This is not surprising. After all, the Maoists are masters in the art of saying something and doing just the opposite. They have come so far by employing doublespeak as one of the primary weapons to get what they want.
To the Maoists, it comes naturally to accuse other political parties for their acts and also put in that cautionary justification that it is because of others that they are forced to take an unsavory step.
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has now demonstrated, beyond any iota of doubt, how badly he misses Baluwatar. He is a man in a hurry and is in no mood to wait. Hence the attack on the government by all means. They have already started cornering the government through sadak (streets) and sadan (parliament). Boycott of the president and the prime minister is in operation. This is a democratic right but the raison d’etre for such protests has no legs to stand on.
To claim the leadership of the government, politics is being played – and big time – in the now off, now on garbage disposal problem, in Parmananda Jha’s oath controversy and now in reviving the Pashupatinath Temple’s priests’ appointment issue. The Maoists have denied their involvement but they have left their unmistakable imprints on the garbage disposal and priests’ appointment controversies.
There are verbal volleys too. “The government is illegitimate”. Come on, now. If so, then the 350+ parliament members who support the government are illegitimate too. “This is a foreign-planted government”. Oh really! There is now irrefutable evidence that the Maoists were kowtowing to the Indians, both when they were in power and when they were out of it. Remember, it was the self-styled nationalist Maoist government which allowed the Indians to have their security personnel inside the Tribhuvan International Airport. “The president took an unconstitutional step”. What of the minority Maoist cabinet’s blatant disregard of two of the Interim Constitution’s core tenets: Act either in consensus or have a two-thirds majority for any decision.
Sample a few more. “There is an attempt to dissolve the Constituent Assembly (CA) and we need to fight collectively against it”. Who has paralyzed the parliament is not unknown to anyone. But the Maoists hope that their duplicity is well-hidden. “Only a national unity government can establish long-lasting peace and ensure timely writing of constitution.” It’s my way or highway syndrome. “Other parties are deliberately isolating the Maoists in the CA” (after the Maoist candidate lost the Constitutional Committee election). If the Maoists win, the system works fine. If not, others are hatching conspiracy!
The mother of all salvos, of course, is stale “civilian supremacy”. It is perfectly okay to harass the people, block the highways, shut down schools, colleges, factories and business establishments and obstruct the parliament in the name of establishing civilian supremacy. To the Maoists, it comes naturally to accuse other political parties for their acts and also put in that cautionary justification that it is because of others that they are forced to take an unsavory step.
Civilian supremacy, the Maoists believe, is a ladder to government under their leadership. The day they succeed, ‘civilian supremacy’ will die its natural death. But, until then, all means will be tried and the Maoist brinkmanship will continue to trouble the entire nation.
The reason the Maoists are publicly impervious to criticisms is because a section of the media, the civil society and international community refrains from calling a spade a spade. The reasons are multiple but this hesitation has only emboldened the Maoists and they continue in the path they have chosen to travel.
Some opinion writers see nothing wrong in the Maoists’ motion of sankalpa prastav (resolution motion) against the president or Jha’s defiance of the Supreme Court. Their premise is this: In special circumstances, it is okay to breach the constitution or defy the court. The reason offered for applauding or justifying the breach of the constitution and laws is that these matters are ‘political’ in nature.
Reports from institutions like International Crisis Group (ICG) are responsible too. A recent report by ICG – Nepal’s Future: In Whose Hands? – is an excellent account of current Nepal except for a few, but serious, suggestions and flaws. One of the suggestions to political parties – “work without delay to form a national unity government, acknowledging that the democratic mandate to lead it still rests with the Maoists” – may read like a perfectly legitimate one. But these suggestions will only bolster the Maoists. What if they lead the government again, commit a silly and an unconstitutional act (they are capable of this given their track record) and have to quit? Does ICG mean to say that whatever the Maoists do, they have the sole right to lead the government? Is it aware of our constitution and the laws governing government formation in Nepal?
If the Maoists can muster enough seats, no one can stop them from leading the government. If not, everyone, including the illustrious think tanks, needs to accept our laws and reality.
There’s a lot the Maoists can do to ease the situation but I doubt they will. They are yet to display the capacity to acknowledge their mistakes and their responsibility for the current state of affairs. Blaming others for one’s faults will never help. Why should other political parties keep on compromising if the Maoists do not reciprocate? Only and only if the Maoists agree that there are legitimate concerns of others, instead of announcing their umpteenth protest program, will a door for real partnership open.
The ball, if I may use a cliché, is in the Maoists’ court.
damakant@myrepublica.com
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