Dr. Baburam Bhattarai Stays On-Part XVIII

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

The one-third budget for the fiscal year 2012, Finance Minister Burshaman Pun read out to the reporters at the hall of the National Planning Commission on Sunday, July 15, 2012 was the victory for the ruling coalition of the Maoists and the Mahesh, and certainly for the opposition NC and CPN-UML, too but clearly the budget indicated the political immaturity of the president that had behaved more like a cadre of the NC rather than the head of state. The opposition would continue to make political noises in the Nepalese media calling for the prime minister to quit the office whereas the coalition government would continue to run the administration with the small budget. However, if the Head of State were not to cooperate with the government to hold the elections to a new CA, the country would plunge into a political chaos bringing the terrorists back to work.

President Dr. Ram Baron Adam as the head of state should have followed the recommendation of the coalition government of the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF for issuing the presidential ordinance for the full-fledged budget for the FY 2012 rather than listening to the opposition leaders such as his former boss President of NC Sushi Karalla and Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal. The head of state was solely responsible for the small budget that would be just enough for the coalition government to run the administration and for Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai to stay on in power. All the development activities would come to standstill thanks to the one-third budget. Accepting only one-third budget, the head of state President Yadav had shown his political immaturity, as he disregarded the economic fallout the small budget would cause. Unfortunately, President Yadav was only a medical doctor that did not have even a little bit idea of general economics. He had spent most of his political life simply taking the orders from the bosses. He was elected to a president only because of the freak political situation that propelled the previously unknown person to a sudden head of state the office political dinosaur late Girija Prasad Koirala had claimed and Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda had unfortunately denied him. Disregarding the national need for a full-fledged budget and listening to his former political bosses for giving the final shape of the budget for the FY to 2012 to a small size, President Yadav had clearly demonstrated that he was not a leader but a follower. If President Yadav was a leader he could lead his former bosses to the clear political need of the country but he was a follower so he simply followed his former bosses. As such the president was not a rider but he became a vehicle for the opposition leaders to ride on and lead the country to a political uncertainty.

Forcing the head of state President Yadav to accept only the one-third budget for the FY 2012, the opposition political leaders such as President of NC Sushil Koirala, and Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal had clearly won the half of the political game. For them it was certainly a short-term political victory. Their full victory would be only when they could be successful to push the head of state President Yadav to take the undemocratic action of firing the elected Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai and appoint one of those opposition petty leaders to the office of Prime minister and lead the country to the political chaos if not to ruin. The one-third budget was only the first step President Yadav had taken to this end. This might be the beginning of the ultimate defeat of the opposition.

The hardliners had already split away from the UCPN-Maoist and had set up a new party with the same old name: CPN-Maoist starting on June 18, 2012. One of the leaders of the extreme left Mohan Vaidhya Kiran had headed this party. Chairman Vaidhya had already unleashed his students to break the windowpanes and set fire on school bus of the schools that had allegedly charged high tuition fees and had the foreign names. One of the hardliners Dev Gurung had already declared the one-third budget for the FY 2012 issued through the presidential ordinance was an unconstitutional. For these guys what were constitutional might be the undemocratic activities followed by them to tear down the democratically elected government. As the opposition led by the NC and CPN-UML leaders, these hardliners also were not for playing the political games by the rules. Chairman of CPN-Maoist Vaidhya even though his party had not demonstrated its strength declared it as the third force among the political forces. How Mr. Vaidhya could claim the third position for his party had not known yet but it was sure that this party would play a third force in between the ruling coalition of UCPN-Maoist and UDMF on one hand and the opposition coalition of NC and CPN-UML on other hand. Only the elections to a new CA would clearly set the positions of different political parties.

Thus, the Nepalese politicians had been polarized into three groups:  coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF, the opposition represented by the NC and the CPN-UML, and then the new CPN-Maoist.

The coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF had been playing the games by the rules so far, and wanted an inclusive federal democratic republican constitution. Both the leaders of UCPN-Maoist and UDMF had been for promulgating an inclusive constitution through the votes in the Constitution Assembly (CA) following the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 before it was dissolved on May 27, 2012 but the coalition of the NC and CPN-UML had played a trick on the UCPN-Maoist and the UDMF not going to the votes for resolving the contentious issues and then promulgating a new constitution, as the coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and the UDMF had sufficient votes in the Constituent Assembly to settle the contentious issues. So, the coalition of the NC and CPN-UML forcibly led the CA to dissolution causing the current political situation. Then, the coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF opted for a fresh election to a new CA, as the only constitutional path left to follow. The coalition government of UCPN-Maoist and UDMF was for submitting a full-fledged budget for the FY 2012 through the presidential ordinance but the president following the strong push of the opposition opted for only a small budget to keep the administration running.

The coalition of NC and CPN-UML labeled the dissolution of the CA and the fresh election to a new CA as unconstitutional. Obviously, these guys had not read through the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 otherwise they would not have said so. They believed that tearing down the democratically elected government was the only constitutional thing they could think of doing. If they had read the Interim Constitution then they would find that tearing down the current government by a force would be the most unconstitutional. However, from the second day of the dissolution of the CA, these guys had intensified their open conspiracy to topple the current government. Opposition leaders such as President of NC Sushil Koirala, Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal, and senior leader of CPN-UML Madhav Nepal had repeatedly went to the head of state President Dr. Yadav and asked him to fire the prime minister of the coalition Government of UCPN-Maoist and UDMF. Clearly, these opposition leaders were not for following the constitution but for following their own political logic that if they had power meant it was democracy if not then it was not democracy. Most likely, as the head of state President Dr. Yadav did not want to commit another mistake of overstepping the Interim Constitution, so, he had not touched the current government, yet. However, he took the pressure from the opposition leaders and accepted only the one-third budget for the FY 2012 severely damaging his personal reputation as a president.

Not surprisingly, the leaders of the new party with the old name of CPN-Maoist had also followed the path taken by the opposition coalition of the NC and CPN-UML, and had been saying the dissolution of the CA and call for a fresh election to a new CA were unconstitutional. For these guys of the new CPN-Maoist, everything we understand democracy was not democracy in their thinking, as they wanted the dictatorship of the proletariats. So, they split away from the UCPN-Maoist, as Chairman Prachanda and his deputy Dr. Baburam Bhattarai had followed the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 and had moved forward to integrate the PLA members into the Nepal Army and even attempted to return the land seized during the conflict. Vaidhya and his fellow leaders had been deadly against all those things the establishment faction of the UCPN-Maoist had been doing and ultimately split away from the mother party. Chairman Vaidhya had already met with the head of state President Dr. Yadav and President of NC Sushil Koirala: one of the opposition leaders and discussed the ways and means of toppling the current government.

The coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF represented the force that wanted to keep the pace with the changing situation in the 21st century. Correctly, they had been for meeting the people’s aspirations for an inclusive federalism. They wanted to give the identity-based names to the provinces.

The coalition of NC and CPN-UML represented the regressive force, as they did not want to step back from their stand on not agreeing on the identity-based provincial names and even the federalism if they could resist. Leaders of this regressive coalition had succeed to some extent to put the political clock back by forcing the head of state President Dr. Yadav not to accept the full-fledged budget for the FY 2012.

The Vaidhya party was sure to join the regressive force to topple the current government only to take the country to political uncertainty believing that such a political environment would be conducive to take power. Thus, once again the regressive force and the extreme left force were pushing the country to the political chaos.

Speaking at the Reporters’ Club in Kathmandu on July 18, 2012, Acting Chairman of CPN-Maoist C P Gajurel said that his party was preparing groundwork on forming an alliance with the opposition parties for street protests to oust Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, according to ‘The Himalayan Times’. He also said that although the NC and CPN-UML had launched a protest campaign against the prime minister, his party would create a third force comprising revolutionaries against the autocratic regime of the Bhattarai-led government.

