Will Democracy Take Roots In Nepal?

By Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Yes, if the interim legislature declares Nepal a republic, and adopts an electoral system that ensures proportional representation of all Nepalis including hill, ethnic, Madheshi, dalit, minority and women Nepalis in a constituent assembly (CA), and holds an election for a CA, and then crafts a new constitution with the consensus of all Nepalis on it.

Civil society leaders have been advocating for declaring Nepal a republic immediately and adopting an electoral system for ensuring a proportional representation in a CA since the people movement in April 2006. However, the political parties taking mandate from the people for doing everything that suits to them never even attempted to do anything to making Nepal a republic and adopting an electoral system acceptable to all Nepalis as aspired by the most of the Nepalese people.

The international community is responsible for the development of this tendency, as the members of the international community have been supporting the regressive forces headed by current Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala strongly than the aspiration of Nepalis for democracy and correction of the unbalanced development of society practiced by the dynastic Shah rule for 238 years, and for having the voices of the so far marginalized people, as demonstrated by the Nepalis people in general in the people’s movement in April 2006.

The Nepali Congress (NC) is still a royalist party and the king’s men and regressive forces have still their strong hold on it. So, they would not let the interim legislature declare Nepal a republic. The vocal Nepali Congress leaders speak out in favor of not abolishing the monarchy. So, they insisted on that the interim legislature has no authority to declare Nepal a republic whereas the interim legislature has been doing everything that has been unthinkable and unbelievable so far. They did not bother to explain to the public from where they have derived even the authority to speak so. They simply want to deceive the innocent Nepalese people putting forward as many excuses as possible to distract the Nepalese people from the aspiration for a republic, balanced-development of society and harmony among all Nepalis, as demonstrated in the people’s movement in April 2006.

Mahasamiti (Large Committee) of the NC adopted an inclusive federal republic agenda for campaigning for the lection for a CA as some of the NC leaders found out that even the rural Nepalis did not want the NC leaders coming to them with the king on their back. It is quite clear that most of the Nepalis are not willing to accept the monarchy any more and if the NC wants to keep the monarchy, that is its business but most of the Nepalis would not like it.

The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) stood for an electoral system that would ensure representation of all Nepalis in CA but opted for holding a referendum on whether to keep or abolish the kingship. Thus, the CPN-UML wanted to give a new life to the kingship through a referendum. Later on, it deviated its stand on the electoral system and simply followed in the footprints of the NC agreeing the controversial ‘mixed-electoral system’ for holding an election for a CA.

The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) has set aside the issues of declaring Nepal a republic and adopting an electoral system for ensuring proportional representation of all Nepalis in a CA agreeing the ‘mixed-electoral system’ for joining the government and for having a share of the power on April 01, 2007. However, they realized that it was a mistake to abandon the people’s aspiration, as most of the ethnic and Madhesi Maoists broke away from the CPN-Maoist and set up their own fronts and so on for fighting for their fundamental rights to have their representation in a CA in proportion to their population, self-rule and federal system of governance. Consequently, terai areas and eastern hill areas have been hard hit by the strikes called by one ethnic group or another, and one Madheshi Nepalese group or another since the promulgation of the Interim Constitution of Nepal on January 15, 2007.

The NC headed by Interim Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was sure to manipulate the election for a CA in its favor if the election was held or if the election was called off, it could continue holding onto power. So, the NC did not care of what the Nepalese people’s aspirations were and how the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis have been fighting for an election system that would ensure their proportional representation in a CA. So, the NC leaders believed that no matter whether the election for a CA was held or not, the NC would benefit from it. So, the Interim Prime Minister Koirala did not budge from the stand on the ‘mixed electoral system’ and from not declaring Nepal a republic despite the fact that majority of the NC cadres were for a republic; despite the fact that the country had been in chaos for already for 10 months due to the protest rallies and strikes called by the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis.

Probably, the NC leaders believed that they could use the armed police force and the Nepali Army to suppress the voices of the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis, as the portfolios of defense and home were with the NC leaders. If the history is any guide, then the people in power had never been successful to suppress the people’s aspirations for long by the armed forces.

