Prime Minister’s Competency And Indian Encroachment

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Currently, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal’s competency has been directly proportional to the Indian encroachment on Nepalese property and politics. He has really believed in somebody telling him he is a competent person without looking at what he has done competently during the last seven months of his administration when Indians at various level have encroached on the Nepalese politics and property when nothing concrete has been done for easing the lives of the people except for skyrocketing the prices of food items. If Prime Minister believes these are the results of his competency then we need to redefine the meaning of this word.

After the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Copenhagen on December 19, 2009, speaking to the reporters Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has quoted the Indian dignitary, as follow, “You are the competent person, so you will complete the peace process taking all political parties together and write a new constitution on time.” The reality is that he has not been able to even seriously talk to the leaders of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) largest party in the legislature and has not been able to bring the legislators of the Madheshi People’s Rights Forum-Nepal (MPRF-Nepal) to his fold.

Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has not been able to enforce the instructions he has given to his Defense Minister to turn over Major Niranjan Basnet indicted by the Kavre District Court for murdering a minor Maina Sunuwar. Before leaving for Copenhagen on December 14, 2009, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has in consultation with both the Defense Minister and the Home Minister has instructed the Defense Minister to turn over Major Basnet to the police for producing him at the Kavre District Court for trial on killing a minor. Despite the call of the national and international human rights organizations for turning over Major Basnet to the civilian court and the UN returning Major Basnet from the UN Peace-keeping Mission in Chad back to Nepal for trial, the Nepal Army has not turned him over to the police, yet. Rather after the return of the Chief of Army Staff Chatraman Singh Gurung from the India visit on December 20, 2009, the Nepal Army has set up a three-member court of inquiry for investigating the felony of Major Basnet obviously for covering up his felony. At the same time, Defense Minister Bidhya Bhandari has assured the relatives of Major Niranjan Basnet indicted for killing a minor Maina Sunuwar, of not taking actions against him as he has only followed the order according to the Nepalese private press. Recently, relatives of Major Basnet visited the Defense Minister at her official residence seeking her assistance in acquitting Major Basnet.

Two things Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has successfully done are airlifting 24 ministers to the Everest base camp called Kalapathar and taking 38 members as his entourage to Copenhagen for participating in the global summit on climate change. He has taken 24 ministers and several reporters to Kalapathar to have a cabinet meeting there for making decisions on climate change agenda. In desperation his Maldivian counterpart has taken his cabinet ministers to under water for making decisions on climate change on the surface. Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has sent his five ministers and their spouses and other family members including grandchildren to Copenhagen before he left Kathmandu with a 38-member team for Copenhagen for participating in the global summit on climate change titled COP15. If you take a look at the text of his speech delivered at the COP15 both in Nepali and in English you will be surprised how the Prime Minister understands the climate change. He has spent a huge sum of money provided by the donor community for the poor Nepalis on taking so many Nepalis to Copenhagen obviously for their family holidays.

Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has increased the preserved area by five percent but his Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation has been allowing cutting trees indiscriminately making forest areas into fallow land. For example, a large number of landless people recently went to dwell in the fallow land belonging to the forest area at Dudejhari in the Kailali District from where Home Minister Bhim Rawal has ejected them killing five innocent and unarmed people in return for the death of a policeman. Increasing preserved area by five percent makes no sense when a large forest area becomes a fallow land. Similarly, he has allowed a large-scale mining of gravel at the fragile Chure hills in Nepal for exporting it to India thus making the fragile hills vulnerable to landslides during the monsoon period.

Prime Minister Madhav Nepal’s competence in bringing the perpetrators of crimes to justice has been challenged by his own ministers. For example, his Defense Minister has not followed his instruction to turn over Major Basnet indicted for the murder of a minor to the police. He became a mute spectator of his Home Minister Bhim Rawal patting the policemen for killing the innocent people at Dudejhari on December 4, 2009. His Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives Karima begum has committed public offense slapping the Chief District Office of the Parsa District in November 2009 but he could not fire her for such a pubic offense.

