Wednesday, January 18, 2006

No dearth of ideas. Difference is only whether one furnished a bad one or just the opposite. However, what one might appear to some to be a good one, there would be some yet others to take it just the otherwise. This is the beauty of democracy which allows one to differ with the other. Logic demands that those providing ideas must do so with credible explanations which again be brought under intense debate as per the rights allowed to one to differ with the other in the value loaded democratic system. But then yet ideas are thoughts only and thus what is the harm in proposing ideas that one considered to be effective, timely, and helpful in easing the crises that have of late engulfed the entire Nepali society.

Guided by a sense of the continued well being of the members of the Nepali society, and prompted by a strong desire to see amicable relations being re-established in between the King and the political parties, we at this newspaper have decided to move forward a proposal that might come as a bolt from the blue to some and concomitantly offer relief to the men belonging to some other camps. However, in pushing this scheme, we want to clarify that we are doing so at the behest of some one invisible. It is not so. The whole idea has come with a heartfelt desire to see mother Nepal saying good bye to her several sleepless nights that she must have had in the recent years due to the ongoing conflict and the constitutional crises. The ideas pushed by us can be summarily abandoned. One is free to use his or her democratic rights. Thus exercising our own democratic rights we hereby appeal the concerned authorities to postpone the elections.

Postponing of the elections would in no way mean that the King would yield to the demands of the political parties who now were in agitation. It would also not mean that the King out of fear has decided to shift the elections.

Politics is the art of the possible. It is also an art of compromise and reconciliation. By the same token in politics strategies count. At times one has to construct strategies that superficially gives an impression that the particular player has left the battle field but it is not so. At times going two steps back facilitates the way for jumping to four steps ahead and that too with flying colors. These are called effective stratagem.

If at this critical juncture, the King postpones the elections would mean firstly that the King listens to the people and is in knowledge of what the political parties have been saying of the elections. The postponement of the elections would mean that the King wants to avoid any possible confrontation with the political parties given the fact that the former were equipped with the possible violence of the Maoists at time of the elections to which both have vowed. It would also mean that the King also understands the concerns of the international community. In addition to all these, the shifting of the elections by a few months would mean that THE king has a preference for a peaceful solution to the Maoists imbroglio, which he could utilize during the extended time for the elections. More so, in differing the elections would bring the King closer to the congress and other democratic forces of the country. The congress is albeit a democratic as well as a liberal force and the monarch's coming-together with the congress will have come at a time when the likelihood of the formation of a broader Left Front can't be ruled out. What this possible occurrence would mean perhaps the King knows it better. In doing so the King will automatically win the hearts of the democratic West who too by this time have well understood the hidden agenda of the REDS. If that is so would mean that the nations democratic forces and the liberal minded population including the King would be on one side which would be then sufficient to balance the phenomenal growth of the communists in the eventuality of the formation of a broader communist front. Madhav Nepal 's meteoric rise, fake or real, is not for nothing. His strength lay in Delhi where his communist brethren are in the saddle of power. Till they are in power, Madhav's strength can in no way be challenged in Kathmandu . Comprehend this fact. Girija's congress appears to have understood this fact better late than never.

Above all, the postponement of the elections will give space to all to understand each other better in the given scheme of things which might encourage them all to go in for a search for finding out a permanent solution to the crises that have beleaguered this Kingdom in the recent years.

More so, the extended time frame for the elections would also send positive signals to the Maoists quarters that the King by doing so has allowed them also some space to initiate talks with the establishment and that the King in effect wanted a political but not military solution to the issue confronting the nation.

In the process of all these gains, the members of the society who are divided in to two halves, favoring election and opposing the elections, would also take a sigh of relief for a variety of understandable political reasons.

Girija Congress is on record to have hinted that if the King shifted the elections, reconciliation with the King were possible. This is no less significant gesture indeed. In fact if the King postponed the election would surely divide the seven partners in the agitation simply because it is the congress alone which has reiterated that if the King listened to their idea, talks were possible with the monarch. This mean that the NC might withdraw from the coalition partnership if the monarch acted on their line and concurrently the UML differed with those announcements. The whole agitation will become redundant and stand defunct.

After all, the King is the guardian of the nation. He should look to the all sides of the game. If he bags several points by differing the elections, we would encourage Him to go in for that. We appeal His majesty to look into the nitty-gritty of the postponement of the elections and then come out with a clear view on that.

To our readers, we wish to tell them that we have supplied our ideas. You have every right to dismiss our ideas. But what is the harm in giving thoughts to our ideas?