Missing Historic Opportunity

By Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

On November 04, 2007, in the Interim Legislature, voting against the two resolutions such as declaring Nepal a republic through the Interim Legislature, and adopting an electoral system that would ensure the representation of all Nepalis in a constituent assembly (CA) proportional to their population, the Nepali Congress (NC) legislators lost the historic opportunity of leading all Nepalese people in general and political parties in particular to a prosperous and democratic federal republic Nepal. This would further weaken the position of the NC.

In April 2006, through the people’s movement against the monarchy, Nepalese people took back the sovereignty grabbed by the king on February 01, 2005, and entrusted it to the seven-party alliance (SPA) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) to work in unison to end the monarchy and declare Nepal a republic and adopt an electoral system that would ensure the representation of all Nepalis in a CA and in the future governance. However, after more than one and a half year, the NC legislators voting against the two most important resolutions of declaring Nepal a republic and adopting an electoral system that would ensure representation of all Nepali in a CA and in the future governance prolonged the life of the suspended monarchy and sowed the seeds of political chaos and probably perpetual political instability, as the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis would continue their struggle for their proportional representation and for republic.

The irony is that on November 04, 2007, the NC President and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said, “Nobody could stop Nepal from going to a republic.” He came out of the Interim Legislature just before legislators were to vote on the two resolutions in question to avoid voting for or against those resolutions at the same time issuing the whip to the NC legislators to vote against those resolutions. He stood for a ceremonial king, then for a baby king in the past, and ultimately succeeded to stop Nepal from going to be a republic. He also said, “Unity of the SPA and the CPN-Maoist will remain intact despite the division in the Interim Legislator. It is the unique unity that Nepal will demonstrate to the world as an example.”

The voting on the two major resolutions put forward by the CPN-Maoist in the special session of the Interim Legislature was one of the major democratic exercises the CPN-Maoist had done after laying down their arms. However, it was also the defeat of the aspirations of Nepalese people for ending the monarchy and declaring Nepal a republic and for proportional representation of all Nepalis in the state affairs. It had given the much-needed strength to the regressive forces to return to power.

November 04, 2007 had been the most memorable day for all Nepalis, as the day had come close to be the historic day of declaring Nepal a republic. Thanks to the NC legislators it did not come true. So, the day was a sad day for all Nepalis aspiring for Nepal to be a republic and a happy day for the monarchists. No matter what the NC leaders would tell the Nepalis about declaring Nepal a republic, most of the Nepalis really aspiring for republic would not believe them. No one knew how many lives would need to sacrifice and how much Nepalis would need to suffer to get back the sovereignty gone to the hands of the regressive forces.

Republic and proportional representation of all Nepalis in the state affairs were the agenda of the Nepalis aspiring for developing Nepal democratically in a sustainable manner and for a lasting peace. They were not the agenda of any political parties. It so happened that the CPN-Maoist took those two resolutions of Nepalis to the Interim Legislature believing that they would not be able to lead the Nepalis people without meeting those two aspirations of the Nepalese people. So, it was wrong if the NC legislators believed that voting against the two resolutions was voting against the agenda of the CPN-Maoist. In fact, they voted against the Nepalese people’s aspirations for republic and for proportional representation. This would surely alienate many of the NC followers.

On November 04, 2007, before the voting on the two resolutions in questions, the interim legislators debated the issues. NC legislator Mahesh Acharya said that the CPN-Maoist withdrew the resolution number one: declaring Nepal a republic in favor of the resolution of declaring Nepal a federal democratic republic presented by CPN-UML legislator Raghujee Panta. In reply to the NC legislator Acharya, CPN-Maoist legislator Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that the CPN-Maoist did not take back the resolution but supported the resolution presented by the CPN-UML legislator Raghujee Panta.

Then, the Speaker of the Interim Legislature, Subhas Newang put the resolution: declaring Nepal a federal democratic republic to the vote. The CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist legislators voted for the resolution whereas the NC legislators voted against the resolution. Thus, the Interim legislature passed the resolution by a simple majority without any constitutional validity.

