New Nepal government has a golden opportunity

Democracy and republicanism have not ended Nepal’s biggest problem—a fractured polity. Exactly a year has passed since Nepal’s Constituent Assembly (CA) declared Nepal a Republic. Over the past year, Nepal’s budding republic experienced several political highs and lows. It began with the abolition of the 250-year-old monarchy. The Maoists rose to power and then fell equally spectacularly. There was an emergence of strong regional forces in the Tarai, the sidelining of the mainstream political parties, rise of the demand for equal representation and autonomy by ethnic and marginalised groups, an upsurge in violent activities and, most importantly, increased politicking by foreign countries in Nepal’s affairs.

However, the climax was the tussle between the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPNM) party and the Nepalese Army over the issue of ‘civilian supremacy’. It led to the downfall of the Maoist government and changed the whole discourse on Nepal’s polity.

As of now, the first elected government led by the Maoists has collapsed and has been replaced by a new one headed by senior Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. With the support of 360 CA members from 22 different political parties, Madhav Nepal was elected unopposed as no other candidates filed nomination for the top post. The UML-led coalition easily obtained the magic number required to form a majority government in the 601 member- House.

However, the allegations and counter-allegations, symptoms of virtual and near-splits in political parties, moral posturing, allegation of buying CA parliamentarians and talk of foreign interference continues to be an issue of debate in the country. Moreover, the Maoists alleged that the new government was installed at the behest of foreign powers and have threatened to continue their protest in Parliament and on the street unless the President’s ‘unconstitutional’ move was rectified.

In the past, the coalition that made it possible for the Maoists to head the government under Pushpa Kamal Dahal, or Prachanda, was, at best, a group driven by short-term political interests and evident by serious splits within the coalition. The two main partners of the coalition, the CPN-UML and the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF), had two equally divided camps. On the other hand, the Nepali Congress (NC), which had opted to sit in the Opposition, kept an eagle eye on the government’s functioning and did not loose opportunity to criticise it. Thus emerged give-and-take politics, which is a characteristic of parliamentary system where no outright majority exists.

The recent crisis emerged after Prachanda announced that he would sack the Army chief for disobeying the civilian government’s supremacy. The Maoists certainly had an axe to grind here. They wanted to dismiss the current Army chief, who was vehemently opposed to the integration of the 19,000 PLA combatants housed in UNMIN-monitored cantonments. The Maoists wanted to replace General Rutmangad Katuwal with another General who was pro-Maoist and possibly would have been more accommodative with their proposals.

The MJF, for their part, had tried to find a middle path and work out a consensus with other parties by offering two alternative proposals to resolve the crisis. The party proposed that a committee should be formed within the cabinet or a high-level committee consisting of all major parties in the parliament should be set up to study and report on the clarifications provided by the CoAS. At that point of time, all the other coalition partners had agreed to the proposal except the Maoists who were hell bent on removing the Army Chief and the reasons remain unclear.

The issue became more complicated after the President intervened and vetoed the PM’s order and reinstated the Army chief. Analysts believe and blame the Maoists for the foul play, but it is also true that both the UML and the MJF had earlier agreed to seek clarification and sack the Army chief if necessary for surpassing the orders of an elected government. Though Prachanda had consulted his coalition partners and obtained their support, the coalition partners had backtracked. The controversy got more impetus after the NC and a faction within the UML and MJF opposed to the Maoists’ style of functioning decided to go for the final step. However, whatever the reasons, the fact remains that Prachanda had to resign after one of its main coalition partner withdrew support over the Army chief controversy leaving it in a minority position.

In his address to the nation, the newly elected Madhav Kumar Nepal said that taking the peace process to its logical end and drafting the new Constitution within the stipulated time are the two most important tasks. Besides, he also committed to respect the past accords, take care of the country’s law and order situation, provide relief and reform packages to the people and adhere to the civilian supremacy that has held the attention after the Army Chief row came to the fore during the tenure of Prachanda, has been highlighted with the government. Going by his word, it appears that there is a ray of hope in the leadership of Madhav Nepal. However, the uncanny behaviour of the coalition, guided by vested interests, remains worrisome. At the moment, the majority government has laid stressed on the importance of a national consensus and this is a good indication. In fact, this is an immediate lesson learnt from the past government’s ouster in nine months where the Maoists took each and every decision unilaterally.

At this juncture, the trust among the political parties and within them is at the lowest. The NC and Maoists can hardly see eye to eye; the UML and the Maoists share some commonalities but their confidence in each other remains shattered. More importantly, the parties also suffer from internal problems—the UML and NC are all divided. The MJF have somehow managed to pull off from the brink of a split but the internal feud is fast gaining strength.

Therefore, with so many challenges and hurdles on the way, it will take strong resolve, determination, firmness and all support and cooperation from the other parties to see that the UML-led government delivers. Madhav Nepal headed government has several key tasks to perform, most important of them is to expedite the Constitution drafting process and take the peace process to its logical end. Apparently, it is the successful completion of the following tasks that will bring an end to the transitional period. More importantly, isolating the Maoists will also have grave consequences to the peace process. Therefore, it is the prime responsibility of Madhav Nepal to reach out to the Maoists and keep them engaged in the peace process.

Courtesy: The Pioneer