On July 12, 2012, speaking at an interaction event held at the Reporters Club in Kathmandu, Politburo member of UCPN-Maoist Haribol Gajurel stood up for Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and warned the opposition of a serious confrontation in the country if President Dr Ram Baran Yadav would fire Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, and Gajurel even threatened to run a parallel administration, according to myrepublica.com.

However, speaking at the same event, NC leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said that the head of state President Yadav should have invited the political parties to form a national consensus government but the president had not done so far for unknown reasons; and most probably the president might have been waiting for July 22 for the government to build a consensus of all political parties on amending election-related laws and constitutional provisions for holding elections CA on November 22, failure to do so means elections to be held on this date would become impossible; then the president would fire the prime minister, according to myrepublica.com.

On July 18, 2012, All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) cadres affiliated to the Vaidhya party of CPN-Maoist damaged the property such as computers and a vehicle of KIST Nursing College in Kathmandu and Nepal Polytechnic Institute in Chitwan, according to ‘The Himalayan Times.’ Similarly, they damaged South Western State College (SWSC) at Basundhara and Everest Florida Higher Secondary School at Meenbhawan and set fire on Rato Bangala School at Patan Dhoka on July 15, 2012. Coordinator of Vaidhya affiliated ANNISU-R Sharad Rasaily warned of more destructive and serious assaults on the schools if the private schools did not meet their demands for removing the foreign names from those schools and lowered the tuition fees. Thus, the Vaidhya party had already launched guerrilla-style assaults on educational institutions.

Students belonging to All Nepal National Independent Students´ Union-Revolutionary affiliated to the CPN-Maoist carried out vandalism at the South Western State College at Basundhara, at the Everest Florida College at Meenbhawan and at the Rato Bangla College in Lalitpur on Monday morning, July 16, 2012 in a guerrilla-style assaults to put pressure on them for eliminating their foreign names, according to nepalnews.com. Simultaneously, students in a group of five entered into the colleges and smashed the glass doors, decoration articles and some computers. One group set fire on the school bus belonging to the Rato Bangla College. Vice Principal of South Western College Hari Singh K.C told RSS that the students vandalized the college property at 5:00 in the morning today when none of the administrative staff of the college was there, according to Nepalnews.com

On Monday, July 16, 2012, National Coalition for Children as Zones of Peace and Child Protection (CZOPP) condemned the ANNISU-R cadres for burning a school bus belonging to Rato Bangala School. CZOPP urged the cadres not to damage school properties and violate students’ right to study in a peaceful environment. Despite schools being declared as the ‘Zone of Peace’ by the government, students-burning a school bus was a very sad incident, CZOPP stated, and urged the government to take strong actions against the vandals, according to ‘The Himalayan Times’.

All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) cadres affiliated to CPN-Maoist on July 15, 2012 tore down the hoarding boards of more than a dozen plus two colleges and brought them at the Ratna Rajya Campus, and burnt them down, according to ‘The Himalayan Times’. The newspaper quoted Ratna Dhakal of ANNISU-R as saying that they had served a 24-hour ultimatum to Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) on Friday to remove the hoarding boards, but it failed to comply with the notice therefore they had removed the hoarding boards and burnt them in a public place. He said, “Use of hoarding boards means huge investment in advertisement, which is ‘Vulgar’, adding, “We have given priority to removing hoarding boards of such plus two colleges that have foreign names.” He further said that the hoarding-board-removal campaign would continue until they removed all such boards and HSEB took the initiative to change foreign names. Thus, Chairman of CPN-Maoist Vaidhya had unleashed so-called students to terrorize the private educational institutions.

In a press statement, the Federation of Nepal Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) had stated its dissatisfaction with the one-third budget of Rs. 161.24 billion for the FY 2012 issued through the presidential ordinance on Sunday, July 15, 2012, according to nepalnews.com. The federation also said in its statement that the one-third budget would not enough to cover the economic development activities, would surely have adverse impact on Nepal Investment Year 2012/13 and create an unfavorable environment for investment in the country, and also would affect the overall revenue collection and credibility of the government’s policy.

