Need For Consensus Politics in Nepal

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

In 2005 all political parties including the Maoists felt the need for consensus politics and reached the historic 12-point Understanding between the then-seven-party alliance and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist), and they tore down the dynastic rule in 2006 and made Nepal a federal democratic republic in 2008. However, at the point of elections for the first president and vice-president of Nepal, they broke up the consensus politics and they again made the political instability the order of day causing great distress to the Nepalese people. Now again, Prime Minister Prachanda has been saying the need for consensus politics with a new understanding; however, the Nepali Congress leaders want the enforcement of previous agreements rather than a new understanding.

Nepalese voters did not give any single political party majority seats in the Constituent Assembly (CA) in the election held for the CA on April 10, 2008. It was the political maturity of the Nepalese voters, as they knew that if they gave majority seats to one political party or another, the political parties would deviate from the consensus politics and one-party rule would prevail making the crafting of a new constitution very difficult as it required the consensus of all political parties on making it a long lasting national statute.

From the 12-point understanding reached between the seven-party alliance and the CPN-Maoist on November 22, 2005 to the declaration of Nepal a federal democratic republic, all the political parties had crossed many political ups and downs to keep the consensus politics intact. Other political parties particularly the CPN-Maoist and the Madheshi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) had to put tremendous pressure on the Nepali Congress (NC) president to declare Nepal a federal democratic republic; however, they had gone together until the declaration of Nepal a federal democratic republic.

In July 2008, at the time of the election for president and vice-president of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, political parties could not keep the consensus politics intact, as major political parties such as the CPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and MPRF developed their own agenda on the choice of the first president.

In view of the demand of the Madheshi people for making a Madheshi the first president of Nepal, the CPN-Maoist put forward the candidacy of Ram Raja Prasad Singh for the president stating he was both the Madheshi and the first Nepali to advocate for making Nepal a republic at the time of despotic ruler called Mahendra. So, the Maoists thought that the candidacy of Ram Raja Prasad Singh would meet the demand of Madheshis and of all republicans. Mr. Singh did not have many followers. The Maoists had nominated him to the candidate for the first president as an appreciation for his republican stand and for countering the candidacy of President of NC Girija Prasad Koirala.

The NC wanted to make NC President Girija Prasad Koirala the first president of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. He deserved to be the first president of Nepal in view of his political stature and the long political service he rendered to Nepal but the CPN-Maoist, CPN-UML and MPRF could not agree on making Koirala the first president in view of his support for saving the despotic monarchy and the disgrace it would cause to the new Nepal if Koirala became the president. Nepalese political analysts often said in pubic that Nepalis wanted to make Girija Prasad Koirala the Nelson Mandela of Nepal but he did not take that opportunity rather continued his attempt to save the monarchy until the last moment of declaring Nepal a republic despite the fact that the monarchy had dismissed the elected government headed by the NC leaders twice: first in 1960 and second in 2002. Now, Koirala has down graded himself to such an extent that he has no confident even in getting elected for the leader of the NC parliamentary party; so he declared himself the leader of the NC parliamentary party without an election for it.

The Maoists thought that it would be very hard to work with Girija Prasad Koirala if he became the president, as they were sure to lead the upcoming government because of the majority seats they won in the legislature-House. In view of the pressure they had to repeatedly put on him for making Nepal a republic and for many other issues, and they had been always at odds with Koirala over many political issues when he was the Prime Minister as the Maoists wanted to outright declare Nepal a republic but Koirala resisted it as long as possible; so, the Maoists simply rejected his candidate for the president. The Maoists bluntly told the NC leaders that they would accept the candidacy of any NC leader other than Koirala.

