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Kathmandu,Monday February 21, 2000 Fagun 09, 2056.
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Distrust them
The en-masse resignation of 11 ministers belonging
to the Bhattarai cabinet is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. By resigning from
the Bhattarai ministry the 11 ministers cannot disclaim responsibility for the
government’s non-performance as alleged in the no-trust resolution registered by the
58 so called "clean" Nepali Congress lawmakers with their parliamentary party.
Lest anyone forgets, one of the cardinal principles of a cabinet is that of
"collective and individual responsibility" of the entire cabinet. By resigning
when the Prime Minister is facing a crisis, the ministers were obviously indicating two
things. One, that they are indeed non-performers as alleged by the 58 rebels. In such a
case one wonders how—if the present prime minister is replaced—they will be
accommodated in a new ministry since they have publicly admitted their incompetence. If
they are included in such a ministry, it will only prove that the Nepali Congress believes
in conspiratorial politics, as far as internal party power politics is concerned. Two, how
ethical is it on the part of the ministers to abandon ship like a bunch of rats when its
skipper is facing crisis? Looked at in any way, the resignation of the ministers cannot be
justified on any ground. If the Nepali Congress party is a strong principle based
political party as it claims to be, it must initiate action against the erring ministers.
For people like them cannot be trusted, But then such high ideals will be difficult to
come from a party that places power before anything else.
No less responsible for precipitating the present
crisis in government is the party president himself who has left no stone to publicly
criticise the Bhattarai government. The holier than thou attitude taken by Nepali Congress
president Girija Prasad Koirala has—apart from exposing his own hunger for power and
impatience to come back to power—dirtied the party’s image before the public.
All this, of course, does not mean that Prime
Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai is not be blamed for the present mess in the party. The
Prime Minister’s health has been problematic all through the nine months that he has
been in office. His performance has not come up to expectations nor has he functioned as
the leader of a party that has more than a comfortable majority in parliament. The present
crisis is solely the making of Congress lawmakers themselves but it has plunged the nation
into a leadership vacuum. Conspiratorial moves and crises will continue to take place
until internal party politics is conducted in a democratic and open way. It is high time
the Congress changed its ways. This change however can be brought about only when the two
ageing leaders stop clinging to their powerful positions and make way for new leadership
that can lead a united party which will in turn give political stability to the country.
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