Disheartening Political Parties

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Political parties have been indulging in the power-grabbing game plan setting aside their moral obligation of meeting the Nepalese people’s aspirations for all political parties working together. Giving no majority to a single party in the election for the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament held on April 10, 2008, Nepalese voters wanted all political parties to work together. Going against such people’s mandate some political parties have refused to cooperate with each other on running the government and have successfully pushed the country to the political instability.

Madheshi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) and Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP) together have sufficient votes for making or breaking a government. These two parties together have 84 votes in the parliament. The United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) has 238 votes, the Nepali Congress (NC) has 114 votes and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) has 109. The Madheshi parties could join either the UCPN-Maoist or the coalition of the NC and the CPN-UML for making a majority of 301 votes required in the parliament.

After the fall of the coalition government led by Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda on May 4, 2009, TMDP has immediately sold its moral obligation of making ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province=One Madhesh One Province’ to the coalition of the NC and CPN-UML giving it the support for forming a new government. They know that Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal has been deadly against the ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’, as he has been repeatedly saying that he would have never sign off the Eight-point Agreement with the Clause number two that contains the demand for an ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’. Thus, TMDP leaders have surrendered their stand on ‘autonomous Madhesh province’ to the loose coalition of the NC and CPN-UML giving them support for forming a new government. They have not bothered to get any commitment from the NC and CPN-UML leaders to the enforcement of the Eight-point agreement even though they know that the CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal has been absolutely against any sorts of ’Madhesh province’.

The United Democratic Madheshi Front (UDMF) made out of a number of Madheshi political parties including MPRF and TMDP has reached an Eight-point Agreement with the then government after sacrificing a number of beautiful lives of young people in the fight for the rights of the Madheshi people. Its Clause number two states, “Nepal shall be the federal democratic republican state accepting the people’s aspiration for the federal republican structure, and meeting the aspirations of the Madheshi people for the autonomous Madhesh province, and the people of other regions for their autonomous provinces.”

This strategic position of his party in building and breaking a new government has demoralized the leaders according to the President of MPRF Upendra Yadav. Some MPRF leaders have certainly shown that they are morally bankrupt submitting the list of 32 signatories that have agreed on supporting the coalition of the NC and CPN-UML that have been deadly against any Madhesh province. They have not waited for the commitment of anybody to the enforcement of the Eight-point Agreement before supporting the NC and CPN-UML coalition. So, they are in a hurry to grab some ministerial positions in the to-be-formed government.

Some other MPRF leaders taking some time to decide whom to give its support have at least forced Chairman Jhalanath Khanal to give his written commitment to enforce the Eight-point Agreement in exchange for the support to the coalition of NC and CPN-UML for forming a new government. Thus, some MPRF leaders forcing Chairman Jhalanath Khanal to accept the ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’ have made him morally bankrupt and politically a weak person. However, Chairman Khanal has not forgotten to say that only the Constituent Assembly will be able to resolve the issue of any autonomous region or regions. This statement might be the marking of how Chairman Khanal has tricked the MPRF leaders to give support for forming a new government.

At one point the MPRF leaders have dreamed of leading a coalition government. If they have remained united they probably could do so. However, some of them were so opportunists that they did not care for sticking to the demand for an ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’ and for bargaining with the other political leaders for anything they could extract from them. According to the local media reports, the UCPN-Maoist leaders have even offered them to lead a new government.

MPRF and TMDP have gradually given up the ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’ and have watered down their contribution to making Nepal a republic. During the Madhesh Movement, Nepalis have suffered a lot from the blockade of the Tarai areas. Many Nepalis have lost their lives for the cause of the Madhesh and for making Nepal a republic. The Madhesh Movement has forced the leaders that have been for keeping the monarchy in the form of a ceremonial or a baby king, to accept the condition for making Nepal a republic. Such contribution of the Madheshi people have been marred by the MPRF and TMDP leaders surrendering their stand on an ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’ to the leaders of the anti-Madhesh province.

CPN-UML leaders in turn also have sold their political values and ideals to the NC leaders. For example, the CPN-UML have joined the NC leaders in going to the presidential residence and humbly requesting the ceremonial President to directly intervene in the issue of firing the Chief of Army Staff. Thus, the CPN-UML leaders have staked their high standard of the political values and principles for saving the job of a soldier. They would have been better off advising the President to safeguard the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 for taking the issue to the Supreme Court of Nepal or asking the Prime Minister for rethinking the decision the Council of Ministers has made.

