Loktantra Day : The Message Is Clear
Bishnu Gautam
TODAY, the Nepalese people are marking the first Loktantra Day across the nation. It was the same day last year when the Nepalese people ushered in a dawn of complete democracy in the country through a peaceful movement. In fact, in spring last year not only new leaves grew in the trees but also new hopes among the Nepalese people. The old leaves fall and new ones grow in the spring; it is the law of the nature. But the springtide last year also swept away the old values and institutions like the old leaves of the trees, and probably like the fallen leaves these values and institutions will never get new life if the agents of the changes proceed ahead cautiously.
Success
The then myopic rulers could not understand the power of the people demonstrating in the streets with party flags and tree branches with young leaves and continued to apply different measures to suppress them with bullets, batons and boots. Prohibition orders and curfew were imposed inside the Ring Road to stop the people from demonstrating in the streets but all in vain. Millions of people took to the streets in Kathmandu and other parts of the country for 19 consecutive days with flags and green tree branches. Maybe, the demonstrators carrying tree branches with green leaves were signaling that they were committed to bring new hopes and aspirations among the people like the green leaves. Finally, they succeeded in their endeavor and the authoritarian regime knelt down before them on 24 April 2006.
A new era of Lokatantra ushered in like the green leaves of the branches in the trees in spring. New hopes and dreams arose among the people. At the same times all the dreams of the royal regime and its supporters got shattered. Every oppressive regime crumbles down when they go against the tide of democracy and people's right. The April Movement of 2006 proved this once again.The April Movement, popularly termed as Jana Andolan II, was launched to establish Loktantra in the country and ensure people's sovereignty in the true sense. And this demand of the people was met on April 24 when the king was compelled to restore the then House of Representatives dissolved at midnight of May 22, 2002. Besides, the April Movement of Nepal was a truth in many ways in the history of the democratic movement.
First, it was a movement launched jointly by the democratic parties having faith in the parliamentary system of the government and the ultra leftists who were raising arms to establish a communist totalitarian by completely uprooting monarchy. Among the seven parties that formed an alliance, five were the leftist parties. The CPN (Maoists) which had launched a decade long armed revolt against the establishment, the parliamentary system in the beginning and the Monarchy in the latter days too supported the April Movement by announcing cease-fire in the valley.
Earlier, the seven party alliances and the Maoists had reached a consensus in an unknown place in India in December 2005 to prepare the grounds for the historic Movement. Thus, the April Movement looks unique from this point of view. Moreover, the April Movement virtually brought an end to the armed revolt when all seven parties alliance agreed to the Maoists' demand to go for the constituent assembly elections. Another astonishing factor of the movement was that it remained peaceful despite the participation of the people in millions. Such mass rallies hardly go peaceful but in Nepal they were peaceful. Unlike the democratic movement of 1990, the April Movement was also launched in villages.And like the leaves of spring grow, the democratic activities began to take place on the solid ground after the success of April Movement.
The restored House of Representatives stripped all the powers of the king and declared it all-powerful. A comprehensive agreement was signed between the seven-party government and the Maoists declaring an end to the people's war that claimed 15,000 lives in a decade. Arms of the Maoists were managed and the Maoists militias were kept in different cantonments. Interim statute was promulgated and an interim parliament?Legislative Parliament? replaced the House of Representatives restored in the strength of the people. The 329-member new parliament has 73 members from the CPN (Maoists). The formation of the Legislative Parliament formally brought the Maoists into the mainstream politics. The interim government of eight parties is now working to hold the constituent assembly elections as soon as possible.
Hope
TODAY, the Nepalese people are marking the first Loktantra Day across the nation. It was the same day last year when the Nepalese people ushered in a dawn of complete democracy in the country through a peaceful movement. In fact, in spring last year not only new leaves grew in the trees but also new hopes among the Nepalese people. The old leaves fall and new ones grow in the spring; it is the law of the nature. But the springtide last year also swept away the old values and institutions like the old leaves of the trees, and probably like the fallen leaves these values and institutions will never get new life if the agents of the changes proceed ahead cautiously.