On Sunday, July 15, 2012, the government unveiled the one-third budget of Rs 161.24 billion for the FY 2012 through the presidential ordinance. Finance Minister Barshaman Pun read it out to the reporters at the hall of National Planning Commission at the State Secretariat building in Kathmandu. He said that the government allocated Rs 3 billion each for the November-22 elections to a new CA and for the to-be-set-up army directorate after the integration of former Maoist combatants, and Rs 3.69 billion to the voluntary retirement of former PLA combatants. He said that the government would follow its policy on public-private-cooperative partnership for the economic development of the country.

Speaking at an interaction event held in Kathmandu on July 16, 2012, Finance Minister Barshaman Pun claimed that the one-third budget the government had introduced through the presidential ordinance paved the way to build a consensus among the political parties and to settle the political uncertainty, as the government had consulted with the political parties represented in the dissolved CA, for the formulation of the budget, according to ‘The Himalayan Times’. The Finance Minister made it clear that the government would introduce a full-fledged budget once the parties reached an agreement on whether to hold the elections to a new CA or revive the dissolved CA.

Speaking at an interaction event held at the Reporters Club after the Finance Minister read out his budget speech on Sunday, July 15, 2012, Secretary to CPN-Maoist Dev Gurung said that the one-third budget the government had claimed was not actually one-third, as the one-third budget for the FY 2012 exceeded the budget for the FY 2011 by Rs 52 billion; so, it went against the Interim Constitution and not according to the political consensus, writes ‘The Himalayan Times’.

Indian ambassador to Nepal Jayanta Prasad called on Vice-president of NC Ram Chandra Paudel at his private residence in Boharatar on Thursday morning, July 19, 2012. At the meeting, the envoy expressed his concern over the latest political development and the way forward, and urged the NC to play a key role in building a consensus among the political parties. In reply, the NC Vice-president said that his party had been playing an active role in moving the country’s politics ahead but Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai needed to quit the office for building a national consensus government, according to the news posted on the website of ‘The Himalayan Times’.

On July 18, 2012, Standing Committee meeting of CPN-UML came to a conclusion that fresh elections either to a Constituent Assembly or a Legislature-Parliament were the only way to break the current political and constitutional deadlock that cropped up following the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on May 27, 2012, according to ‘The Himalayan Times.’ “Whether the fresh elections should be held for the Constituent Assembly or for the Legislature-Parliament will be determined only after holding discussions with other major political parties,” said party secretary Shankar Pokharel at the end of the standing committee meeting, writes ‘The Himalayan Times’. Secretary Pokharel also ruled out the possibility of revival of the dissolved CA stating it was not possible both from the political and constitutional standpoint. The CPN-UML had made clear its position on holding fresh elections either to a new CA or to a Legislature-Parliament only after the UCPN-Maoist split on June 18, 2012.

These CPN-UML guys along with the NC leaders had been stating that the election to a new CA was unconstitutional since the CA got dissolved on May 27, 2012 and the Head of State on the recommendation of the prime minister set the date for a fresh election to a new CA. Then, the major party UCPN-Maoist split into two; these CPN-UML guys believed that they could compete with the UCPN-Maoist in elections. So, they had started off talking about the possibility of the election to a new CA.

It indicated that these CPN-UML guys’ thinking and doing were not much different from the doing and thinking of the Rana rulers that had the laws in their words not in the books, as these CPN-UML guys also had the laws on their mind not in the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. When the political situation seemed to be favorable to them they were ready to go to the polls but it was not sure that they would stick to their new stand on this matter if the situation changed.

Clearly, the CPN-UML leaders had been not for following the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 but for following the development of the political situation in their favor. Similarly, the NC leaders had been following the unconstitutional means to grab the power rather than going to polls and seeking the mandate of the people. The new CPN-Maoist headed by Mohan Vaidhya Kiran had started off following the path of terrorizing the people unleashing the students to attack the educational institutions. So, if the Head of State President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav did not cooperate with the coalition government of the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF to hold the election to a new CA then the country would surely fall into the hands of terrorists and of the leaders of the political parties that had been for not following the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 but for grabbing the power by any means possible.

July 21, 2012