Destiny Of Nepalese Prime Minister

Destiny Of Nepalese Prime Ministers

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

After two-and-a-half years, Prime Minister Oli had been grappling with holding onto power. The ongoing Standing Committee Meeting of Nepal Communist Party since the last week of June would set the destiny of the Oli administration. Obviously, Oli had been taking every possible measure to meet with any eventualities that might come across. Not only Oli had faced such consequences but also almost all the past prime ministers in the history of Nepal had almost the same if not similar fate, as those prime ministers including current Prime Minister Oli once they were in the place of power, they thought that they were above all the people and they were born to rule over the people. As a result, they faced the disaster during their lifetime or even after their lifetime.

At the Standing Committee Meeting of the ruling communist party, the members had raised the question about what were the motives behind Prime Minister Oli while speaking at the memorial event held on the anniversary of Madan Bhandari saying that the Indians and some of his own party folks had been conspiring to topple his government, and the next question they had raised was who and why had someone applied for registering a new UML communist party at the Election Commission, the spokesman for the party told the reporters.

Clearly, Oli had been nervous that he might need to quit his powerful office soon. Even though Spokesman for Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Narayankaji Shrestha said that nobody had demanded the resignation of Oli from both the offices of prime minister and the party chairman, the noises in the public had been that most of the Standing Committee members had been for removing Oil from both the positions, as he had not only ruined his own chance of getting elected but even most of other members of the party in the next general election.

So, Prime Minister Oli had been for ascertaining as many strategies as possible to stay on in power.

The first strategy was that he had floated the notion of he had been facing the threat from Indians and from some of the members of his own party. The strategy was virtually to earn the empathy and sympathy of the common folks and his party members. He however, would not have any sympathy from both the common folks and the party members as he had gone too far for doing everything for himself and his sycophants rather than for the people and for the party, too. He put himself above everything and everybody.

Political analysts had said that Mr. Oli had been a master strategist to cover up everything possible he did wrongly misinforming the public to the maximum extent going beyond the ethic of any credible politician. The political analysts said that in fact, Oli had been a pawn of the grand design of the Americans and Indians to encircle China following the Indo-pacific strategy. So, he wanted to get the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) pass through the parliament.

No doubt about the neighboring countries or any other foreign countries would try to influence Nepalese administration but Nepalis had rejected the attempt of India on the direct interference in promulgating the Constitution of Nepal in 2015 even though Nepalis had to suffer from the six-month embargo of the Modi administration. Even the almighty United States of America had to suffer from the external interference in its administration causing the wrong person got elected in 2016 presidential elections.

The Chinese ambassador to Nepal met with former Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal at the Khanal’s Dallu residence on July 7, 2020, the seven O’clock morning news of Radio Nepal stated on July 8, 2020. A few days ago the ambassador also met with another former Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, too. It was not a new thing in Nepal that every ambassador could met with the President or Prime Minister setting aside the protocol, as these Nepalese guys in whatever positions they were took pride in having the foreign diplomats meeting them. These guys believed that it was the honor for them to have the foreign ambassadors coming to meet them. They never considered that they had dishonored the country.

Some political analysts said that the ambassador meeting with the former prime ministers apparently to get the NCP out of the current crisis was blatant interference in the domestic matters of the country. Others believed that it was normal for the ambassadors to have the meetings with the Nepalese politicians at the time of the crisis, and take interest in resolving the problems, as the Indian ambassadors also did in the past.

Indian news media had been grossly misinforming on the political development in Nepal, and they reported the highly questionable news making hard to believe, and some Nepalis even stated that all the Indian media reports on Nepal had been almost false all the time. Indian army chief had even gone even to the extent that Nepal had been playing in the hands of Chinese to publish the new Nepal map including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lepulekh. India had kept the Indian army outpost at Lepulekh: the Nepalese territory since the Sino-India war in 1962.