The majority of the central committee members of the CPN-UML are the same leaders that have lost the elections in April 2008. K P Oli defeated in the same elections for a Constituent Assembly has said that he has lost the Chair of the CPN-UML to Jhalanath Khanal due to the 500 bogus votes Khanal has received in the election held in Butwal during the party convention in early 2009. You can imagine what will be the ideals and principles of the CPN-UML if its cadres have elected the person (rejected by the voters) for the position of the Chairman of the party. Such political anomaly has been possible because about two thousand cadres representing various district committees elect the so-called central committee leaders.

Senior leader of CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal once has proudly marked his political moral saying, “I will not be nominated to the parliament nor will fight the by-election for a seat in the parliament.” However, going down to the bottom of his political moral, he has replaced the most sincere cadre such as Sushil Chandra Amatya in the Constituent Assemble-cum-parliament. To this end, he has tricked Former Prime Minister Prachanda to ask his party for nominating him to the member of the Constituent Assembly and then to the Chair of the Constitutional Committee. Then, he successfully tricked his party leadership particularly Chairman Jhalanath Khanal to accept the proposition of taking actions against the indiscipline highest-ranking soldier Rukmangad Katuwal, and later on tricked Chairman Khanal not only to go against the firing of Katuwal but also to go to the President for overstepping the decision of the government on firing Katuwal, and to bring the constitutional crisis and put the coalition government even in the point of no return and finally make the government to collapse. After taking the oath of office of Prime Minster, Mr. Nepal tricked the NC leaders to accept less important ministerial portfolios appointing two members of his party to the Minister for Finance and Minister for Defense saying these appointments are temporary. Mr. Nepal might proved to be a poisonous plant as stated by former Prime Minister Prachanda. Some political analysts have asked whether Mr. Nepal has involved in the plan on accidental death of Former Chairman of his party Madan Bhandari, as he has been the only beneficiary of the death of Madan Bhandari.

On May 25, 2009, the meeting of the Council of Ministers made of only the members of the CPN-UML and headed by Madhav Kumar Nepal held immediately after the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minster Madhav Nepal has decided to lay the foundation stone of ‘monument to republic’ at the Ratna Parka, Kathmandu on the first anniversary of Republic Day on May 29, 2009 reversing the decision of the Maoist-led government on building it on the premises of the Narayanhiti Museum even though Prime Minister Nepal has said that the first priority of the government is to the peace process and the writing of a new constitution. Some political analysts say whether the supposed-to-be all-party government can make such decision when the government is made of the ministers of the CPN-UML members only, whether other political parties joining the government in future will accept this decision or not. The irony is that the same Madhav Nepal has said that the decision on firing the top-ranking soldier Rukmangad Katuwal by the Maoist-led government is not acceptable to other political parties sitting in the coalition government, as the Council of Ministers made of the only Maoists has taken it. Reacting to the decision of the government on laying the foundation stone of building a monument to republic at Ratna Park, Former Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has said that this is the first step toward the action of reviving the monarchy.

Nominating the most unscrupulous senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal defeated in two constituencies in the elections for the Constituent Assembly, to the member of the Constituent Assembly and then selecting him for the candidate for a Prime Ministerial position, CPN-UML leaders have marked their low political moral standard.

Even historically, the NC leaders have not respected the political values and principles. So, the leaders have been doing whatever they think is right. For example, if you read the memoirs of the Supreme Leader Ganesh Man Singh you will find that the then-leader BP Koirala has decided against the decision made by the two merging political parties: one represented by Subarna Shumsher JBR and another BP Koirala on selecting the flag of a new party called Nepali Congress, accepting the flag of Subarna against the decision of two merging parties on selecting the flag of another party stating Subarna has already made a large number of flags.

As of the CPN-UML, most of the Central Working Committee members of the NC are defeated in the election for a Constituent Assembly held in April 2009. So, the elected and sincere leaders have almost no voice in the NC. Most of the leaders are afraid of the party leader taking actions against them if they speak out the truth that goes against the President of the party. For example, stating it goes against the party line, the NC office has demanded an explanation from NC Leader Narahari Acharya for his writing of ‘the first ceremonial President of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has overstepped the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff on May 3, 2009’. However, Party President Girija Prasad Koirala and his daughter Sujata Koirala have been saying everything they have wanted disregarding whether their statements go against the party policy or not.

Proposing the name of Madhav Kumar Nepal for the position of Prime Minister in the parliament on May 23, 2009, President of Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala has said that there is no alternative to understanding, working together and unity of all political leaders, and we need to start off from zero. However, he has not bothered to explain what does the ‘starting from zero’ means; whether it means end of the 12-point understanding of the then Seven-party Alliance has reached with the Maoists, Eight-point Agreement the government has reached with the UDMF and even the Comprehensive Peace Agreement the government has reached with the Maoists.

