Grandfather clock

After the postponement of the elections to the constituency assembly (CA) slated for June, the eight political parties will need to demonstrate a high degree of wisdom to keep the alliance intact and to implement the mandate given them by Jana Andolan II. The relationship between the Nepali Congress, which heads the alliance government, and the two other big alliance partners, the CPN-Maoist and the CPN-UML, have soured to a certain extent. These two communist parties are insisting on settling the question of the monarchy — either through a two-thirds parliamentary majority or by the direct verdict of the people in a referendum — before setting a new poll date, whereas some senior NC leaders like minister and party general secretary Ram Chandra Poudel, NC-D president Sher Bahadur Deuba, and RJP chief Surya Bahadur Thapa want to stick to the provision of the Interim Constitution (IC) that says the first meeting of the CA will clinch the issue.

Prime Minister Koirala seems to be in a tight spot at a time when major alliance partners such as the CPN-UML are raising serious questions about his leadership after the deferral of the polls. Koirala has been non-committal so far on the demands of the Maoists and the CPN-UML. Maoist politburo member Dr Baburam Bhattarai warned in the capital on Saturday that his party would launch a “peaceful agitation” if the interim parliament did not declare Nepal a republic by the third week of May. He has said a Left unity will be forged for the purpose if the eight parties cannot agree on the republican demand. On such a highly sensitive and polarising issue, any national party worth its salt cannot remain a prisoner of indecision even a full year since Jana Andolan II, all the more so a party that led the SPA alliance.

It is for the eight parties to decide whether they want the CA alone, the parliament, or a referendum to settle the issue of monarchy. But it would not behove the leaders who voted for the historic Declaration of Parliament and other epoch-making decisions, including the establishment of the parliament’s supremacy, the demise of the restored parliament and the 1990 Constitution, the adoption of the IC and formation of the interim parliament, now to say that the CA alone, and not Parliament, has the authority to decide the fate of the monarchy. While the country is polarised along the monarchy v republic lines, no party that has not arrayed itself in either camp so far should claim high moral ground to stay in power. Everybody is free to make his choice, but one wonders if the vacillating NC and NC-D should not make their positions absolutely clear, otherwise on what basis will they ask for the people’s votes? If it so desired, the NC may even choose to ally itself with the parties of former Panchas, though it is another question whether the NC would be willing to pay the price for this tricky option. It may also reflect poorly on them if they continue to sit on the fence.

Source: The Himalayan Times, April 30, 2007