Not putting Girija Prasad Koirala on the presidential chair, the Maoists committed one of the greatest political blunders in the life of their party, as they could not think over the possible adverse results of such a mistake. If Koirala were the president then the Maoists would have found it easy to steer the government, as the NC leaders would have no problem of joining the coalition government led by the Maoists and continue the consensus politics rather than the current confrontation with the Maoists

The CPN-UML wanted to make Madhav Kumar Nepal the first president of Nepal. Mr. Nepal did not deserve to be the first president in view of his political careers and of his political characters. He was an opportunist and would take any possible opportunity to grab the highest position. The irony was that he went to the palace with an appeal to make him the Prime Minister claiming that he was the best possible candidate for that position when former king Gyanendra asked political parties to name the most eligible candidate for the position of Prime Minister. In addition, he made the habit of criticizing all other political leaders except for himself. He lost the election for the CA in both constituencies: one of the Kathmandu constituencies and another in his home district. He told that Nepalese voters rejected him. So, other political parties including the Maoists did not accept the candidacy of Mr. Nepal for the first president. Currently, his party appointed him to the member of the Constituent Assembly ignoring the ethic of not appointing anybody defeated in the direct election for the Constituent Assembly to the position of its member to be elected by the proportional representation system. The Maoists and other political parties including the NC agreed to make him the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee.

Not being able to find the consensus candidates for the president and the vice-president, the CPN-Maoist, the NC and the CPN-UML nominated their own candidates for both the president and the vice-president. All three political parties nominated a Madheshi (Terai person) for president and a Pahadi (hill person) for vice-president. Most stalwarts of the NC and the CPN-UML did not prefer to be the candidate for the president believing they would have less chance of winning the election without the support of the CPN-Maoist and fearing being a political joker. So, the NC and the CPN-UML nominated the candidates for the president and vice-president less known persons to the public.

The MPRF and other Madheshi political parties had their own agenda on making a Madheshi the first president. The MPRF wanted its candidate for the position of vice-president for lending support for the candidate of the CPN-Maoist for the position of president. However, the CPN-Maoist did not agree on the proposal of the MPRF. The CPN-Maoist wanted a Madheshi (Terai person) for the position of president and a Pahadi (hill person) for the position of vice-president.

Then, the MPRF put up its candidate for the vice-president. One day before the election for the president and the vice-president, the NC, CPN-UML and MPRF formed an alliance for the election, as the three parties together had required majority for electing the two most important positions in the Nepalese administration. They agreed on electing the candidate of the NC for the president, the candidate of MPRF for the vice-president and the candidate of the CPN-UML for the position of the Chairman of the CA. The Chairman would also work as the Speaker of the legislature-House, as the CA would also work as the legislature-House. Thus, both the President and the Vice-president of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal became the men of Terai origin.

The Maoists were almost sure that the Madheshi party members of the CA would vote for their candidate for the president. However, neither Madheshi members voted for the Maoists’ candidate as they anticipated nor all of them voted for the NC candidate, too. So, neither the Maoists’ candidate for the president nor the NC’s won the election. The result was to go for the second round of voting for the president. However, all of them voted for the candidate of the MPRF for the vice-president in the first round of the election making the candidate of the MPRF victorious. In the second round of voting for the president, the candidate of the NC won the election as all Madheshi members of the CA voted for him thus defeating the Maoists’ candidate.

The Maoists charged the NC, CPN-UML and MPRF of breaking up the agreement and understanding on the consensus politics forming an alliance of the three parties. However, the CPN-UML and MPRF maintained that the alliance was only for the election for the president and the vice-president.

The election for president and vice-president paved the way for forming a new government. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and his party were for continuing the government with the support of the CPN-UML and MPRF putting the Maoists in opposition. However, the CPN-UML and MPRF did not agree to form a government keeping the majority seat-winning CPN-Maoist out of the government.

To form a government of all the major political parties means Prime Minister Koirala needed to quit the position of the Prime Minister and give the Maoists the way for leading the government. Koirala could not think of a government without he being the Prime Minister. So, he tried to negotiate with the CPN-UML and MPRF lingering the formation of a new government more than a month after the election for the president and vice-president. Ultimately, Koirala gave up the position of Prime Minister and opted for sitting on the position in the legislature-House breaking up the consensus politics.

The CPN-Maoist fielded its Chairman Prachanda for the position of Prime Minister and the NC fielded three term former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Even knowing he would be defeated in the election for the position of Prime Minster this time, Deuba accepted the nomination for two reasons: first, the NC did not want Prachanda to win the election unanimously, second, Deuba thought that his candidacy for the position of Prime Minister would pave the way for winning the position of the leader of the NC parliamentary party. However, later on, Girija Prasad Koirala declared he was the leader of the NC parliamentary party leader

Chairman of the CPN-Maoist got elected to the position of Prime Minister by overwhelming votes. Out of 577 votes cast, 464 votes went for Prachanda and 113 votes against him. All 113 NC members of the CA voted against him. Deuba received only 113 votes and majority of votes went against him. So, the Chairman of the CA declared Deuba was rejected for the position of Prime Minister by the majority votes.

