Government and Opposition In A Showdown

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Both the 22-party coalition government and the opposition have been preparing for a showdown, the government not meeting the demand of the opposition for democratically discussing the unconstitutional move of the President in the legislature-parliament, and the opposition launching a street protest against the President’s move and holding the legislature-parliament hostage. The irony is that the leaders of the 22-party particularly the so-called democratic parties such as the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) have not favored such a discussion in the parliament. They even say that the President’s action on directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff disregarding the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 is constitutional making the mockery of democracy in Nepal.

On August 6, 2009, the deadline given by the opposition leaders of the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) for the discussion of the unconstitutional move of the President on directly writing a letter to Army Chief of Staff Rukmangad Katuwal and ordering him to stay on in the job against the decision of the Prime Minister on firing him on the charges of disobeying the government’s orders in the legislature-parliament has expired. The UCPN-Maoist leaders have postponed all protest programs giving a one-month time to the Prime Minister for making possible to discuss the President’s action on directly writing a letter to the Army Chief violating the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. However, backdoor Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been either unable to meet the demand of the opposition or does not want to do so, as Madhav Nepal has become the Prime Minister tricking everyone to make him first the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee and then Prime Minister and now wants to trick the Maoists to his terms.

Seeing no possibility of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal meeting their demand, four days before the expiry of the deadline set for discussing the President’s unconstitutional move in the legislature-parliament, on Monday, August 3, 2009, the Standing Committee of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) has decided to launch a ‘United National Movement’ to correct the President’s unconstitutional move. Following the programs, the UCPN-Maoist parliamentarians have put on hold the business of the parliament since August 7, 2009, the Maoist cadres have been holding rallies across the country, holding sit-ins at the district headquarters, and then they have programs on stopping the President, Prime Minister and Ministers from attending public programs.

On August 6, 2009, unconcerned for his reputation for not doing anything for a month for meeting the demand of the UCPN-Maoist leaders within the deadline set for discussing the unconstitutional move of the President in the legislature-parliament, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has called a meeting of the leaders of the so-called 22 political parties. They have come to conclusion that not only the unconstitutional move of the President is a constitutional but also even do not want to discuss it in the legislature-parliament disregarding the basic norms and values of democracy. Parliamentarians need to discuss any subject matters concerning the people in the legislature if they go by the rule of law and follow the democratic ideals. Their resistance to discuss the unconstitutional move of the President in the parliament has confirmed that these so-called democratic leaders have been afraid of the opposition proving the President’s violation of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 is in fact unconstitutional.

It is a shame following the advice of the leaders of the 22-political parties the President has directly written a letter to the Chief of Army Staff violating the Interim Constitution of Nepal, and the leaders of the so-called 22-democratic political parties have gone to the President and advised him even to violate the Interim Constitution of Nepal for saving the job of the Army Chief. Thus, they have valued the job of the Army Chief more than the democratic ideals and values. So, it would not be wrong to say the necks of the leaders of the 22-political parties are conjoined with the neck of the Chief of Army Staff.

So, it is no wonder Army Chief of Staff Rukmangad Katuwal has been boasting his victory over the Maoist-led government. Mr. Katuwal has been saying informally that he has saved the country from falling in the hands of the Maoists and he has made Madhav Nepal the Prime Minster. It has certain truth that Mr. Katuwal has been instrumental in tearing down the Maoist-led government however at the very high cost to the fledgling democracy in Nepal. It has sent the message that the political parties could do whatever they liked and the President could disregard the Interim Constitution to save the job of a soldier.

The worst thing is that the leaders of the so-called democratic political parties do not want to correct the unconstitutional move of the President and return the ceremonial President to his status of the President doing nothing without the recommendation of the Prime Minister. It has made democracy messy particularly during the critical period of transition from the monarchical to the republican rule.

Parliamentary leader of the so-called democratic NC Ram Chandra Poudel has been telling in the public that the President’s action of directly writing a letter to Chief of Army Staff Rukmangad Katuwal is constitutional and it is out of context to discuss it in the legislature-parliament. What a shame all democratic-minded NC members of the legislature-parliament have elected such a person to the leader of the parliamentary party of the NC. Any person having a little bit of sense of democracy cannot accept such arguments of any leader who claims to be a democrat.

We cannot say anything of the incompetent leader such as Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal who have won the election for a seat in the Constituent Assembly-cum-legislature-parliament and for the Chair of the CPN-UML but has surrendered the rights to be a Prime Minister to his colleague Madhav Nepal who have lost the election for a seat of the Constituent Assembly-cum-legislature-parliament in the two constituencies. The worst thing Chairman Khanal did was to betray the Maoist-led government withdrawing the support given to the government for taking actions against the most undisciplined high-ranking soldier, and going to the president for taking direct actions against firing the soldier thus saving the job of the disobedient soldier. Would such a so-called leader be able to really convince the Nepalis of leading them to a democratic system of governance in the future?

