We can pick many faults with the way Sushil Koirala government handled the immediate aftermath of the April 25 mega-quake. In the initial days, government representatives acted like they were stunned and were scrambling for a coherent response. But the two ruling coalition partners, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, have done a much better job in their individual capacities. Each has mobilized thousands of cadres for rescue and relief efforts. After a slow start, NC and UML leaders are now busy collecting and distributing vital necessities like rice and tarpaulin. The response of the opposition parties has been as encouraging. UCPN (Maoist) has instructed all its party mechanisms to help earthquake victims in any way they can. The Madhesh-based parties have been as active. Even senior leaders like Upendra Yadav and Mahantha Thakur have been on door-to-door campaigns, collecting food and other necessities. In fact, it is hard to find a single political party which has not actively contributed to relief efforts. But will this unity, forced by an unforeseeable natural calamity, pass the test of time?
Before April 25, the national polity had been bitterly divided. The ruling coalition seemed determined to push through a new constitution through voting in the Constituent Assembly. The opposition under the Maoists seemed as determined to stop them. Perhaps at no other time after 1990 was the national polity so polarized. Then, on April 25, the unthinkable happened. Now, no one is talking about differences over new constitution, a seemingly petty issue in the face of such widespread death and destruction. But for how long will this forced unity hold? When revised death tolls stop making headlines, the old enmities could be rekindled. That must not be allowed to happen. Our political parties will need to work together for a long time to see the country safely through these difficult times. This in turn will entail that they see eye to eye on important constitutional issues, one of which now must be vastly improving the country's resilience to earthquakes.
Although it is far too early to talk about constitution, it is worth pointing out that the earthquake and the trail of destruction it has left behind also offer political parties an opportunity to explore new common grounds based on our commonalities. Nature, as we see, doesn't discriminate between Pahadis and Madheshis, Bahuns and Dalits or obey any of the other arbitrary divisions invented by human beings. Madheshis have shown how they can feel the pain of their Pahadi cousins. It shows that although there are differences in our imagination of new Nepal, at times of crisis, all such differences become irrelevant and only the bond of humanity remains. As the country embarks on the long road of reconstruction, the political parties must keep emphasizing the commonalities among all Nepalis, rather than try to play up their small differences for political leverage. That is the only way the country will be able to tide over this unprecedented tragedy. And that is the only way we can honor the memories of all those we have recently lost.
Related story
Ties that bind