Success
The then myopic rulers could not understand the power of the people demonstrating in the streets with party flags and tree branches with young leaves and continued to apply different measures to suppress them with bullets, batons and boots. Prohibition orders and curfew were imposed inside the Ring Road to stop the people from demonstrating in the streets but all in vain. Millions of people took to the streets in Kathmandu and other parts of the country for 19 consecutive days with flags and green tree branches. Maybe, the demonstrators carrying tree branches with green leaves were signaling that they were committed to bring new hopes and aspirations among the people like the green leaves. Finally, they succeeded in their endeavor and the authoritarian regime knelt down before them on 24 April 2006.
A new era of Lokatantra ushered in like the green leaves of the branches in the trees in spring. New hopes and dreams arose among the people. At the same times all the dreams of the royal regime and its supporters got shattered. Every oppressive regime crumbles down when they go against the tide of democracy and people's right. The April Movement of 2006 proved this once again.The April Movement, popularly termed as Jana Andolan II, was launched to establish Loktantra in the country and ensure people's sovereignty in the true sense. And this demand of the people was met on April 24 when the king was compelled to restore the then House of Representatives dissolved at midnight of May 22, 2002. Besides, the April Movement of Nepal was a truth in many ways in the history of the democratic movement.
First, it was a movement launched jointly by the democratic parties having faith in the parliamentary system of the government and the ultra leftists who were raising arms to establish a communist totalitarian by completely uprooting monarchy. Among the seven parties that formed an alliance, five were the leftist parties. The CPN (Maoists) which had launched a decade long armed revolt against the establishment, the parliamentary system in the beginning and the Monarchy in the latter days too supported the April Movement by announcing cease-fire in the valley.
Earlier, the seven party alliances and the Maoists had reached a consensus in an unknown place in India in December 2005 to prepare the grounds for the historic Movement. Thus, the April Movement looks unique from this point of view. Moreover, the April Movement virtually brought an end to the armed revolt when all seven parties alliance agreed to the Maoists' demand to go for the constituent assembly elections. Another astonishing factor of the movement was that it remained peaceful despite the participation of the people in millions. Such mass rallies hardly go peaceful but in Nepal they were peaceful. Unlike the democratic movement of 1990, the April Movement was also launched in villages.And like the leaves of spring grow, the democratic activities began to take place on the solid ground after the success of April Movement.
The restored House of Representatives stripped all the powers of the king and declared it all-powerful. A comprehensive agreement was signed between the seven-party government and the Maoists declaring an end to the people's war that claimed 15,000 lives in a decade. Arms of the Maoists were managed and the Maoists militias were kept in different cantonments. Interim statute was promulgated and an interim parliament?Legislative Parliament? replaced the House of Representatives restored in the strength of the people. The 329-member new parliament has 73 members from the CPN (Maoists). The formation of the Legislative Parliament formally brought the Maoists into the mainstream politics. The interim government of eight parties is now working to hold the constituent assembly elections as soon as possible.
Hope
Nepalese people want the April Movement of 2006 should be their final democratic movement. They do not want to launch another democratic movement from April 24. Of course, the democratic movements of 1951 and 1990 remained incomplete and could not last long. Late king Mahendra took power in 1960 through a coup and imprisoned the ever-elected prime minister B. P. Koirala. Again the parties launched a democratic movement in 1990 from Feb 19, 1990 (the same day when democracy was ushered in 1951). But the 1990's democracy too met the same fate. And the Nepalese people chose April 8 (Chaitra 26) when they had achieved democracy for the third time in 1990 to launch the decisive movement of 2006. Hope history won't repeat, instead the eight parties will create a new history by creating a new democratic and prosperous Nepal.
Source: The Rising Nepal, April 24, 2007
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