While he has been attempting to project to the public a finely-crafted image with the help of a pliant media, taking steps to make his “I-am-different-from-others’ mission a success and made moves to directly interact with the people by using electronic/social media tools, he has ignored his basic mandate i.e. to conclude the peace process and write the constitution.
His visit to New Delhi – absolutely needless at this time – would prominently figure his future and not so much the country he represents. Instead of working to realize the goals for which he had vowed to work while making his case as prime minister, he has been wasting precious time that this country can ill afford right now.
Dr Bhattarai now risks becoming a run-of-the-mill prime minister despite a carefully worked out plan to cast him as very much different from his predecessors, and with a lot of potential.
He might have the potential but the problem so far has been that he has hardly done anything substantial to speak about. His aides and fans point to the extremely difficult time that Dr Bhattarai is operating under. So did his three predecessors – Pushpa Kamala Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal – after the completion of the Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2008. These three could not make much headway. Dr Bhattarai’s sole stated reason for being the prime minister was that he would deliver where others had failed. He had known about the ground reality when he contested the election for prime minister.
In fact, Mr Bhattarai faces a much easier time vis-à-vis the media than his predecessors who were scorched by the press. The mainstream press has largely been patient with this prime minister. But the patience is running out and Prime Minister Bhattarai knows about it. Hardly a week passes by without criticism of the prime minister on a variety of issues.
Bhattarai´s one-and-a-half month tenure shows two aspects – what he had said he would accomplish and what he has done so far.
He pledged to make tangible progress on peace (setting in motion a plan dealing with the future Maoist combatants within 45 days of becoming the prime minister), expedite constitution-drafting process (by working to narrow down the differences) and usher in good governance.
Let us take the last one first.
Those hoping, and even praying, for Prime Minister Bhattarai’s success would have to wait. So long as he keeps investing for the future by way of maintaining his ´clean´ image, we won´t see him delivering. The gulf between what he has promised and what he has done to fulfill those promises would only widen.
On governance, he does have something to show, however inadequate it may be. The crackdown on food adulterers, the symbolism of riding a cheaper car made in Nepal, flying economy fare, taking questions from public on his personal email and through a radio program and setting up a control room to directly address public grievances have helped maintain an image that is in sharp contrast to other politicians. His popularity further soared after these measures were taken. But the transfer of Secretary Leela Mani Poudyal from the Home Ministry after his deputy and home minister, Bijaya Gachchhadar, exerted pressure dented this image-building. The prime minister had publicly vowed not to transfer any senior official for a month.
When it comes to settling the thorny issue of the future of Maoist combatants, he has already clarified he had been misunderstood on his pledge, a euphemism resorted to by politicians the world over to protect their, well, you know what. His clarification on his 45-day deadline has dealt him the severest blow. He was not prepared for this. On this score, his honesty, which he and his apologists speak about loudly, has come under question.
His explained that he meant to complete the task in 45 days "after" a consensus was reached with other political parties, chiefly with the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, something that has hardly happened since 2008, except on extending the terms of the CA. Given this background, it actually serves Dr Bhattarai´s and his party´s interest not to work for consensus since both can continue in power and make the best use of resources for the future while citing lack of consensus with the other parties. It was a very poor effort and even his supporters find hard defending it.
As for the constitution, the prime minister stands on the weakest ground. He has no leverage at all on any of the principal domestic actors who can delay or expedite the drafting of the statute by the CA. True, he still commands a tremendous goodwill of India but the last five years have shown the limitation of India´s influence. It can still persuade differing political parties to come together, at least on an issue of larger public interest, and can still, unfortunately, block anything, even if it is for a short period, that it deems against its interest. But the influence is on the wane. Mr Bhattarai needs to reassess his dependence on the goodwill of the southern neighbor.
How should we judge his performance so far?
On the one hand, we have his PhD, Mustang vehicle, economy class air ticket, crackdown on food adulterers, his interaction with people through email and radio, speech at the UN General Assembly, control room measure and, of course, his frugal living. Let us examine the other side. His attempt to pardon a murder convict who happens to be a parliamentarian from his party (Bal Krishna Dhungel), retaining a murder accused and close aide in his cabinet (Prabhu Sah) to the extent possible, his wife’s attempt to have a very expensive car by using government money, backtracking – twice – on his public vows, and lacking any persuasive power when it comes to negotiating with leaders from his own as well as other political parties.
And, yes, failing to deliver on his raisons d´etre – peace and constitution.
Those hoping, and even praying, for Prime Minister Bhattarai’s success would have to wait. So long as he keeps investing for the future by way of maintaining his ´clean´ image, we won´t see him delivering. The gulf between what he has promised and what he has done to fulfill those promises would only widen.
damakant@gmail.com
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