The government headed by Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has not been able to enforce the provision made in the budget for the fiscal year 2009 for providing the couples of inter-caste marriages with the cash incentive of Rs 100,000 to each couple to encourage the inter-caste marriages. According to the front-page news published in the government-run newspaper ‘Gorkhapatra’ of December 23, 2009, couples of inter-caste marriages instead of each couple receiving Rs 100,000 for such inter-caste marriages have been paying fines of thousands of rupees for inter-caste marriage.

Concerning the service delivery, Madhav Nepal’s administration has made the record of not been able to do anything to increase the supply of power and drinking water not to mention meeting the demands. Laying foundation stone for building a tunnel intended for bringing water from the Melamchi River to Kathmandu, he has apparently started off the construction of a tunnel but his Deputy Bijya Gacchedar has not been able to do anything to this end. Similarly, his Minister for Energy Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat has done nothing to add even a single unit of electricity to the existing power units despite his trumpeting of importing power from India, and building and rehabilitating thermal plants to mitigate the shortage of power. So, Nepalis have been living in darkness for 28 hours a week soon it is going to be 42 hours a week according to the news reports; water supply is only for two hours a day after a gap of every two days. Water and power supply in the Kathmandu Valley has been so short but Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has not been able to do anything during the last seven months of his administration.

During the last seven months of the administration of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, price of potato has gone up from Rs 20 to Rs 50 per kilogram, of onion from Rs 25 to Rs 45 per kilogram, prices of lintels from Rs 60-70 to Rs 150-170 per kilogram, and prices of various grades of rice from Rs 20-40 to Rs 50-90. Similarly, prices of vegetables have shot up, too.

In the interview of CPN-UML leader Bamdev Gautam posted on the website Telegraphnepal.com on December 19, 2009, Mr. Gautam has said, “It (peace process) has not moved further since we stepped out of the Government. When we were in the government, we had decided that the Integration and Rehabilitation Process of the Maoists’ Militias will be completed by June-July, 2009. We were on the right track to amicably bring to a logical end to the peace process. But, after the new government was put in place, the peace process got stalled.” Obviously, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has done nothing to the peace process.

On December 24, 2009, the government–run newspaper ‘The Rising Nepal’ has written "The government is concerned about the slow pace of progress in the ongoing peace process, but it is committed to draft the statute and conclude the peace process meaningfully within the stipulated timeframe," Premier Nepal told five Heads of Missions of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, at his office at Singh Durbar this morning. Under the extreme pressure of the international community Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has hold such a meeting with the representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been pushing the leaders of the UCPN-Maoist away from the consensus politics refusing to debate the President’s undemocratic act at the legislature and doing nothing to integrating the Maoist combatants to the Nepal Army. Consequently, the UCPN-Maoist leaders have completed the third round of movement against the President’s unconstitutional move on directly writing a letter to the army chief on May 3, 2009 abusing the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. And they have announced the fourth round of the movement starting on December 25, 2009 and ending on January 24, 2010. During the period of the fourth round of movement, the UCPN-Maoist has planned to expose the corrupt ministers and the criminals involved in suppressing the people’s movement.

Speaking at the mass rally held at New Baneswore in Kathmandu on December 22, 2009 at the end of the three-day Nepal shutdown, Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda has declared that his party is not going to talk to the puppet government of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal but his masters in Delhi on the following five agenda:

1.    Review of the Nepal-India Treaty of 1950
2.    Trade and Transit Treaty with India to ease the unequal trade balance
3.    Removal of the Indian Army from Kalapani
4.    Formation of a high-level mechanism comprising Nepal, India and China
5.    Nepal’s relations with India and China on equal footing.

