When Hillary Clinton was fighting as presidential candidate and when finally Barrak Obama , the non – white and muslim background candidate won as president in USA, the people in Nepal were hardly surprised. Similarly recently when Mira a dalit woman candidate was elected to speaker uncontested in Indian parliament, the people in Nepal nodded with familiarity. The reason behind these reactions is the result of gender, regional, ethnical awakening that has now become part of Nepalese psychology because of series of peoples’ movements together with 10 year’s People’s War (PW). It was particularly the PW started by Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), [CPN(M)] which brought these issues to the for-front while fighting against monarchy Similarly, when the people in Nepal heard the unprecedented move by the government in United Kingdom to probe the leakage of treasury fund by revealing scandalous misuse of state fund by ministers & members of parliament, they got reminded of how the outgoing United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), [UCPN (M)] finance minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai managed to collect unprecedented revenue worth 110 billion rupees amounting to 40% growth from the previous year within the period of nine months by putting stringent measures against tax evaders. The world is indeed getting smaller. The use of internet, on lines, other faster means of communication facilitated by globalization has certainly made the world infectious for better or worse by making achievements & crisis quickly learned & unlearned. Having said this it is important for the world to take Nepal seriously.
Nepal sand-witched between the two most populous countries in the world, China in north & India in east, west & south, with two systems of governance & both competing to become economic giant in the world can make or break or affect stability in this region. Nepal may be poor economically at present but it has rich dynamic political history. The richness of changes within the last 100 years from oligarchic Rana rule to Monarchical rule to Federal Democratic Republic rule cannot be compared with changes in India & China. These changes have been brought with series of people’s movements punched with armed struggles in between, sometimes headed by Nepali Congress during anti- Rana movement & by the predecessor of the present United Marxist Leninist (UML) known as Jhapa armed struggle during Panchayat system and the longest & far reaching 10 year’s PW led by CPN(M) against Monarchical parliament system.
Today Nepal is in the stage of consolidating federal democratic republic which it had achieved as the result of series of people’s movement & 10 years of people’s war. At this stage it is important to know who CPN (M) is & what they stand for. It is worth recollecting that this party was participating in people’s movement and also in parliament before they joined PW in 1996. The decisive rupture was needed to dismantle & destroy the political base of feudal production relation headed by the King. This it did by evoking class, gender, regional, ethnic aspirations of the people at the grass root level at one end and at the other end it evoked democratic aspirations prevalent in political parties by skillfully using united front against monarchy .
Having removed the king CPN (M) joined the government several times and resigned time and again in order to remove remnants of feudalism in government in order to consolidate federal democratic republic state. Meanwhile during its mission it united several splinter left parties to form United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), [UCPN(M)].
Just as during 10 years of PW it was necessary to understand the dialectical relation between war & peace process, it is now equally important to understand the dialectical relation between UCPN(M) joining the government to move forward & leaving the government to struggle in Constituent Assembly (CA) & street to fight against regression. It is important to note that they had joined the government to have CA election within stipulated time, to have logical conclusion to peace process as agreed in Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), to have constitution written within the given framework of time and to deliver basic needs of the people. However they had to resign from the government time and again and use CA & street as form of struggle to achieve political aim when these issues were sabotaged. The first time they joined coalition government headed by Nepali Congress in April 2007 they resigned from the government in September 2007 as a form of protest against repeated postponement of CA election.
They joined the government when the election date to hold CA was finalized. And when finally CA election took place placing UCPN(M) as the largest party they had to again resign to protest against illegal occupation of government by Nepali Congress for 4 months despite loosing in CA election placing them in the second position. Finally when UCPN (M) headed coalition government came into picture, all kinds of encirclement outside & within the government started confronting UCPN (M) by postponing implementation of CPA, by not allowing to implement progressive policy & plans made by the government. It is worth remembering UCPN (M) lead government was formed with 3 clear aims : (1) to bring peace process to logical conclusion (2) to make constitution within stipulated time (3) to deliver basic services to the people. Among the three, the peace process was most important as it is on this basis that stability can be achieved, based on which new constitution would survive. However feudal elements occupying high ranks within Nepali army had been against integration between Nepali army & the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These feudal elements headed by the Army Chief Rukmangat Katwal started systematically challenging authority of the elected government. When the Army Chief was called upon by the government for explanation of his defiant act, he instead of apologizing to the government in fact reasserted that he was responsible to President’s authority. He was thus sacked out of his position but it was now President who nullified his removal thus precipitating constitutional crisis. It is on the question of peace process, civil supremacy & unconstitutional move by the President that UCPN (M) once again stepped down from the government to struggle in the CA & street. Today UML lead coalition government together with Nepali Congress is fumbling to make government upholding President’s unconstitutional move.
In this whole episode, Nepali Congress whose so-called principled stand on so-called democracy, civil supremacy, champion of peace has been thoroughly exposed as they have openly supported Rukmangat Katwal, the Chief of Army who is strengthening military rule, Ram Varan Yadav, the President who is openly defying constitution. They have even gone ahead condemning the role of United Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) in peace keeping. Similarly UML who claim to be against extreme left and extreme right, have been found to be openly supporting extreme right forces. They are now like spineless creature stooping & crawling. They are harboring illusion that they are leading the government while in fact they are being lead by reactionary forces. As far as Madhesi Jana-adhikar Forum (MJF), the third largest party is concerned, there is a principled struggle going on between those who are for federalism, for civilian supremacy & those who want to join new government at any cost. It is interesting to know that MJF party was formed by descendents within the Congress party & UML party who were disillusioned by the unitary state concept taken by both the parties.
What is interesting is that by thwarting peace process in the name of re-verification of PLA, blaming UNMIN, by upholding military supremacy and by defending unconstitutional move of the President Nepali Congress & UML are both moving towards regression and are in fact loosing international good will. On the other hand by being responsible, adhering to democratic aspiration of the people & being patient in the peace process UCPN (M) is not only moving forward but also gaining acceptability & credibility in international arena. -8th June 2009