Tasks before Nepal leadership

Tushar Charan

After reducing the King to a virtual non-entity the next and crucial phase of the democratic movement in Nepal is an election to elect the constituent assembly. When the election commission in Nepal expressed its inability to hold the elections on June 20, as agreed to by major parties, the Maoists, who had agreed to give up their 10-year-old violent struggle for a Republic, reacted angrily. They suspected the wily King of continuing to manipulate internal developments as the country also witnessed more bloodshed, this time in the name of ethnic violence in the Terai plains. The dreaded possibility of a return to the old days of violence loomed large.

So, it must be a big relief for the Nepalese that the seven ‘mainstream’ political parties and the Maoists, as also the Election Commission, all have now agreed that the polls should be held by November this year. The Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, has suggested November 26, but all the parties have to give their consent for the date.

India too must be relieved because unrest in Nepal affects this country more directly. India will be watching the post-poll scene in Nepal with more interest. New Delhi was believed to be against the abolition of the monarchy in Nepal but later it adopted a ‘neutral’ stance on that vital issue. How the new set of rulers in Nepal eventually shape their policy towards India, often an unjust target of Nepalese politicians, will become clear only after the polls.

From the start the Maoists protestations against ‘delaying’ the polls looked unreasonable because a poll conducted in a hurry (about two months when June 20 was suggested) would not have looked free and fair and, thus, lacked credibility. A poll is not conducted merely on the strength of the political will but it also requires completion of certain technical pre-requisites, including the all-important job of an up-to-date voters’ list, probably last revised more than eight years ago. And the country needs a modicum of peace too for the polls to be a meaningful exercise.

The underlying causes for the unrest among a section of the Nepalese have not been addressed. The plains people, mostly people of Indian origin, want a better deal. Also more representatives in Parliament for their region. Ethnic violence has rocked Nepal for weeks and new armed groups have surfaced. At the last count nine insurgent groups have become active, though many are off-shoots of the Maoist campaign.

It is quite possible that in the next four or five months those who are now running the affairs of Nepal would be able to keep the country peaceful, at least in comparative terms, so that the polls in November are conducted under ‘normal’ circumstances. A factor that needs to be watched in the run up to the polls is the ability of the new ruling class to coexist. The Maoists, still struggling to get rid of their fondness for the gun, violence and strong-armed tactics, and the motley crowd in the seven party alliance (SPA), a group of political parties with a record of both inter-and intra-party feuds, often talk and act like adversaries.

A problem in the SPA is that many of its leaders are too old and too steeped in the tradition of bad politics to encourage optimism. The Maoists have proved to be more forward looking as they have given representation to the sections that have remained neglected in Nepal for long. About a third of Maoists members of the interim parliament are women and the Maoists have also nominated many Dalits as members of the national assembly.

This record would have been more impressive had the Maoists shown some keenness to accommodate the Madhesis, the plains people of Indian origin. More so since they were first to support the Maoists even before they became a nation-wide phenomenon. The fact is that even the top most Maoist leader, Prachanda, has used abusive terms for these disfranchised people.

The seven or eight key players who decide Nepal’s destiny these days also have to be more clear about their goals and the means to achieve them. The Maoists have been showing an unjustified anxiety over the issue of the fate of the monarchy; the SAP seems quite content with the status quo.

If some of the recent Maoist rhetoric is to be believed their main purpose in giving up arms that brought an end to the insurgency that had claimed 13,000 lives in 10 years is to banish the king to some jungle from where he cannot return. Some comrades are not averse to the idea of doing something more drastic. But the Maoists roadmap, or priorities, after the end of the 240-year-old institution of monarchy is not clear. The Maoists have to discipline their armed cadre or run the risk of taking Nepal back to the bloody days.

King Gyanendra has to be blamed most for the curtains down on the monarchy. He greedily usurped all powers because of his personal disdain for politicians and he showed no hesitation in donning the role of an autocrat at a time when a popular movement against his rule was building up. He drew his strength from the loyal army forgetting that the army is more likely to back the ‘powerful’ rather than the totally ‘powerless’ as he well might become very soon. However, it will be a bigger mistake if the politicians who have laid exclusive claim to ruling Nepal do not draw some lessons from the fate of King Gyanendra.

The prime minister today seems to enjoy all the powers that the King had and that can be very dangerous in a country which is yet to evolve strong democratic institutions. Nepal cannot walk further if large sections remain alienated, without some of the fundamental rights. Above all, the problem of poverty and development has to be tackled on an urgent basis.

Tasks like these should leave no room for petty quarrels among politicians and the urge to reach for the gun by some of those who are calling the shots today. The constituent assembly has its task cut when it drafts a new constitution to declare Nepal is a Republic.

Source: Asian Tribune, June 2, 2007