For the first time in recent years in Nepal, hopes of a turnaround in the country’s fortunes are pinned on one single individual as never before. And he has the credentials to deliver on the promise and hype alike.
Finance Minister in the first government (2008-9) of Republican Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai is not a conventional Marxist hard-liner. He enjoys a more broad based support than his own party chief Prachanda with whom his differences are a matter of public record and animated media discourse. Academic excellence, clean image, administrative acumen and above all pragmatism are his USP.
One of the central negotiators of the November 2006 accord that ended the country’s 10-year-long ‘revolution’, Bhattarai has got into the prized hot seat by virtue of the support his candidature was able to secure from the five small parties of the Terai belt. His lone rival in the race for the Prime Minister’s post was Ram Chandra Paudel of the Nepali Congress, which is historically close to India’s Congress party. 340 of the 575 law makers preferred the Maoist over the Gandhian, who has graciously assured the winner of his constructive support in running the government and help in finalizing the draft of the unfinished constitution.
The first leader from the western Nepal to become the Prime Minister of the country, Bhattarai needs the support and goodwill of all sections of the political spectrum to deliver on his promise of taking the peace process forward in 45 days. Inter alia it means saying requiem for the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and rehabilitating the 19,000 or so armed cadres in the security establishment one way or the other. It is a sticky issue. The Nepal army is unwilling to accept every one of the former guerillas and has drawn up its own criteria. The standoff between the first Maoist Prime Minister and the army chief had resulted in the fall of the Maoist led government in 2009. The point is stakes are high. There are no short cuts to nirvana.
Two parties, royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal and the leftist Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party did not take part in Bhattarai’s election. So was an independent law maker from the Terai, Baban Singh. This boycott of prime ministerial ballot is not new to Nepali parliament. It will only serve as a reminder to the helmsman of the challenges ahead since his Maoist party does not command absolute majority on the floor of Parliament.
Both under Prachanda and his pick for PM’s post, Jhalanath Khanal, whose resignation paved the way for Bhattarai’s elevation, Nepal witnessed lengthening shadow of the dragon. Tibetan refugees have had uneasy times. In fact, for them crossing the border into Nepal became a tough proposition. A respected Lama, who also is a Nepali by birth, was not spared the ignominy of arrest and detention for long hours as a Chinese delegation came to Kathmandu.
Bhattarai’s foreign policy and economic policy will, therefore, be keenly followed. He is known as IT savvy. In his first brush with the government, as finance minister, he fared well and invited comparisons with Manmohan Singh of India, who, though brought up on a socialist diet, could break out of ideological shackles and open up the Indian economy. Like many of his countrymen, Baburam Bhattarai studied in India but that doesn’t make him India friendly. Like most young Nepali leaders, he stands for revisiting, if not ending, the special treaties that tie Nepal with India.
The election of a new Nepali prime minister has coincided with the change of guard at the Indian High Commission in Kathmandu. Prachanda, notwithstanding his friendly ties with Indian Marxists, cherished a public diatribe against the Indian envoy. Failure to win a re-election, and the Chinese money for Nepali MPs’ vote scam, which claimed the scalp of a close aide made Prachanda a bitter India baiter; his camp targeted the Indian high commissioner personally, which was both unfortunate and uncalled for.
The past few months have seen Indian business enterprises coming under Maoist attacks. One Indian power venture was burnt down in Western Nepal and an India run garment factory was force closed in Eastern Nepal. In such a scenario, the GDP growth rate has suffered.
The new prime minister will have to give top priority to economy if he wants to give some quick relief to the harried consumers. It can be no body’s case that Bhattarai has a magic wand to address all the issues in one go. He himself has noted the reality, when, after his election, he said, ‘I don’t have any magic wand’.
Environment conducive for industrial activity is something within his reach because of his power sharing equations in the Maoist party. Industrial peace will attract investments from India, which is the closest market for Nepali goods and products.
Track record of Bhattarai gives room for optimism. This son of a poor farmer from Western Nepal stood first in the school-leaving exam as well as the intermediate exam. And displayed the same ‘wonder kid’ traits by securing the highest votes to become a law maker of the country in his very first brush with electoral politics.
