Holy Or Unholy Alliance of Eighteen Political Parties

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Former Prime Minister Prachanda used to charge the leaders of the eighteen political parties out of the 25 political parties that have representations in the Constituent Assembly that their alliance is the unholy one, as they have gone to the ceremonial President and have implored him to write a letter to the Chief of Army Staff stating to stay on in the job annulling the Prime Minister’s actions of firing him for not following the government’s orders whereas the alliance leaders used to counter the former Prime Minister’s charges stating their alliance is a holy one for stopping the Maoists from grabbing the state power.

The Maoists have been saying that one of the most unholy things, the alliance leaders have done is to urge the ceremonial President to do something not only without the recommendation of the Prime Minister but also to do the thing that goes against the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Believing that the Maoists would seize the state power firing Chief of Army Staff Rukmangad Katuwal and appointing the second-in command to the position of the Chief of Army Staff, and believing in keeping the undisciplined Chief of Army Staff in the job would stop the Maoists from capturing the state power, the alliance leaders have gone to the ceremonial President and implored him to do something to keep the job of the high-ranking soldiers for saving the country from falling in the Maoists’ hands.

First of all why the Maoists need to capture the state power when they are in power, second how the Chief of Army Staff would stop the Maoists from capturing the state power; third, how the alliance leaders could not think that they are violating the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 urging the ceremonial President to do something without the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Probably, they have believed that they are the most matured politicians and they can do whatever they think is right even going against the principles of the rule of law. However, they have proved that they are the most immature politicians who have not cared about the democracy in Nepal.

The alliance leaders should know that the ceremonial President cannot make any mistakes in other words he cannot do anything independently concerning the state affairs. He has simply to follow whatever the Prime Minister recommends him to do. He cannot even meet the Chief of Army Staff without the knowledge of the Prime Minister even thought he is the Supreme Commander of the Nepal Army. This is what the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 has prescribed for the ceremonial President.

However, the alliance leaders did not understand the provision made in the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 for the ceremonial President. So, they still believe that the President directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff and saving his job has done a right thing. Any freshman of the political science study will surely say that the President’s direct action is certainly the violation of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. However, the so-called leaders of the eighteen political parties have failed in understanding the basic principles and values of democracy.

The alliance leaders’ action would have been correct if they have taken the action of the Prime Minister firing the Chief of Army Staff to the Supreme Court of Nepal and let the court rule whether the Prime Minister firing the Chief of Army Staff has done right or wrong. However, they did not follow the democratic means of fighting against the Prime Minister’s action. Most probably, these shrewd alliance leaders know that the Prime Minister’s action really follows the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 and they would not be able to save the job of the Chief of Army Staff by going to the Supreme Court of Nepal. Then, the only alternative to them is to go to the ceremonial President and make him a puppet. Thus, they understand the Interim Constitution but they have made it a scrap of paper.

If everybody follows the Interim Constitution and democratic principles and values, the legislators need to impeach the President for taking a direct action violating the Interim Constitution that he has promised to safeguard while taking the oath of office of the President. The legislators need to impeach the President in two counts: first for directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff; second for not safeguarding the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. However, the alliance leaders have proved that they are not for following the democratic principles refusing even to debate over the President’s direct action in the legislature. They do not even feel shame on saying that they have come to power following the President’s direct action, so, how they could debate over such an action. Thus, they have proved that the current government has been formed following the unconstitutional action of the ceremonial President, hence, it has been unconstitutional despite the fact that majority of the legislators have elected the current Prime Minister.

The result of the poor understanding of the principles of democracy by the alliance leaders has been the person defeated in two constituencies has become the Prime Minister. It has been shame on the democratic minded Nepalis that they have the person rejected by the voters as the Prime Minister.

The Maoist legislators have been taking the legislature hostage demanding to debate over the unconstitutional action of the ceremonial President. However, the current government has not been concerned very much with it although the government might soon come to a dead end, as the legislature has not passed the budget for the fiscal year 2009 (2066), and the government has been running on the credit budget passed by the legislature.

The bond of the eighteen-political parties is not the ideological one but a commercial one. The ideology of the Nepali Congress has been the social democracy. Its leader BP Koirala used to say adding democracy to communism makes it a social democracy. However, the leaders of the current Nepali Congress neither understand socialism nor democracy. Their ideology has been an established opportunism. So, they become ready to do anything only to get the better opportunity of getting into power. Similarly, judging from the activities of the leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist, we can confirm that they have lost the ideology of any sort. Its former General Secretary Madhav Nepal had once gone to the palace for applying the job of a Prime Minister. The three political parties of former Panchas have no political ideology, too. They are in the political game, so, they simply want to be in the game. Other fringe left parties have no political ideology, too. They can speak and do unimaginable things. Then, the political parties of the so-called Madheshi are not much different from other small political parties. They have successfully exploited the political situation and the Madheshi people’s aspirations for their identities but they have failed in doing any concrete things for the benefits of the Madheshi people. Most of the leaders of the Madheshi parties are former Congresses or Panchas or Communists. So, all of them have come together to reap the benefits that come from the power.

The Maoists have been saying that they would launch a third people’s movement after Tihar following the UN Charter that gives the people to a peaceful movement if the alliance leaders are not for debating over the unconstitutional action of the President in the legislature. The alliance leaders have been shamelessly saying that how they would discuss the President’s move that has put them in power.

The Maoists have been charging the alliance leaders of attempting on imposing a presidential rule in Nepal. Judging from the alliance leaders’ not much concern for the dysfunctional of the legislature because the Maoist legislators have been holding it hostage demanding the debate over the President’s unconstitutional move in the legislature, we can guess that the alliance leaders are in fact looking for an excuse to imposing a state of emergency and then a presidential rule in the country.

Almost all the leaders of all the political parties have been saying that they have no alternative to the consensus politics and co-working but what is happening is just opposite of what they have been saying. Why the political leaders have been saying so and doing otherwise is anybody’s guess. Certainly, Nepalis want them to work together for the benefits of all Nepalis.

Therefore, the holy alliance of the political parties will be if it is for the consensus politics and for writing a constitution. Nepalis have elected representatives to the Constituent Assembly making it the most inclusive so that everybody has her/his voice in crafting a new constitution. However, majority of the members of the Constituent Assembly-cum-legislature aligning with the opportunists for grabbing power ignoring the most important part of their jobs of writing a new constitution have betrayed the Nepalese voters. It is not yet too late for them to correct their behavior and work on the consensus politics making a holy alliance of all twenty-five political parties in the Constituent Assembly.

October 3, 2009.