His colleagues had been accusing Oli of he had been behaving that he was above the common folks and even above the party, and none could do anything against him; and his one statement after another proved that he did not care about the party decision; for example, Oli proposed to appoint Bamdev Gautam to the National Assembly, and then amend the Constitution of 2015 so that the members of the National Assembly would be eligible for the office of prime minister, and then elect Bamdev Gautam to the new prime minister but Oli denied it after two hours of making such a decision.

Then, he sent someone to apply for registering a new party at the Election Commission, according to the regular media reports. This was a second strategy to split the NCP to form a new party and continue to be the prime minister. That might be hard to achieve, as he needed forty percent of supporters in the parliament and in his own party to split away from the party. He had previously also tried to do the same hurriedly recommending the president to issue two ordinances paving the way to splitting political parties and forming new ones with ease. However, he quickly backtracked following the widespread criticism.

His supporters in the party and outside the party had been floating the idea of dissolving the House of Representatives and calling general elections. The Constitution of Nepal of 2015 has the clear provision for not giving such prerogative to any prime minister. Dissolving the House was possible only in a special circumstance, which calls for general elections. So, he could not do that. Even if he would try it, the Supreme Court would reinstate the House.

The same group of sycophants has the idea of imposing a state of emergency, and continuing the rule of Mr. Oli. This strategy was only the wishful thinking and the constitution does not allow happening it when the country has no visible threat. However, if Oli managed to impose a state of emergency that might be the end for the Oil administration, as the entire nation would rise up against such an action.

Consequently, Oli has not many options. His statement of Indians and his own party colleagues have been intriguing to topple him is practically the political camouflage that could not hide him from the reality. So, his first option was to follow the party decision and properly use the party mandate and the people’s mandate for the benefits of all. His second option was to quit both from the party leadership and the government and live the life of an ascetic. What he would not surely do. So, what Oli would do was difficult to predict. Anything could happen including the declaration of a state of emergency. Even now, people are not better than living under a state of emergency, as most of the human rights were curtailed because of the covid-19 pandemic.

The Oli’s cabinet recommended the president to end the summer session of the House of Representatives, and the president smartly signed off the order to end the session on July 2, 2020 had shield Oli from the possible consequences of needing to face the vote of no confidence against him in the House but it also opened up a door to issue ordinances that would suit him.

Probably, most of the lawmakers were determined to remove Oli from the office by force if he were not to quit voluntarily, as he had ruined the party and the chance of getting them reelected next time. Even the House Speaker did not know that the council of ministers was going to end the House session so abruptly and the sudden ending of the House session surprised the speaker and everybody interested in the Nepalese politics, the widespread media reports have it. The opposition party: Nepali Congress regretted the council of ministers unexpectedly ending the House session even though many agenda and bills were to be dealt with.

Spokesman Narayankaji Shrestha for the ruling communist party while briefing the reporters on the ongoing Standing Committee Meeting of the party on July 2, 2020 stated that Comrade Prachanda met with the president concerning the current political situation. The spokesman also stated that the ruling party had been in a grave crisis. Probably, Prachanda had gone to the president to see what might be going on whether the country was having other ordinances or so to ease the split of the political parties, and whether Oli was going to introduce a state of emergency to remain in power.

Speaking to the anchor of the Radio Nepal morning program called “Antar-sambad” on July 3, 2020, former House Speaker Subash Nemwang stated that some party colleagues including him had a good meeting at the residence of Comrade Prachanda. Probably, they were discussing how to sort out the current problems created by the discretionary actions of Prime Minister Oli and his sycophants. Currently, Comrade Prachanda and Prime Minister Oli had been having discussions to solve the problems, Nemwang said.

What went wrong?

After Oli became the prime minister of almost two-thirds majority everybody thought that Oli could do anything to put the country on the fast-track development but what he did was he went to inaugurate the statue of the former Gorkha King Prithvi Narayan Shah, and his deputy Ishwar Pokhrel to open up the statue of General Kalu Pandey who got killed while fighting against the Kirtipurians, and then he sent his tourism minister Yogesh Bhattarai to Gorkha to open up the statue of Bhimsen Thapa. So, Oli had probably developed the tendency of becoming one of them and possibly all of them together. He put himself above the common folks above the party and became the dictatorial, according to the regular and social media reports.