If you take a look at the agenda Chairman Prachanda has publicly stated then you find that he is going to talk with the Delhi people as the head of government means he feels he is the head of a parallel government. Next day, Chairman Prachanda’s Deputy Prakash has said that Prachanda’s threat to talk to the masters of the current slave government is only a joke. If it is a joke it is ok, anybody can make a joke at the public meeting, if it is not a joke then it goes against the rule of law in other words against the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Then Chairman Prachanda is subject to punishment as the President has been for abusing the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007.

Concerning the Indian encroachment we have encroachment on the Nepalese politics and property from the various levels of the Indian administration.

During the last seven-month period of the Prime Minister Madhav Nepal’s administration, he has not been able to do anything to ease the lives of Nepalis living in the Nepalese territory near the frontiers with India. The Indian Security Force harassing Nepalis coming from India has been the order of day. The members of the Indian security force often enter Nepalese territory and take away the livestock from the Nepalis if they do not get the livestock at the prices they set for.

On December 24, 2009, the government-run newspaper ‘Gorkhapatra’ has a news report stating the Nepalese police have arrested Nepalis taking control of the guns of two drunken members of the Indian Border Security Force; the two Indian Border Security Force men have intruded into the Nepalese territory in the Bardia District and harassed the Nepalis living there. So, Nepalis have snatched the guns from them for self-defense but the Nepalese police have arrested the Nepalis rather than giving them protection from the harassment of the Indian Border Security Force. Home Minister Bhim Rawal has to explain to the people why he could not protect Nepalis from the harassment perpetrated by the Indian Border Security Force.

At the highest level of the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese politics we have seen is the Indian Prime Minister patting on the back of the Nepalese Prime Minister telling the most incompetent Prime Minister Madhav Nepal as the competent Prime Minister and anticipating the completion of the peace process and writing a new constitution from such a person. However, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been very happy to be the favorite of the Indian Prime Minister despite his incompetence in running the administration.

Then, the Indian General telling the visiting Nepalese Chief of Army Staff Chatraman Singh Gurung not to integrate the Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army has been the encroachment on the internal matters of Nepal at the next high-level level. Speaking at the mass rally held at New Baneswore in Kathmandu on December 22, 2009, Chairman UCPN-Maoist Prachanda has publicly asked why the puppet government of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has not spoken out about it.

After the resignation of Prime Minister Prachanda on May 4, 2009  protesting against the President’s unconstitutional action of directly writing a letter to the army chief overriding his decision on firing the army chief, Indian ambassador Rakesh Sood shamelessly has engaged in garnering the support for making Madhav Nepal a Prime Minister. Reportedly, he has used both the carrot and stick shepherding the legislators in favor of Madhav Nepal. Probably, his Excellency Indian Ambassador Sood must have spent millions of rupees if not billions on making the majority for Madhav Nepal. Speaking at the mass rally held at New Baneswore in Kathmandu on the last day of the three-day Nepal shutdown called by the UCPN-Maoist, one of Deputy Chairmen of UCPN-Maoist Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has said that every legislator is paid Rs 10 million for his/her support for the government of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal.

At the grassroots level Indians have encroached on the Nepalese territory in the far western Nepal displacing the Nepalis from their own property. Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been closing eyes on such encroachment on Nepalese territory fearing to displease his masters in Delhi according to the Maoists.

The Indian Border Security Force harassing Nepalis and taking their livestock from the Nepalis living near the frontiers with India have been the daily events. Nepalis have either to confront the Indian Border Security Force or leave the area. Innocent and helpless Nepalis have been the victims of the Indian Border Security Force and the victim of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, as he does not do anything to easing the lives of Nepalis living at the frontier areas for fearing annoying his foreign patrons.

So, at the end of the day, the competence of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been in keeping his foreign guardians happy at the cost of the innocent Nepalis, national pride and even sovereignty. Surely, the Indians are happy with such an incompetent Prime Minister and certainly will do everything possible to keep such a person in power no matter whether s/he is elected or not elected. Such are the undemocratic actions of the leaders of one of the so-called largest democracy in the world. What an irony it is.

December 24, 2009.