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As Nepal ’s political instability shows no sign to recede, the coming days will be more difficult and anarchic. Although eight party leaders sat several times for discussions in recent days, they have failed to build consensus on political way out for future and date for the elections of Constituent Assembly. It seems that they are not in the decisive position and somebody else is invisibly pushing the agenda. In this context Maoist leader and Minister for Information and Communication Krishna Bahadur Mahara’s recent statement that Nepal ’s decisive power lays in Delhi and Washington reminds one about many things. Following the promulgation of interim constitution, the country entered from a stable and predictable to unstable and unpredictable situation where Nepal ’s political forces become weak. As long as elected parliament was in operation, it was generally believed that the parliament was capable of reflecting the popular will of the country and it could decide the fate of politicians. The previous constitution not only had declared the sovereign power vested into the people but it also generated belief. Even during the direct rule of the King, the supreme decision making power was believed to be with the King. Of course, April upsurge of last year deprived the King of that power but unfortunately no political force is sure of center of the decisive power of this country now.
In the last days of Royal regime, as a theoretician vice chairman of council of minister Dr. Tulsi Giri used to say that there could not be two centers of power – the people and the King. However, the statement delivered by Maoist group leader in the cabinet and minister of information and Communication Mahara showed that it is now neither with the King nor with the people. However, while judging position of Washington , it has a very humiliating response from current events of Nepal . Prime minister Koirala completely ignored the advice of America in all important matter, particularly on the decision of inclusion of Maoists in the government. In the growing anger over American government’s policy and US Ambassador Moriarty’s stand on Maoist, even a group of miscreants reportedly affiliated with the Maoists attacked US ambassador James F. Moriarty’s car, which we consider as a condemnable act. We believe that this kind of act should be condemned by all and the government and political parties. This incident showed where Nepal ’s decisive power lies. Merely expressing statements do not make any difference. The time has come for all of us to reconcile and unite to make Nepalese decisive.
As the government led by eight parties is directionless, Nepal is gradually losing its credibility in front of donor communities. Following the peace agreements, Nepal required huge amount of resources for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the infrastructures but Nepal ’s economy is heading towards more difficult phase. The government has to provide huge amount of money to subsidize oil and other such products. In this context, we decided to see the economic situation of the country as this week’s cover story.
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