The result had been the Oli administration failed in every sector. The Oli administration had the information minister Gokul Baskota negotiating the commission on purchasing the security printing press with the local agent, and the health minister for purchasing drugs for the covid-19 at a number of times higher prices than the market prices, and the finance minister not taking the responsibility for a company doing the custom clearance of electric vehicle of which the finance minister increased the custom rate quite high: up to 80 percent from the prevailing 10 percent. Nobody except for the finance minister knew how much tax would decrease or increase on anything. Obviously, somebody stole the idea of increasing the custom tax on electric vehicle, and the company hurriedly cleared off the custom to benefit in billions.

The Oli administration horribly failed in managing the covid-19 pandemic. The administration imposed the shelter-in-place for all but it did not care about how to feed those guys doing nothing but eating at home or rooms in the country and abroad. The consequences of such negligence of the Oli administration had been that many Nepalis died because of starvation; those who could not face dying from starvation committed suicide, the widespread reports have it. Many Nepalis returning home from India and abroad had faced uncertainties of where they would be sheltered or what they would be feed. However, the Oli administration had said that billions of rupees had been spent on covid-19.

Some youths took to the streets demanding the transparency of the expenditures made for coping the covid-19. The Oil administration instead of making public the accounts of the expenditures on the covid-19 sent the police with batons, and the water cannons to disperse the protestors. Currently, some youths had been on the hunger strike demanding the correct accounts of the State expenditures on the covid-19. The Oli administration had not taken it seriously. The youths had been dwindling their health.

Some folks took to the streets demanding to end the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) that would bring NPR 55 billion to Nepal for building the power transmission lines at almost five times the cost the Nepal Electricity Authority had been building, according to the expert. MCC is the part of the Indo-pacific Strategy of the American establishment. The first victim of the MCC might be the Oli administration, as the Americans had the global strategy to fight against the communists, and end their rule anywhere in the world. Most of the central committee members of the NCP opposed it.

“Satya Mayava Jayatya” means only truth will triumph, said Prime Minister Oli while speaking in the parliament quoting the inscription on the tower that holds four lions facing four directions: the Indian monument, and telling the lawmakers that Nepal has overwhelming evidences that Limpiyadhura, Kalapani, and Lipulekh are the integral parts of Nepal. Only truth prevails, is great, it is applicable to his performances as the prime minister as well.

Currently, the ruling party has been undergoing the great cold war between the truth and untruth. Those leaders and cadres representing the truth have been fighting the prime minister and his administration not only at the federal state but also at the provinces and the local governments his sycophants have been running so far.

The irregularities in the administration have been in the colossal scale at all levels of the Oli administration. Most of the folks running the provinces, and local governments are the favorites of Oli. So, they simply emulated the federal Oli administration to spend the state revenue indiscriminately benefiting them.

If the folks representing Prime Minister Oli and his sycophants were to win the current cold war between the folks representing the truth and the untruth then the ruling party is doomed to go into oblivion. The Oli faction still thinks that the ruling party has the two-thirds majority of the public opinions. However, the truth is the ruling party has certainly almost two-thirds majority of the lawmakers in the parliament but the public opinions favoring the ruling communist party have been dropped to the negative means below zero.

Oli must have read the history of Nepal. So, he must be emulating the working style of those past prime ministers totally ignoring the consequences of what they did.

Bhimsen Thapa had been the prime minister of Nepal for almost 30 years in the 19th century. His main intention had been to finish off the opposition and he mercilessly destroyed the opposition. The result had been Bhimsen had to die in the jail at the hands of his opponents, and his corpse was dragged on the streets as the body of a dead dog.

