Bangladesh-Nepal

Nepal at cross roads again..

The Maoists have failed the people. Other political parties notably, the Nepali Congress and the Madhesi groups are no less guilty. But it is the Maoist supremo Prachanda and his close aids, who have to shoulder the blame for the road blocks the Constituent Assembly had encountered. India has no favourites in Nepal. Its advice to the political leaders of Nepal is live upto the democratic aspirations of the people and upto their own commitments.

 

Nepal is again on the boil. Political instability is haunting the nation of 30 million people. The May 27 decision of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was unilateral. He dissolved the Constituent Assembly and announced that fresh parliamentary elections would take place on Nov 22.  At the cabinet meeting held on the evening of May 27, ministers belonging to Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) walked out after Bhattarai   insisted that it should be curtains down on the 601 – member Constituent Assembly by the midnight on that day.

NC and the CPN -UML have since quit the ruling coalition. Like them, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RRP), Madhesi Front of Upendra Yadav and other parties are opposed to the Maoist decision. Within the Maoist party also, opinion is divided and a split appears likely. A section of Maoists opposed to the official line publicly protested at the Constituent Assembly on May 27- the day when the House should have held its final sitting but did not. 

Leaders of the Nepali Congress, the CPN (UML), RRP, Upendra Yadav’s Madhesi Front, and other parties met President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav at his Sheetal Niwas residence and demanded dismissal of Prime Minister Bhattarai. They insisted that parliamentary elections should be held under a national unity government. President Yadav gave them patient hearing but offered no comment. He has however cut the wings of Prime Minister Bhattarai by declaring him as a caretaker prime minister.

“Under Article 38(7) (B) of the Interim Constitution, the Prime Minister loses the post of the chief executive automatically when he loses Constituent Assembly membership. Article 38(9) of the Constitution authorises the already removed Prime Minister to continue his daily administrative works till the formation of a new government”, a presidential statement said.  

Nepal’s march to democracy started on May 28 four years ago with the King, who has been worshipped, becoming a commoner on account of people’s ‘Jan Andolan’. The Constituent Assembly came into existence in 2008 for a two year term. Its mandate was completion of the peace process and formulation of a new Constitution as per the Comprehensive Peace Plan. Even after four extensions, it could not complete the task. And the Supreme Court ruled against any further extension to the Constitution Assembly. 

During the past four years, Nepal’s leaders displayed some give and take and thereby managed to finalize various key provisions of the statute; they also had survived hiccups on rehabilitating and resettling thousands of armed Maoist guerillas. Federal structure however proved to be a big stumbling block. The area of disagreement was the type of federalism and it became a hostage to the ethnic fault-lines.

The Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML) have stepped up their campaign for a National government which was proposed under the five-point agreement they and the Madhesi parties inked with the Maoists in early April to join the Baburam Bhattarai government. Under the agreement, Bhattarai government would give way to a National Unity government by completing work on the new Constitution by May 27, 2012. The accord stipulated that National Unity government would hold new parliament elections. 

There is no provision for elections under the interim Constitution, which is now in force in the country. The Maoists have failed the people. Other political parties notably, the Nepali Congress and the Madhesi groups are no less guilty. But it is the Maoist supremo Prachanda and his close aids, who have to shoulder the blame for the present crisis with their over reaching ambition.

India has no favourites in Nepal. It only wants to see a smooth transition of the country to full-fledged parliamentary democracy. Its advice to the political leaders of Nepal, therefore, is live upto the democratic aspirations of the people and upto their own commitment to democratic norms.  China is also keeping a close watch over the developments in Nepal. It has its own stake since Kathmandu has been tough with the Tibetans living in exile in the country. Chinese Ambassador met Prime Minister Bhattarai and Maoist supremo Prachanda after May 27.  

– M Rama Rao 

 

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