Democratic Resolution of the Nepalese Political Impasse

Govinda Neupane


In the recent years, more specifically, after the historic people's movement of 1990, his expectation was that the pace of change would be faster. The aspirations among the people heralded that the political forces should move in an unprecedented speed so as to bridge the political, social, economic and intellectual gap created by overall underdevelopment, injustices and irresponsible governance. During the in initial phase of the euphoria of the people's movement, the parliamentary political forces in arrangement with the monarchy drafted a document and introduced the same as the constitution of the country. After the introduction of the constitution, the nation has seen three general elections. One or the other party formed the government after the elections, but they not only overlooked the people's aspirations and the national development agenda but also nearly all the leaders and influential cadres of the centrist parliamentary political parties accumulated unimaginable wealth through all sorts of corrupt practices. 'The rule of law' continued to remain a phrase unknown to the masses. Although, there was change of governments several times, but all of them failed to change the prevailing feudal values and practices of the pre 1990 state-system. The role of the people was just to elect some 'masters' for that very day or for some years from a 'galaxy of masters'. As a result, disappointment and frustration among the people run high.

In the mean time the Maoists took arms to attain people's emancipation and their overall development. In the night of 13 February 1996, several violent events signaled different type of attempt to realize the dream of establishing a progressive state. After this event, hundreds and thousands of violent events, battles, actions and many more have taken place in the country. During the past seven years, more than 7500 persons have lost their lives. The entire nation had passed through the barbaric 'emergency rule'. All political and civil rights remained suspended. The security forces and the Maoist guerillas had been involved in several battles. Therefore, the resolution of the war had become the focal point of any discussion directed towards bringing the Nepalese society to the path of development and prosperity. After the second ceasefire declared by both the warring parties, the discussion is further focused on the examination of the alternatives available in attaining the resolution.

It is only natural that either one side should defeat the other side militarily, or a political process should bring all sides together in finding out the solution to restore peace. Although, the first option will continue till the parties involved accept the second option of the political process, already some steps have been taken to streamline the efforts directed to ensure resolution. These steps include the ceasefire, informal contacts between and among all major political players and the attempts to concretize the broad political agenda.

Today, in the Nepalese political scenario, three types of dominant political forces are bitterly competing to strengthen their power base. They are – the traditional forces represented by the king, the centrist parliamentary democratic forces represented by Nepali congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) and the leftist new democratic forces represented by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Furthermore, the king and the Maoists have their armed forces whereas the centrist forces broadly rely on the king for any decision-making role over the Nepalese army. In this way, they are divided into three major groups politically and into two fronts militarily.

In real term, the traditional political force is antagonistic towards both the centrist and the leftist forces and wants unconditional surrender of arms by the Maoists and acceptance of the effective role of the king by the centrist forces. In this situation, the king could hold the power effectively and the centrist forces as well as the leftists could be the wonderful masks of democracy. The traditional forces, therefore, will try to create a framework where the king holds power; the centrists hold positions and the leftists participate in a slow process of their own dissolution. On their part, the centrist parliamentary political forces prescribe dialogue, constitutional amendments to bring desired changes in the political system by maintaining constitutional monarchy and multiparty system. Through this process, they try to neutralize the military might of the other two forces by immediately disarming the Maoists and gradually establishing control over the Royal Nepal Army. The leftist new democratic forces represented by the Maoists will try to maximize their area of political as well as military influence by proposing a course of dialogue, formation of an interim government, and election of the constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.

With different motives and objectives of their own, the proposal to organize the election of a constituent assembly may be acceptable to all the three types of forces. The traditional forces need such opportunity to legalize the traditional power they enjoy. The centrist forces may see this opportunity favorable to effectively disarm Maoists and also to establish control over the army by introducing new constitutional provisions. The Maoists certainly have already seen benefits on such proposal, therefore, they proposed. They may succeed in expanding their power base without disarming themselves.

The proposal regarding holding election of the constituent assembly is related to handing over the stick to the people who are said sovereign. Therefore, it is only natural to create the environment where ordinary citizens can decide their destiny themselves. This is the core political process. Really, this could be a great democratic exercise. By proposing the democratic way of redirecting the agenda in a civil war situation, the Maoists, in principle, have accepted that they will function in a competitive political framework. Furthermore, the democratic process will certainly help them and the entire nation to participate in the transformational agenda, actions and programs to build a just and prosperous society.

In reality, Nepal has been facing serious problems not only in the area of political development but also in the economic, cultural and intellectual fronts. The society as a whole is experiencing the pain of transition. The traditional feudal values, beliefs and practices have been continuously resisting the new sets of attitudes, behavior and practices based on the new scientific values. As a result, the opposing political, economic and cultural forces are in the relentless battle to expand their space and for this reason they put tremendous energy to gain control over the resources, both, human as well as material. Therefore, the situation is complex, which is going through a transitional process resulting to a new, transformed society. The problems, prospects and processes, hence, are related to the transformation and any actions will help resolving the complexities when holistic agenda has been adopted. In this context, only the election of the constituent assembly has the capacity, scope and democratic qualities to address the complexities. This exercise should have been carried out long ago. Unfortunately, never in the history of Nepal, the people had such opportunity. Therefore, to give peace a chance, to allow democracy to function and to take the nation to prosperity, the responsible political forces should come together and agree to hand over the stick to the rightful owner – the citizens of Nepal.

The People's Review weekly, Kathmandu, April 3-9, 2003.