Congratulations PM Bhattarai

First of all, our heartiest congratulations to Baburam Bhattarai for being elected as the newest prime minister of this young republic. Bhattarai rightly or wrongly carries on his shoulders the heavy weight of a huge public expectation to fire on all cylinders. The people, frustrated from the political impasse of the past few years, hope that Bhattarai can cut across party lines and end Nepal’s transitional phase by taking the peace and the constitution-writing processes to a logical end. The expectation stems from the fact that he is considered a moderate within a radical party (though his personal skills as a negotiator are questionable); is highly-qualified (by the way, he is Nepal’s first PhD prime minister) and had a successful stint as finance minister when the Maoist party led the government soon after the country became a republic in 2008.



Bhattarai’s success will largely rest on how quickly he will be able to transform his party from a radical to a moderate, progressive political unit. The radicalism is what made the earlier Maoist government led by its Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal a disaster. Mr Dahal took a lot of immature and impulsive decisions and that not only cost the party dear but continues to haunt it and the country. For instance, it unsuccessfully attempted to fire the then Army Chief Rookmangud Katawal who was retiring in just about three months; it gravely mishandled its relationship with other political parties; and it unnecessarily soured its relationship with India with its anti-India vitriolic campaign. Every party has its own learning curve and Dr Bhattarai is expected to conduct himself differently not only because he has a history to learn from but also because of the person that he is.



That said the tasks ahead of Bhattarai are daunting. The most important work staring right at him is completion of the peace process and the writing of the constitution. The Maoist party during its negotiations with other parties has always maintained that giving away too much would be seen as surrender within its rank and file but now that it is in the government it can no longer make such an excuse. This government has no other alternative but to work together with the other political parties, especially the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, who are most likely to stay in the opposition, to steer the country through a complicated transition. Bhattarai should not overlook that the time before him is short.



The Constituent Assembly (CA) will in all likelihood be extended for another three months and it is in this period that he has to deliver on all fronts. If a substantial progress cannot be made in the next extended period of the CA, the country runs the risk of entering into a phase of uncertainty and that is the last thing the people of Nepal want. Great leaders are borne during difficult times and this is one such opportunity that providence has placed before Bhattarai.

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