Almost all the civil society members, who aired their views at a gathering convened at Nepali Congress (NC) head office at Sanepa, Lalitpur on Saturday, said they are ready to support the opposition parties´ agitation for ousting the present government but only on condition the leaders commit themselves not to cheat the people yet again. [break]
They said civil society members are ready to take to the streets for safeguarding democratic values but for that the agitating parties need to convince the people about the relevance of their agenda and their agitations.
They came down heavily on leaders from the major parties, including the NC and CPN-UML, for failing to work as per the commitments made by them during past movements.
"Caretaker Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai must vacate the office. His continued stay in office is unconstitutional," said Dr Sundarmani Dixit as leaders from 15 agitating parties listened in the hall packed by hundreds of civil society members. "But what will people get for braving the bullets and batons to be rained down by the police? Are you ensuring employment, electricity and security for the people?"
He criticized the party leaders for cheating the people by not fulfilling the commitments they made when appealing for mass movements in the past even though these same parties have led governments repeatedly since then.
"We are yet again ready to support your agitations to oust Bhattarai but how are we to rest assured that this time the people will not be cheated," asked Dixit.
Former chairman of Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, claimed that agitations against the present government have become imperative, saying Prime Minister Bhattarai´s recent statements and decisions clearly indicated that he was following the path of Hitler. "We can clearly see the Hitler tendency in him. He is planning to stay in power for an indefinite period even as constitutional bodies and other vital democratic institutions are on the verge of collapse," Thapa said.
Former member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Sushil Pyakurel and activist Kanakmani Dixit criticized NC and UML leaders for failing to play the role of effective opposition parties.
"There are several scandals involving Maoist leaders such as the Shaktikhor video tape row, the issue of taking 500 million rupees [from unidentified Chinese for horse-trading during the prime ministerial election], misuse of eight billion rupees from state coffers and the issue of Balkrishna Dhungel, who is roaming scot-free even though the Supreme Court has convicted him of murder," said Dixit.
Representatives from various sectors such as former United Nations assistant secretary-general Kul Chandra Gautam, Prof. Surya Lal Amatya, Rameshwar Upadhaya of the University Teachers´ Association, Dr Bhola Rijal, engineer Sakaldev Suchiyar, NGO activist Sharmila Karki and senior journalist Harihar Birahi, among others, suggested the leaders come up with a clearer roadmap on their future political course if they are to get the support of professionals.
Push agenda of CA election
All those offering their suggestions at the gathering advised the party leaders to go for elections for a constituent assembly-cum-parliament for a five-year term to accomplish the incomplete task of writing a new constitution in the first year and work as a regular parliament for the remaining four years. They criticized the idea of reinstating the dissolved Constituent Assembly (CA).
"The only solution to end the protracted political stalemate is to hold elections for a new CA," said former speaker and leading civil society member Damannath Dhungana.
Other civil society members including Gaurishankar Lal Das, Arjun Karki, Dr Birendra Mishra, Mohan Gyanwali (mistake in name corrected) and Dinesh Bhattarai said the political parties needed to focus their efforts on holding CA elections in the coming spring.
Responding to queries, NC President Sushil Koirala and CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal made it clear that they were already headed towards elections and there was no confusion in their respective parties on the political course ahead.
Koirala said they were committed to working as per the suggestions offered by the professionals, while Khanal said they were "enlightened" by their ideas and promised to respect these in the days to come.
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