Quest for guarantee

Amid the national debate on whether to declare the country a republic through the interim parliament, Nepali Congress president and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has ruled out this possibility, at least till the CA polls. Addressing the concluding session of the national workshop of the NC district presidents in the capital on Monday, Koirala said, “A republic will not materialise just because somebody speaks for it, or I speak for it.” He called the republic a “gradual process”, and saw the beginning of the practice of foreign ambassadors to Nepal presenting their credentials to the PM as a step in the reduction process of the royal powers. Alleging that there has been much manoeuvring in the name of republic, he asked the Congressites to think how the “international community” would look at the NC if it now jumped on the republican bandwagon. The “opacity and misuse” of funds received from foreign organisations for the four-day workshop were also criticised.

The workshop passed a dozen resolutions, including the call for a special general convention of the party to shape the Congress stand on the monarchy. The party’s 11th general convention, breaking with its original allegiance to constitutional monarchy, had chosen to remain secular on the issue of monarchy by purging its statute of any mention of monarchy. An overwhelming majority of the district presidents had spoken in favour of a republican order. Even now, the Congress, like any other party, has every right to support “ceremonial” or “constitutional” monarchy or stand for a republican order. Even within the NC, strong pressure is visible for a clear party position on the issue without much delay, as testified by the district presidents’ workshop. There are royalists, republicans and even fence-sitters in the Congress. However, Koirala said the party would make its stance clear when the need arose.

The NC president seems to be taking a policy of wait and watch towards the monarchy, letting things take their course, without the NC doing anything about it. His “international community” bit may give the impression that things are not ripe yet for a republican order as far as their green signal is concerned. Political analysts may make various interpretations of the Congress’s present policy, but a sizable number of them also link it to the fear of the Leftist dominance in politics thereafter. Whatever the contribution of the various factors, it is incumbent on Koirala to speed things up, including fixing a date, in preparation for the CA polls. For this, he has to win the confidence of the seven other parties in the alliance. Because once Koirala failed to keep his date with the polls, it may also be necessary to provide doubting alliance partners with a guarantee that there will not be another postponement of the polls. In the meantime, he has to convince the agitating MPs of the need to let the House proceedings resume to finish urgent businesses. This includes the second amendment to the Constitution as agreed upon, incorporating the genuine ones of the demands of the various agitating groups in the country.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 9, 2007