“It Will Be A Great Mistake To Postpone The Elections”
Madhav Kumar Nepal
Amid growing doubts over the holding of Constituent Assembly on stipulated time thanks to spreading uncertainty and unrest, political leaders are still confident that they can hold credible polls. An old-hand of Nepali politics, general secretary of CPN-UML, MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL spoke to KESHAB POUDEL on various aspects of current political debates in the country at his residence at Koteshwore. Excerpts of the hour-long talks:
So far as the incident of Gaur is concerned, it was one of the most brutal acts in the human history where people were murdered by using cruelest of methods. It is a condemnable act in human history. I cannot imagine that any man is capable of committing such barbaric act. There might be some sort of political clashes in some places but one cannot imagine seeing this level of cruel and inhuman act like we saw in Gaur.
It was the complete failure of district administration. The administration completely failed to avert the incident. The incident was the result of failure of Home Ministry’s administration. The government is inefficient and it failed to guarantee the law and order. What is the use of such government in the country? What can you expect from such government?
I don’t want to make comment without investigation is complete. Since the government has already set up high level committee, we have to wait for the report before making accusations. After findings of investigation are made public, we need to punish those who are found guilty. What I can say is that Gaur’s incident is a barbaric act by criminals. Even my own house and our party office were attacked in Gaur and statue of leaders like B.P. Koirala were destroyed but our home ministry was unable to prevent them. If the government cannot contain the activities of criminals, what is the use of state? The government must punish those who violate the law. We have to learn a lesson from the incident.
Unlike previous clashes, Gaur’s incident was not just a political clash between MJF and Maoists. It was one-sided attack where people were chased and murdered. When I visited the incident site and met with people, I found that people were killed with cold blood. After this incident, it shows that there is a need to change the relations between MJF and Maoists to prevent future incidents. If somebody wants to pursue their political views, they must follow the political rule and pursue the political route.
The political situation is very uncertain. There are differences of opinions regarding the way out for political solutions.
The CPN-UML believes that holding the elections for the Constituent Assembly is the only way out to settle the present political crisis. I have repeatedly said this for quite a long time. Since the restoration of previous parliament, our party has been stressing the need to announce the date for the elections. It is unfortunate to say that other political forces have not paid heed to our suggestions. Even two months after the promulgation of interim constitution, we have not been able to form the interim government and announce the date for the elections.
If we cannot hold the elections in coming June, there is going to be a disaster in future. The unity of eight political parties will break and the country will witness a series of political crises. The country may not be able to hold the elections in future and will fall into a vicious cycle of uncertainty. It will be a great mistake to postpone the elections. We can still hold the elections in June. The time has not run out. We need to cut short the duration of interim period. This is the reason I have been stressing to hold the elections on time since July, 2006.
That is a very sad thing. Despite my frequent suggestions, nobody has taken them seriously. Had we announced the date for elections on September, the country’s situation would not have come to such a worse phase and many other reactionary and regressive forces would not have gotten the opportunity to fish in the troubled waters.
I don’t have any answer to such question as I have been raising a lone voice among eight party leaders stressing the need to announce the date for elections.
From the very beginning, a group of political leaders have been making efforts to prove that the elections cannot be held in June, 2007. This group doesn’t want the elections. Due to their own intention, steps were taken one after another to delay the elections. One of the reasons might be their conclusion that the election results will not come to their favor in case they hold the elections in June. Everybody has been nursing his/her own interests; nobody is bothered about the country’s interest. Some see CPN-UML’s growing popularity as a threat and others want to delay the elections to further weaken CPN-Maoists. Sooner the country attains political stability, better it will be for its people and their future. Even investors need political stability as a pre-requisite for making investments to develop economy. Longer the interim period continues, more the people and the country has to suffer.
Of course, the law and order situation is getting worse and there is no presence of administration in the country but we have to manage it. If government handles issues of law and order and Maoists ask their cadres to be disciplined, the scenario will change. The administration must take stern actions against those who try to affect the elections by disrupting the public meeting of others.
I don’t know on what ground Sher Bahadurji was speaking as he has to forward his arguments. Finally, all political leaders need to endorse it. So far as my opinion is concerned, I firmly believe that we can hold the elections on schedule in June. Even a leader of European Union Parliament delegation said the elections can be held in three months time. If we work by concentrating our whole efforts on elections, nothing can prevent us from holding the elections.
Of course, the bills need to pass before holding the elections. We can do it overnight. If leaders of eight political parties decide, the parliament will make the law within a day. If you could present most sensitive citizenship bill in parliament without giving us adequate time to discuss, what harm is there to present bills related to Election Commission. What are the reasons behind the game when you used all force and expedited process to pass citizenship bill from parliament and now you are dilly dallying the process to enact bills related to elections. The government has to take responsibility for all this.
I don’t want to blame any body. I don’t want to create misunderstanding. If we cannot hold the elections, some body has to take responsibility.
I don’t know what prime minister said but I am confident that we can still hold the free and fair elections with the presence of international observers from European Union. Time has not run out.
It is very unfortunate to see country’s four universities without vice chancellors. Minister of Sports and Education Mangal Siddhi Manandhar had proposed the names for selection committee to prime minister just a few months after the formation of the government but the names were not accepted. It shows that there is no rule of law and everybody wants to politicize the universities by appointing political persons. If there is a provision in new law to appoint the vice chancellors under the recommendation of the selection committee, what is preventing (the PM) from proceeding with the appointment process? There is a provision in our law that vice chancellors should be appointed under the recommendation of selection committee.
I have told you that there is a law to constitute the selection committee to recommend the names for vice chancellors. Our intention is clear, we want vice chancellors in universities to run the administration smoothly. I have not seen any concern from anybody. This is most anti-national view.
