A High Level Political Mechanism In Nepal

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

On Friday, January 8, 2010, Chairman of United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) Prachanda, President of Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala, and Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) Jhalanath Khanal have signed on a paper agreeing on setting up a High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) with the objectives of rationally completing the peace process, writing a new constitution through the Constituent Assembly (CA) in time, and ending the current political deadlock. These three things will put Nepal on the right political track otherwise it will be another failed state.

Some political analysts and leaders have questioned the legality of this mechanism. They need to understand this mechanism is a political one and needs not to be pursuant to one article or another of the constitution, and at the same time it should not be above the constitution, and should not abuse the constitution. It is the machine to drive the CA for achieving the three objectives it has set. So, it has the body called CA elected by the people pursuant to the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Hence, nobody needs to bother its legality, as its body would work following the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007.

After the elections for the CA, some members of the extreme left group in the UCPN-Maoist have believed that the state power has come to their hands and they need to keep it in any case sending a strong message to the leaders of the so-called democratic parties such as NC and CPN-UML making even the really democratic minded leaders nervous, giving an opportunity of the rightist groups of convincingly portraying the Maoists capturing the state power and forcing the democratic minded leaders to believe that the Maoists are actually capturing the state power. Consequently, they have to give the way to the rightist groups in their respective parties and ultimately, they are forced to take the most undemocratic step of urging the President to make the unconstitutional move on directly writing a letter to the army chief overriding the decision of the then Prime Minister on firing the army chief.

If the democratic minded groups in the NC and CPN-UML have taken some time for coolly thinking about the possibility of the Maoists taking over the power before giving the way to the rightist groups to force the President to abuse the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, they could have averted the current political crisis in Nepal. If these democratic minded leaders have coolly thought then they would have known that the Maoists would not be able to capture the state power. The Maoists are going to capture the state power is the make-believe view the rightist groups in their respective parties have put forward to go head-on confrontation with the Maoists, and to take the country back to regression.

If the democratic minded leaders have believed that firing the army chief, the then Prime Minister Prachanda has violated the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, they could have democratically taken the issue to the legislature for a debate and legally to the Supreme Court of Nepal for resolution and avoid any political deadlock. Unfortunately, they have chosen the most undemocratic way urging the President to abuse the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 for stopping the then Prime Minster from firing the army chief.

The results of the democratic minded leaders have not coolly analyzed the political situation before taking any decisive and even undemocratic move on stopping the Maoists capturing the state power are the President has abused the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, and even the democratic minded leaders have to follow the rightist groups saying the President’s move is a democratic and has actually save democracy in Nepal even though they have realized that it has been the violence of the democratic principles and values; and they have to make the person defeated in the elections for the CA in two constituencies a Prime Minister letting the rightist groups in fact capture the power in their respective parties. Even though constitutionally we cannot find any fault in making such a defeated person a Prime Minister, democratically it has been a disaster for Nepal and for democratic minded people and has been a black spot on the career of the democratic minded leaders of the NC and CPN-UML.

Currently, the rightist groups led by Ram Chandra Poudel in the NC and KP Oli in the CPN-UML have been attempting to thwart the functioning of the HLPM putting various imaginary reasons against it. Mr. Poudel has said that the HLPM without the representation of the Prime Minister will not work properly, and in no case the HLPM should work on dissolving the current government. Similarly, Mr. Oli has been trumpeting that the Chairman of his party CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal has no rights to be on the HLPM without the decision of the central committee of his party. They have been nervous of the HLPM working on the consensus politics and of losing their grip in the power. These guys have been pushing the country to regression disregarding democratic principles and values.

Except for the four political parties such as UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML, and the Madheshi political parties, none of other political parties and other political leaders including current backdoor Prime Minister Madhav Nepal have not the people’s mandate. So, some so-called political leaders asking for the inclusion of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and others from the rest of the political parties is only the pretext they have been trying to find to disrupt the functioning of the HLPM and put the country back to regression, and consequently trying to make Nepal a failed state. Only UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML, and the Madheshi political parties have the people’s mandate to work on the consensus politics for rationally completing the peace process, writing a new constitution, and then holding elections for a new legislature and a government.

We need to see whether Girija Prasad Koirala will be able to bring the group led by Ram Chandra Poudel in the NC to his track; and whether Jhalanath Khanal also could stop Mr. KP Oli rebelling against him; and whether Prachanda could fill up the rift appearing between him and his deputies to make the HLPM a success. If they could bring the rebellious groups in their respective parties to their line then they would certainly make the HLPM a success.

The HLPM needs to work for the consensus politics. To this end, they certainly would need to form a consensus government replacing the current majority government. The current government has been totally failure as the Prime Minister has been only flunky performing whatever his masters have been instructing him according to the Maoists. In fact, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been pushing the Maoists away from consensus politics adding fuel to the fire of the political crisis almost everyday criticizing the Maoists rather than working with them on the consensus politics.

In order to bring back the democracy gone off the track to the regular democratic track, the HLPM needs to impeach the President for abusing the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, and elect a new president so that none of the future president dares to violate a constitution. Current President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has repeatedly accepted his mistake that he has taken the action of directly writing a letter to the army chief on the urge of the leaders of the eighteen political parties.

The CPN-Maoist, NC and CPN-UML together have more than two-third majority in the current legislature. Naturally, all these three parties together in the legislature could amend the constitution, write a constitution and promulgate it in time; however, they need to include other Madheshi political parties on the HLPM to have consensus politics. The rest of the political parties and their leaders have no people’s mandate; they have been on the Constituent Assembly by some freak only. In order to achieve the three significant objectives of the HLPM, all the political leaders need to be sincere. They need to stop thinking about tricking each other out of power, and get advantage of the fall of someone from power. They need to understand that Nepal would be a failed state if the CA could not write a new constitution in time, and then hold elections for a new legislature following a new constitution and form a government as mandated by the people.

January 11, 2010.