The NC has started opposing the six-party coalition government headed by the Maoists since it was formed in August 2008. The NC leaders and leaders of their sister organizations particularly the Nepal Students’ Union have been taking up every possible issue to oppose the government disregarding the rule of law. They would have been more successful and their missions would have been fruitful if they had fought for the rule of law rather than fighting for any issue disregarding the rule of law.

Some of the actions the NC leaders have taken opposing the decision of the government without considering the feeling of Nepalis must have damaged the party that would be known only after the general election for a parliament or any other elections in the future. For example, the NC lawmakers marched from the International Convention Center where they assembled for the House meeting to Pashupati to oppose the decision made by the Pashupati Area Development Trust on appointing Nepalese priests in the positions vacated by the South Indian priests tendering their resignations.

Patriotic Nepalis have been demanding the replacement for the South Indian priests with the Nepalese priests at the Pashupati shrine, as it was the issue of pride and national feeling. One government after another headed by none other than NC president Girija Prasad Koirala ignored the plea of the patriotic Nepalis to appoint Nepalese priests in places of South Indian priests. Koirala and his party might have the vested interest in keeping the Indian priests, as the jobs were very lucrative and earn millions of rupees per year from the cash offerings made to Lord Pashupati by devotees. So, the NC leaders opposing the appointment of Nepalese priest at the Pashupati shrine surely hurt the patriotic Nepalis. How much damage it has done to the NC would be seen only during and after any national elections to be held in future.

Currently, one political party after another backing out of the consensus politics and taking up a movement for achieving even a slightest benefit for the party has not only breaking up the commitment to the consensus politics but also taking the country to the political bankruptcy.

Political bankruptcy means either the extreme left hardliners or the extreme right hardliners would takeover when the politicians taking the path middle of both the extremes would be weakened. In both the cases, political chaos was inevitable. All Nepalis would suffer from even losing their lives. We have seen that Pol Pot killed almost two million people but none of the members of the international community could save even a single life. Similarly, more recently, hundreds of thousands of Muslims were killed before the international community went in and stopped the killings. So, all responsible political parties have to be careful not to push the middle-path politicians either to the extreme left or the right making them difficult to work. Politicians losing the election for the CA needed to wait for another elections for regaining the lost positions and power rather than creating unmanageable situation for running the administration.

After the 12-point understanding reached between the then-seven party alliance and the CPN-Maoist in November 2005, political leaders pleaded the Nepalese people for their support for the movement saying that it would be the last decisive movement they would need to support and all political parties would work on the basis of consensus politics until a new constitution was done. After three years, all political leaders broke up their commitment made to the Nepalese people and started to engage in the dirty political game for their vested interest. Every political leader needed a high position if not available then s/he would start every possible political maneuver to gain a position.

We have seen that the most extreme politicians have been polarizing in the recent week. The CPN-Maoist and the CPN-Unity-center Masal have together formed a Unified CPN-Maoist. Certainly, it would be a strongest political party in the CA. If the middle-path politicians would push the current government to fall saying it was the ripen mango and attempt to eat it then the hardliners in the party might push the party leadership to take an extreme action that would not be in the interest of anybody.

On January 13, 2008, addressing a mass rally held to announce the unification of two communist parties into a single unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist at the open theater in Kathmandu, Prime Minister Prachanda said that if anybody toppled his government then the next day the Nepalese people would revolt and grab the power. It was the clear indication of the Maoists taking power by force. So, all multi-party democratic system-minded Nepalis need to take this statement of the Prime Minister seriously and stop any political party from usurping the power. So, former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala needed not to wait for seeing the fall of ripen mango but preserve his own fallen mango from rotting and then becoming totally unusable. He compared the current collation government with a ripen mango that would fall by its own weight. The best policy of all political parties would be to keep the words given to the Nepalese people and work together on the basis of the consensus politics to avoid any political catastrophe.

January 15, 2009.