These are the very parties who had staked claim to lead the county during this turbulent time after the exit of the Maoists from power. If morning shows the day, future is grim for this coalition, which does not even have the full backing of the constituent parties, and is rapidly losing faith of the people because of the circus surrounding the government formation. It may be unfair to question the life of the government that is yet to get a full shape but the bitter truth is that people have already begun counting its days.
Besides Madhav Nepal, Girija Prasad Koirala and Bijaya Gachchhadar, hardly any senior leader in the NC, UML and MPRF feel that they have a stake in the government and haven’t shown any enthusiasm to defend it. A senior NC leader angrily told this scribe, “If our president doesn’t feel the need to listen to us [party’s senior leaders] on cabinet formation, maybe he also doesn’t need our support to defend this government.”
As the two largest parties lying at extreme ends of a political spectrum – all the other parties fall in between – the NC and Maoists must get serious to lead the country out of this mess.
NC is not only divided internally but it’s also facing public wrath for nominating Sujata Koirala to lead the party in the cabinet. Almost all newspapers have written angry editorials and they have also been flooded with equally angry letters from the readers. One such letter published in myrepublica.com was striking: “Is this Nepali version of democracy? These leaders are completely out of touch with what the common man like me are thinking about the game they are playing. NC is a party of morons.”
The NC leadership, which is facing so much outrage within and outside the party, will not be in a position to exercise any moral authority when the government will need it the most.
Out of power—and their ego severely bruised— the Maoists are also engaged in a hopeless exercise to force “a correction of President Dr Ram Baran Yadav’s unconstitutional move”. The Maoists have enforced general strikes in different regions, inviting clashes in several places between the banda enforcers and locals and cadres of other political parties.
This time the Maoist party has used its ethnic fronts to enforce the banda—that’s another worry since the party is knowingly or unknowingly stoking the fire of ethnic chauvinism. Newars in Kathmandu want Newa state, Limbus in eastern hills want Limbuwan state, Madhesis want Madhes state, Tharus want Tharuwan state … almost every ethnic community, irrespective of its size, wants an autonomous state, without understanding the implications of their demands. We are quickly entering into a quagmire: denying federal states to major ethnic groups and regions is becoming politically unfeasible, and at the same time, creating so many states is economically and socially unviable. Besides these unfeasible demands for autonomous states, ethnic slur in public speeches and conversations is growing fast and so is communal hatred. The leaders, including the Maoists, are aware of this accumulating danger and openly admit it in private, but in public they continue to kindle the fire for their immediate and narrow political interests.
Where will politics go from here? And, more importantly, will the parties be able to control the future course of politics? The political parties must show wisdom and maturity to act now, before things spin out of control.
Maoists are holding their politburo meeting, starting June 11, which is likely to reiterate its commitment to multiparty democracy (ostensibly to ally suspicion against them), taking the peace process to a logical conclusion, writing the constitution on time and is also likely to call for formation of a national unity government. Welcome as that call would be, it will not suffice.
As the two largest parties lying at extreme ends of a political spectrum – all the other parties fall in between because of their political orientation and ideological base – the NC and Maoists must get serious to lead the country out of this mess.
At present, people have reservations about both these parties. There are serious questions about NC’s role and relevance and it will continue unless the party reforms itself and comes out with something concrete about its vision for Nepal and solutions to the pressing problems facing the country. The NC should also hold its general convention immediately and elect a new leadership with a strong vision and integrity— certainly not Sher Bahadur Debua who as president of NC (Democratic) and as a two-time prime minister failed to show his leadership mettle.
There are also doubts about the intention of the Maoist party—is it committed to multiparty democracy as it says in public or is it waiting for an appropriate time to seize power forcefully? The party should also hold its general convention, which hasn’t happened for the past 18 years, and come clean on its democratic commitment and take action against the so-called hardliners, if necessary, who after every few months call for urban rebellion to capture the state, tarnishing the party image.
Once these parties have held their general convention, have possibly elected new leaders, and made their parties’ goals and vision clear, then a national unity government of all major parties and led by the Maoists can be formed. The key task of that government would be to finalize the constitution on time, federalize the sate and hold another general election. However far-fetched it might seem now, there is no alternative to a national unity government a few months down the line.
ameetdhakal@gmail.com
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