These so-called political leaders are ready to go to any extent only to serve their interest but not the people’s. For example, Madhav Nepal has tricked everybody including Chairman Khanal to make him the Prime Minister. It is a shame that Nepalis people have a defeated person as the second Prime Minster of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. NC President Girija Prasad Koirala has shamelessly made her daughter Sujata Koirala the Foreign Minister against the will of Acting President of NC Sushil Koirala and many other democratic-minded NC leaders and cadres. Sujata Koirala as the Foreign Minister has made the statement on the Indians not encroaching on the Nepalese land and not harassing Nepalis living on the Nepalese territory on the Nepal-India border areas in western Nepal on the contrary to the fact that the Indians have really encroached on the Nepalese territory and have harassed Nepalis according to the parliamentary team visiting the areas and making report on it. Sujata needed to apologize to the Nepalis in general and the Indian-harassed Nepalis in particular for making the statement contrary to the truth but she has not done so far.

In an attempt to cover up the unconstitutional action of the ceremonial President, some NC leaders particularly Ram Chandra Poudel and other CPN-UML leaders have been saying that the leaders of the UCPN-Maoist launching the protest against the unconstitutional action of the President have been disrupting the writing of a new constitution. The Maoist leaders in turn have been blaming the NC and CPN-UML leaders for attempting to disrupt the writing of a new constitution and to find a pretext to declare a state of emergency and then impose a presidential rule in the country. Nepalis have seen that the unscrupulous political leaders could do anything just to serve their interest.

Concerning the writing of a new constitution, the Committees on various subject matters have prepared their concept papers on and drafts of a new constitution but the Constitutional Committee has no chairperson so far. The leaders of the 22-politcal parties supporting the unconstitutional move of the ceremonial President have not shown any interest in filling up the position of the Chair of the Constitutional Committee vacated by Madhav Nepal to be a Prime Minster so far. However, the press news has it that the Constitutional Committee is going to elect a person for the position of its Chairperson on August 17, 2009. In fact, the absence of the Chair of the Constitutional committee has delayed the discussion of the concept papers on and drafts of a new constitution. If the leaders of the 22-politcal parties are sincere in writing a new constitution on schedule they need to fill up the vacant position of the Chair of the Constitutional Committee long ago.

The Maoist leaders have been saying that their protest against the unconstitutional move of the ceremonial President would not hamper the writing of a new constitution. The writing of a new constitution is the business of the Constituent Assembly. So, they have not hampered the business of the Constituent Assembly in course of their protest against the unconstitutional move of the President. The Maoist leaders have been saying that their objective of launching the protest is to correct the unconstitutional move of the President and to tear down the current unconstitutional government led by Madhav Nepal who was defeated in two constituencies in the election for the seat of the Constituent Assembly-cum-legislature-parliament.

The Supreme Court of Nepal could help in resolving the dispute over whether the Presidential move on directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff is constitutional or not, hearing the case on this matter as soon as possible, as it has done in the case of the Vice-president taking the oath in Hindi and ruling it as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruling on this matter will be final and all leaders are bound to follow the ruling. The President has failed in quoting any article of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 in writing a letter to the Army Chief and in fact there is no such provision for writing a letter to the Army Chief in the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007.

The state-run newspaper ‘The Rising Nepal’ of August 11, 2009 has reported that Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has met with NC President Girija Prasad Koirala and discussed the current political development caused by the Maoist cadres launching a movement against the unconstitutional move of the President and the Maoist members of the legislature-parliament holding hostage. They have agreed on resolving the political problems through dialogue and on exploring the possibility of impeaching the President for his unconstitutional move. Are not they attempting to make the President scapegoat for their most undemocratic activities?

Nepalis have to wait and see what will be the result of the political showdown the opposition and the 22-political parties have set to stage in Nepal. The aspirations of Nepalis are for living in peace and prosperity and in the democratic system of governance. However, political leaders particularly the leaders of the NC and CPN-UML have been engaged in taking the country back to the rule of unscrupulous politicians. For example, the current government of the most of the ministers failed in securing the people’s mandate for serving in any elected offices but they have been ministers and enjoying all sorts of power and prestige sidelining all elected politicians. Will such ministers bring positive results from a showdown?

The current government of the so-called 22-political parties has not been able to stop the diarrhea epidemic in the mid-western districts. The government of so many political parties should have been the strongest to be able to cope with any sorts of challenges natural or man-made. However, every day four to ten people are losing their precious lives from the killer diarrhea in the mid western districts. The government has not been able to cope with the fast spreading diarrhea epidemic. So, will this government of so many inept political leaders be successful in a showdown with the Maoists in the coming days?

August 14, 2009.