His successor Mathabar Singh had to die at the hands of an assassin, too because of his arrogance. His corpse was dragged on the streets as that of Bhimsen. The then king did not like him. Instead of firing him from the position, the king summoned him to the palace at the midnight, and let his nephew (purportedly Jung Bahadur) standing behind someone fired him, killing him instantly. The king disliked Mathabar Singh so much that the king kicked the dead Mathabar several times. Before Mathabar left home for the palace, Mathabar’s son told that there must be something fishy going on, as the king had summoned him at the midnight. However, Mathabar simply brushed off his son’s warning telling him, “I could tackle five men without trouble”.

A killer’s bullet hit Mathabar’s successor Gagan Singh while at his prayer room. He was the favorite of the queen. The power struggle between the king and the queen had been going on. So, the king allegedly hired Jung Bahadur to destroy Gagan Singh whose death gave the rise of Jung Bahadur to the most powerful prime minister in the history of Nepal.

His own brothers killed Prime Minister Ranodip Singh while taking a sunbath on the balcony because he was supposedly working on going against the interest of the brothers who were in line for the position of the prime minister. Reportedly, Ranodip wanted to transfer power to the eldest son of Jung Bahadur rather than the brother next in line to succeed to him.

Even the first democratically elected Prime Minister BP Koirala faced the possible death sentence, as he did not work in the interest of the common folks nor did in the interest of the king but in the interest of his few corrupt sycophants. Consequently, the king easily removed him from power. Common folks did not rise up against the king, as he must have anticipated. His administration had been so infected by corruption; common folks simply disliked him as the current situation Prime Minister Oli has been facing today.

All those prime ministers who had faced either the death or the threat to death sentence did not try to do for the common folks. They had been striving for a vested interest that had been the main cause of the fall from power and being publicly disgraced. Consequently, they failed to perform as the prime ministers, and they failed to please the folks that had made them the prime ministers in other words mandated them to run the administration judiciously.

Prime Minister Oli had been meeting with the opposition leader: Sher Bahadur Deuba for consulting with him for making appointments to the key positions in the constitutional bodies, according to the official statement but the political analysts and experts did not believe in this public statement but they believed that the prime minister must have sounded out whether he could ride on the shoulder of the opposition to form a new government.

The opposition would surely benefit from keeping Oli in power as long as possible. So, it had publicly stated that it would oppose the fall of the Oli administration. Political analysts believed that Prime Minister Oli had been digging ground for burying him and his party together in the next general elections. His every decision and every statement he made wrongly had gone a step deeper in his digging. By the time the next general elections would be held, the position of Oli and his party would be so deteriorated that the current opposition would reap the harvest of the wronging doings of the Oil administration.

If the opposition were to support the breakaway party of Oli and make him the prime minister again then the opposition would need to be accountable to all the irregularities Oil had committed so far, and he would continue wrongdoings in the future, too. The NCP would be relieved of all the irregularities and corruption the Oli administration had committed if Oli were to split away from the mother party, and then NCP might emerge as the strong rival to the current opposition party: Nepali Congress in the next general elections.

So, the opposition would lose every gain it had made from the immature decisions and actions of the Oli administration, and his nature of not being accountable to anything going wrong in the State administration, and letting the corrupt former minister, and other ministers involved in irregularities in the administration getting off scot-free. So, so many ministers had been running the administration openly causing irregularities but remaining in the jobs with impunity.

The worst thing Oli had done was ordering his sycophants to take to the streets supporting him believing that he would get the relief from the current ongoing crisis. It had been the repetition of what the then dictatorial administration had done in the past to cope with the opposition at the time of crisis. So, this trick was widely known to all the political analysts and experts.

Prime Minister Oli has the finance minister Dr. Khatiwada that had publicly said that he would encourage the Nepalese youths to go to foreign countries for earning revenue for Nepal. How could Nepal be on the right track of development when the country has the finance minister that wanted to export the most valuable assets of the country for the meager revenue rather than keeping them for the fast development of the country? 

July 4, 2020

July 7, 2020  updated

July 8, 2020 updated