Nepali Times

Think outside the box

Narayan Wagle in Nagarik, 19 January

From the Nepali Press
From The Nepali Press | From Issue #537 (January 21-27, 2011)

MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA

The chances of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal leading a consensus government is as remote as the formation of a coalition government made up of other parties. The reason is that the NC has no confidence in the Maoists' commitment to the peace process. But NC should think this through: can Nepali politics ever be stable by keeping the Maoists out of power? 

The NC has concluded that the peace process did not progress during the time of Dahal's premiership. But we should remember that disqualified PLA combatants left the cantonments only after Dahal told them to. He could not stop UNMIN from leaving, and has now agreed to bring the ex-combatants under the Special Committee. Now, to settle the internal issue of integration and rehabilitation Dahal needs to be in government.

Maoist support in the CA is crucial for constitution writing. Continuing with an unelected and unaccountable government after the CA expires on 28 May will be unconstitutional and an apolitical step. This will take the country off the democratic track. If the NC backs a Maoist-led government the UML will not stay in the opposition. And even if it does, that won't make any difference. Madhesi and other political parties might also join the coalition. The interim constitution has emphasised the formation of a conensus government for constitution writing, the majoritarian formula was added later.

The NC and other parties think it is unsafe to give Dahal premiership again. But if he couldn't even change the army chief, how can he capture state power? Dahal can't last long without support from other parties in a coalition.  He can't afford to jeopardise Nepal's relations with the international community, and Dahal knows that it is not sustainable to give provocative speeches about a country and then meet the envoy of the same country.

Dahal may lead the government, but his policies will be forged by the common agenda of the coalition partners. Divided politics has never met the aspirations of the Nepali people. One thousand of them leave the country every day for employment abroad.

NC president Sushil Koirala should directly sit for talks with Dahal and tell him the NC will accept his leadership and ask him for details of his programs and policies. Having the Maoists on board a democratic path will end the current political uncertainty and doubt. By giving Dahal leadership, the country's biggest party will be engaged in political process. Besides, what is the alternative to Dahal? A non-Maoist coalition? We have tried that.

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  • who cares

    you are totally wrong and habit of forgetting even recent pasts. we cant give leadership to maoist, cause, like in past, they unilaterally make decisions can call it govt,/council of ministers' decision. so, they can loot (worst than going on), misuse police, budget and dont you remember what they did to budget during their time- zero development, all the money was allocated where their local cadres could loot.... they called party decision to sack army as council of minister's decision, even in CA their chief unilaterally had made decision on some case.... so no to maoist leadership, but it would be better then giving leadership to jhallu ram, jhallu ram will be mere status quo. "what is the alternative to Dahal? A non-maoist coalition? We have tried that." -alternative is tough govt. who will go after maoist involved in looting, extortion, threatening and if they protest the jailing then use brutal force against demonstration. .... if CA becomes problem, then coup.............. .... setting deadline to constitution drafting and peace process, if it is not done within deadline then referendum should pass the constitution drafted by experts and the camps should be cleared using force. WE NEED TO GIVE MAOIST TWO OPTIONS- PEACE or WAR.

  • Arthur

    "A non-Maoist coalition? We have tried that." Exactly! What a waste of more than a year!

  • Arthur

    who cares #1, "alternative is tough govt. ... and if they protest the jailing then use brutal force against demonstration. .... if CA becomes problem, then coup... then referendum should pass the constitution drafted by experts and the camps should be cleared using force. WE NEED TO GIVE MAOIST TWO OPTIONS- PEACE or WAR." So "who cares" is for war. But you have already tried war and the anti-Maoists were unable to defeat the Maoists. Nobody cares whether "who cares" wants war. Do the soldiers of the NA want war again? Would they obey their officers if there was a coup? Shouting about how brutal one is is a very good sign of impotence. Also childish is the "magic powers" such impotent people assign to brutality. Does anyone imagine the demonstrations last May could have been easily defeated by "brutal force". Wouldn't they fight back? If the camps were "cleared by force" would the PLA surrender or surround KTM again? Does anyone imagine that telling the world some constitution has been drafted by experts and passed by "referendum" would actually impress anybody and make any difference? What is striking about such advocates for war is the childish naiveity. This "brutal" shouting is in fact provoked by the stark reality mentioned by the article. All the anti-Maoist options have already failed: "We have tried that". So what is left is just "brutal" shouting.

  • who cares

    arthur (person with zero knowledge regarding ground reality) first of all anti maosit should not start war, they must push maosit so that they would either start war or go for peace (surrender) (it may sound like supporting war, but it is actually war for peace, rule of law). regarding the last war, even though i took maoist as terrorist, i was more like neutral, watcher during the war between shahs and maoist. if there is war again, it will be between maoist vs nepalese. the job of army is to protect people, govt., nation, property from attackers. and maoist have been attacking so its the duty of NA to do their job honestly. if they declined to protect people then they should be court martialed. during the third people's movement, maoist used forced participants and extortion. if the govt. had had crackdown on maoist, who had forced nepalese, we did not have seen more than 100k people. "regarding your view about expert drafting constitution and passing by referendum" ------ are you smoking pot? WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT PLA SURRENDERING TO SC. looks like you believe maoist more than puspa or baidya does.

  • Arthur

    who cares #4, "WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT PLA SURRENDERING TO SC." If the PLA surrendered, all your fantasies of "brutal force" to suppress the Nepali people would look less childish. You don't believe it yourself.