The government, which is believed to be giving final touches to the election related ordinance to announce a new poll date at the earliest, has now invited the political parties not represented in the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) for ‘unconditional’ talks. The call is aimed particularly at CPN-Maoist, one of the 33 agitating parties. So far the Baidya-led Maoist party has been the most reluctant of all the agitating forces to come to a meaningful compromise for timely polls. CPN-Maoist wants the 25-point constitutional amendment that cleared the way for formation of Khil Raj Regmi government scrapped. It also seeks the dissolution of the CJ-led government, roll back of the decision to appoint Lok Man Singh Karki as new CIAA chief and an abrupt halt to citizenship distribution. So far as the other dissenting parties are concerned, there seems to have been some kind of an understanding between HLPM constituents and the agitating parties to remove the proposed one percentage threshold, while the size of the new legislature will be left at 491, as stipulated in the 25-point constitutional amendment.
As such, CPN-Maoist currently appears to be the biggest hurdle to announcement of new polls. The problem is that unlike the demands made by other parties that have been agitating against the Regmi-led government, most of the demands made by the Baidya-led outfit are extremely unreasonable. For instance, its insistence that the Regmi government resign to pave the way for meaningful talks is uncalled for. There are many who have strong reservations against the same person assuming the role of both the executive head as well as the Chief Justice at the same time.
But the CJ-led government came into existence under exceptional circumstances when all other avenues for a political breakthrough seemed closed. Right now, rather than continue with the acrimonious debate, we believe the country will be better served if all the democratic forces narrowed down their attention on timely polls. If there are free and fair polls by the stipulated timeframe, the Regmi government will go anyhow, in what will hopefully be a smooth handover of executive power to a democratically elected head of the government. On the other hand, the resignation of the government at this difficult juncture will invite many more problems than it will solve.
CPN-Maoist’s principled stand against Lok Man Singh Karki is laudable. A person with dubious credentials like Karki should never have been appointed the country’s anti-corruption czar. But making his ouster from CIAA a precondition for talks suggests CPN-Maoist is looking for every little excuse to obstruct the polls. The same applies to its opposition to citizenship certificate distribution. The party is clearly trying to pander to certain sections that are deeply suspicious of any perceived attempt at ‘undermining Nepal’s sovereignty’.
We too believe there should be strong oversight over citizenship distribution to prevent fraud, but it would be criminal to deprive citizenships to hundreds of thousands of genuine disenfranchised Nepalis in the name of protecting the ill-defined ‘national sovereignty’. Here too, reason, rather than passion, should guide action. All in all, we would like to see CPN-Maoist genuinely committed to democratic principles. At present, the party can best express it by abandoning its rigid stands and sitting down for talks with the ultimate goal of giving the power back to the people.
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