustrations of the people to justify the dismantling of their institutions, starting with the muzzling of dissent. Muffling or gagging is always the first step toward dictatorship. It starts with the "temporary" removal of rights for the sake of "order," and it ends with the permanent loss of liberty.
This isn't an academic concern for me. In the 1970s, I lived the reality of political exile in Banaras, India, during a period of immense turmoil. At the height of the struggle for Nepal's own democratic awakening, we understood that politics was the only tool we had against tyranny. We saw then what happens when a state tries to crush the "political animal." Even the absolute power of the Panchayat era could not sustain itself by forcing people into silence.
For a government that rose from the blood and sacrifice of those who fought for freedom—while those of us who witnessed the suppression are still "alive and kicking"—to now suggest that citizens should be "muffled" is more than an irony. It is a death knell for the advocacy of free speech. By declaring politics a "forbidden fruit"—a NishedNimantran—they are making a classic psychological error. Like the story of Adam and Eve, a ban only makes the fruit more attractive. If you ban politics in the light of the office or the classroom, it moves to the shadows. It becomes covert, radicalized, and a haunting reminder of the failed systems we once lived in exile to defeat.
The Deleted Startup Disk
The solution to a political "toothache" is medicine and proper treatment, not sewing the patient's mouth shut. We must understand that democracy is like a complex computer system. Every election is a "reboot"—a chance to refresh the national operating system. But for that system to start, it needs the startup disk of an engaged and educated citizenry.
If the government deletes the political identity of the working class and the intelligentsia, they are wiping the core drive of the nation. You cannot reboot with a blank disk. If students cannot debate and teachers cannot lead, the system is "no good." It becomes an empty box, unable to process the data of human rights or social progress. Without the "backup disk" of free thought, the system will never start up again.
Is the goal to follow a "Chinese model" where the only political activity left is obedience and a silent 100% vote? Is the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) attempting to muffle others simply because they lack their own historical grassroots organizations? A government can command a robot, but it must convince a citizen.
A Warning for Gen Z: The "Freedom" Trap
To the Gen Z readers who powered the recent shifts in our political landscape: pay attention. You fought to remove the "old faces" because they were corrupt, but be careful that you aren't replacing them with a system that views your voice as "interference."
The very social media platforms you used to organize are the ones the state now wants to monitor for "political leanings." The "Student Councils" being proposed to replace your Unions are designed to be "Voice-lite"—all of the suggestions, with none of the power. You are being told that "good governance" requires your silence. But remember: a robot is the most "governable" thing on earth because it has no will of its own.
Do not let your movement be co-opted into a land of silent functionaries. If you stop being political, you stop being the architects of your own future. If the workers are silenced and the students are muzzled, we are left with a democracy of the "senile and the small"—those who cannot function and those who cannot yet vote.
The Golden Mean
Aristotle's final lesson is the "Golden Mean." We do not need the excess of partisan interference in every file, but we cannot survive the deficiency of a total ban. The solution is Regulation over Prohibition.
A wise government regulates the clock—mandating "no politics during office hours"—but it does not try to rewrite the soul. Let us protect the right to have a say in the matter, for once that startup disk is erased, the robot is all that remains. Do they want a nation of inspired citizens, or a land of robots? History has already shown us which one survives the reboot.
You can access her writings at https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/author/1042/usha-pokharel. She can be reached at pokharelusha@gmail.com