Then, the Speaker gave time to the CPN-Maoist legislator Krishna Bahadur Mahara to take back the second resolution if his party wanted. He did not do so. Then, the Speaker put the second resolution: an electoral system for the proportional representation of all Nepalis in a CA to the vote. Before putting the resolution to the vote, President of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Pashupati Shumsher Rana took the time from the Speaker and spoke about his party’s stance on this issue. He said that the proportional representation of all Nepalis was also the agenda of his party and would vote accordingly. The CPN-UML, CPN-Maoist and RPP legislators voted for this resolution whereas the NC legislators voted against it. Thus, the Interim legislature passed the second resolution by a simple majority.

No matter what the President of NC and Prime Minister Koirala said to the public, there was a division of the SPA and the CPN-Maoist in the Interim Legislature. Clearly, the unity of the SPA and the CPN-Maoist had been broken up in the Interim Legislature by voting for and against the two decisive resolutions on November 04, 2007. How would Prime Minister Koirala keep the unity of the SPA and the CPN-Maoist in the governance and on the political level remained to be seen.

The passage of the two most important resolutions in the Interim Legislature by a simple majority did not make sense to any sensible person, as the Interim Legislature needed to amend the Interim Constitution to implement these two resolutions passed by the Interim Legislature. Two-third of the legislators needed to vote for any amendments to the Interim Constitution. So, it was not possible without the votes of the NC legislators. Nobody would believe that they would vote for the amendment to the Interim Constitution to implement the resolutions they had voted against.

Voting against the two resolutions in question, the NC legislators defied the people’s mandate given to the SPA and the CPN-Maoist to work for consensus on bringing a lasting peace and prosperity and on ending the monarchy. Even the RPP followed the mandate of the people voting for the second resolution: adopting the proportional representation of all Nepalis in the state affairs. However, the NC legislators voting against the resolution, failed to follow the mandate given by the Nepalese people, incurred the wrath of the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis, and provoked to intensify the movement for achieving their demands for ending the monarchy and for their proportional representation in the state affairs thus invited the political instability. It was a failure of the consensus politics, too. Would Nepalese people not punish the legislators who defied their mandate?

The failure in adopting the proportional representation system for the election for a CA probably put off the CA polls for an indefinite period, as the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis were not willing to let the government hold an election for a CA without meeting their demand for the proportional representation of all Nepalis in a CA and for declaration of Nepal a republic. Clearly, it must be the political strategy of the regressive forces hidden in the NC legislators to lengthen the life of the monarchy and to deny the fundamental rights to the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis.

The division of the SPA and the CPN-Maoist legislators in the Interim Legislature had certainly polarized the pro-republic and pro-monarchist politicians. CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist legislators voting for the federal republic demonstrated that they were pro-republicans whereas NC legislators voting against it clearly became monarchists.

The impact of the failure in building consensus on voting on the two resolutions in question would be on the Nepalese people in general and on the NC in particular. It would not be surprise if the NC would lose the leadership of the SPA and the CPN-Maoist unity in the immediate future.

The CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist would not be able to pull down the Prime Minister Koirala, as it required tow-third majority to pass a vote of no-confidence on the Prime Minister in the Interim Legislature pursuant to the Interim Constitution. He might stay on in power but without the support of the partner political parties. They might even take some issues to the streets to weaken the position of the Prime Minister. The ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis would not leave anybody in peace until they would have their demands met. So, voting against the two major resolutions, the NC legislators had probably dug their own graves.

One thing had been clear that the NC legislators despite their party’s declaration of adopting a republican resolution had failed in voting for it in the Interim legislature and succeeded in maintaining status quo. So, as long as the NC remained strong, it would not let others to declare Nepal a republic; and would not let all Nepalis have representation in the state affairs. Political conflict would continue; a lasting peace would be elusive; and Nepalis would need to suffer from the resistance put up by the NC in bringing changes in the state.

Nepalese people sacrificed their precious lives for pulling down the despotic monarch in April 2006 and revived the almost dead SPA hoping that it would meet their aspirations for drastic changes in the working style of the political parties, for declaring Nepal a republic and for the participation of all Nepalis in the state affairs. However, the revived SPA betrayed the trust of Nepalis in it.

The Interim Legislature passing the two resolutions in question by a simple majority rather than consensus without their constitutional validity suspended the democracy, as the CA polls would be deferred indefinitely, gave the continuity to the suspended monarchy and delayed the socio-economic development of Nepalis. Probably, interim legislators were confused what they had been doing by voting for and against those two resolutions without considering the constitutional implications. It might fuel the cold war among the political party erroneously claiming to be united.

Friday, November 9, 2007