After the People’s Movement in April 2006, Nepalis thought that the leaders of the seven-party alliance (SPA) and the CPN-Maoist would work together following the 12-point understanding they had reached on November 22, 2005 for the principles and ideals such as free press, elected legislature, elected executive, independent judiciary of multi-party democracy, and for correcting their past misdeeds. They had publicly said that they would not repeat the past mistakes. However, the NC and CPN-UML did nothing to correct their past mistakes but strongly moved forward not only repeating their past bad habits of taking benefits out of the power they were in but also quarreling for petty things. The CPN-Maoist too did not seriously attempt to follow the democratic norms and principles rather they continued to bully the opponents. So, both the parties simply dumped the 12-point understanding and went on their own way. This was a political tragedy. The current political deadlock was the result of the misdeeds of both the parties responsible for making a new Nepal discarding the 238-year old feudal system.

The CPN-UML was the most inept political party along with other fringe political parties. Writing a note of dissent in any document agreed by the SPA and the CPN-Maoist had been the standard practice of the CPN-UML and the fringe parties. The latest note of dissent of the CPN-UML was the one put on the press release of the seven parties agreeing to put off the election scheduled for November 22, 2007. Probably, the CPN-UML leader thought that he had performed his duty writing a note of dissent and opened to him the rights to criticize the document and even take it to the street. Any person logically thinking would say that such an act of the CPN-UML was the expression of desperation. If the CPN-UML was the party of any significance, its leaders should be able to take a stand on its issues. In not doing so, its leaders have been gradually empowering the NC leaders, and they were not willing to give up the power they had been holding onto easily. The latest stand of the Interim Prime Minister Koirala on not declaring Nepal a republic and not accepting the electoral system of election for a CA despite the demand for those things put forward by the civil society leaders, ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis and the CPN-Maoist was the expression of his supreme power.

The regressive forces have floated the rumor of the possibility of the king coming back to power. There is no doubt that the Interim Prime Minister Koirala has knowingly or unknowingly has created a situation conducive to the king having a direct dialogue with the Chief of Army Staffs and other military authorities shifting the command of the army stationed in the palace to the army headquarters after the king managed to visit the Living Goddess Kumari and putting some of the soldiers in civil dress for shouting slogans in his support on September 30, 2007 - the last day of the Indra jatra festival. This was an indication of how far the king could go for the show of his even residual power. Despite the demands of the civil society leaders and some political parties for removing the army stationed at the palace, the Interim Prime Minister Koirala had done nothing to this end.

The NC leaders and some CPN-UML leaders have been saying in the public that the Maoists have taken a strong stand on their demands even leading to the extent of the need for putting off the election for a CA for the fear of losing the CA election. However, the reality was that it would be extremely difficult in holding the CA election in the areas the ethnic and Madheshi Nepalis have been fighting for their rights to represent in a CA in proportion to their population. In other rural areas where the Maoists continued to rule they certainly would manage to get their candidates elected. So, it might be the NC and the CPN-UML that would lose the most in the election for a CA, as the district level leaders of the NC and the NC-D have not been fully in agreement with each other, and the CPN-UML has not been able to show its presence in the so-called Maoists’ areas.

It has been possible to bring Nepal to the current political situation only after the 12-point understanding reached between the SPA and the CPN-Maoist. Believing the two stakeholders in the Nepalese politics would certainly change their habits and bring drastic changes in governance, Nepalese people went for the people’s movement in April 2006 and brought down the 238-year old dynastic rule that had created an unbalanced society marginalizing and even excluding some people in the society. Before reaching the understanding with the Maoists, the SPA leaders had unsuccessfully staged protest rallies for three years for taking power back from the king.

Most of the Nepalese people would not leave the leaders of any political parties in peace if they would fail in making drastic changes in governance system. Changes are to be made for restructuring the country into a federal state, giving autonomy to the hill, ethnic, and Madheshi Nepalis, declaring Nepal a republic, and developing the Nepalese society in a balanced manner not excluding anybody from the development process. If all these things happen without prejudices and pride of any political leaders, then only, democracy would take roots in Nepal.