Statesmanship, Mr Dahal

KIRAN PANDAY

In the end, more by chance than on purpose, the right man became president.

It's been like that in the past two years of roller-coaster transition: the deadlock looks intractable, the peace process looks doomed, we teeter between totalitarianism and democracy. But it all works out in the end.

However bleak things may look in Nepal, somehow it gets sorted out at the last minute. The politicians take negotiations right to the brink, but some hidden force brings us back from the edge. If one analyses all the near-disasters since April 2006, there is one common denominator: the political decision that respects the popular mandate and follows the principles of pluralism and democracy is always the right one.

On Monday, we could have been saddled with a president chosen by a bunch of self-serving politicians in some backroom deal. That person could have been doddering ex-terrorist, it could have been a long-in-the-tooth prime minister, or it could have been a flip-flopping politician who lost the election from both constituencies.

But in the end, when it was put to the vote and we allowed our elected representatives to elect the president, they came up with the right man. Wish it could have been a woman, but it was a victory for democracy nevertheless. And because of what Ram Baran Yadav has stood for, it was a moral victory for non-violence, fundamental freedoms and for Nepal's integrity as a nation.

The big challenge now is not to allow the Maoists to run away from their responsibility. Pushpa Kamal Dahal is insulting the Nepali people if he refuses to lead the government just because his candidate for president lost out in the CA numbers game.

The president is ceremonial, after all, so it's no big deal. And all things considered, it was a victory for Dahal's struggle for inclusivity that a self-made famer's son from the Madhes has now become the head of state. Ram Baran Yadav's election wasn't a defeat for the Maoists, it was one more indication that the people identify with the Maoist agenda for change.

Nepalis and Friends of Nepal now need to convince the hardliners in the Maoist leadership that they will never get an opportunity like this to realise their dream of a new Nepal. The cynical argument that a NC-UML-MJF coalition is sure to disintegrate and they can capture state power in six months is an example of the scheming mentality of the end justifying the means?no matter what it does to the people.

Mr Dahal, try once more to convince your colleagues to lead the government. Show statesmanship. Bring back a caring state and demonstrate to the long-suffering people of this country who chose your party that you can improve their lives.