Some NC leaders have been squabbling with each other over the persons to be appointed for the ministerial positions in the new government showing they are more interested in grabbing the ministerial positions than taking the country to the right track for socio-economic development. So, the NC leaders could go down to the lowest possible level of political moral not to mention the moral they have lost when they have forced the President to write a letter to the Chief of Army Staff overstepping the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Scrupulous NC leader such as Narahari Acharya has openly said that the President’s action of directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff has been unconstitutional; for this statement the NC office has demanded an explanation from Narahari Acharya. Similarly, founding father of NC Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has refrained from commenting on the President’s unconstitutional action marking his discontent clear on the action of the President.

On Sunday, May 24, 2009, speaking at the inaugural function of the Association of Nepal National Industry and Business, Former Prime Minster and Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda has compared the call of Former Prime Minister and NC President Girija Prasad Koirala for understanding, working together and unity of all political leaders with ‘someone has called a guest over to the residence where s/he has locked the main gate and fenced by barbed wire so that nobody could enter into it’ in other words, Koirala’s call for understanding, working together and unity is only hypocrisy.

Political analyst Shyam Shrestha has said in his writing published in the ‘Gorkhapatra’ of May 24, 2009 that certainly there is no alternative to the understanding, working together and unity of all political party leaders; to this end, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal needs to be able to bring the Maoists to the fold of the coalition government of NC and CPN-UML addressing the issue of the suzerainty of people, asking the President to take back his letter to the Chief of Army Staff, and issuing a letter of warning to the Chief of Army Staff and then sending him to home leave.

Despite the repeated rhetoric of NC leaders that there is no alternative to understanding, working together and unity of leaders, NC leaders are not for correcting the wrong steps of the President and the Chief of Army Staff rather they want to reinforce them taking back the decision of the Prime Minister on firing the Chief of Army Staff as disclosed by NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel while talking to the anchor of the morning program of the state-run Radio Nepal on May 24, 2009.

Former Prime Minister Prachanda has said that riding on the shoulders of the CPN-UML leaders the NC leaders want to fight against the Maoists. The NC leaders want to provoke the Maoists and then fight against them using the government led by CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal if we believe in what the NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel has said that the government of Madhav Nepal will annul the decision of the previous government on firing the indiscipline Chief of Army Staff.

On May 17, 2009, addressing the mass rally held in Kathmandu to protest the unconstitutional step of the President, Maoist Chairman Prachanda has said, “the reactionary forces have been dreaming to make Maoists a LTTE and Prachanda a Prabhakaran; provoke Maoists and bring out the Maoist combatants from the cantonments; bring foreign forces and make Nepal a Afghanistan; however, we will not allow to happen it; we have fought for a Constituent Assembly, for republic and now we are fighting for suzerainty of people; so, we will write a constitution and complete the peace process.”

The Maoist members of the parliament have boycotted the election for a new Prime Minister held in the parliament on May 23, 2009 stating the government to be formed will be based on the supremacy of the army rather than the civilian supremacy over the army; so, the Maoists will not support such a government until the civilian supremacy over the army is restored correcting the unconstitutional step of the President. Along with the Maoist members of the parliament, members of two other political parties such as Communist Party of Nepal-Unified and Nepal Janata Dal boycotted the election for a new Prime Minister informing the parliament that they will not participate in the election for a new Prime Minister, as the unconstitutional step of the President has not corrected, yet.

Ignoring the violence of some cadres of the UCPN-Maoist, even if we believe the claim of the UCPN-Maoist leaders for being the morally strong, they also have overstepped their political values and principles accepting Madhav Kumar Nepal defeated in two constituencies in the election for the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament held in April 2008, for the position of the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee. His appointment to its position has made him eligible for the position of Prime Minister despite voters have totally rejected him in two constituencies. However, some UCPN-Maoist leaders have claimed that they have accepted Madhav Kumar Nepal for the position of the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee considering the position is more technical than political; they have actually rejected him for the position of the first President of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.

So, political parties can make anybody a Prime Minister or maybe even the president, no matter whether s/he has the people’s mandate or not because of the lack of moral character of the political leaders in Nepal. The NC leaders have demoralized the party to the extent possible indulging in various unconstitutional and sham activities in the past and the present. Similarly, the CPN-UML leaders have earned the reputation of being morally bankrupt whereas the Maoists have been reputed for violence. So, Nepalese politics has been marred by demoralization of political leaders and violence.

May 26, 2009

Note:
1.    LTTE stands for Liberation Tamil Tigers Elam that has fought for a separate state in Sri Lanka for 26 years.
2.    Prabhakaran is the Supreme leader of LTTE.
3.    Sri Lankan army has recently defeated LTTE and killed Prabhakaran.
4.    American and NATO army have been fighting against Taliban in Afghanistan since 2002.