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Kathmandu Wednesday April 18, 2001 Baishakh 05, 2058.
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Irrelevant
The gist of Prime Minister Girija Prasad
Koirala’s address to the nation over state run radio and television Monday evening
was that he was not resigning, come what may. For after all, he is a duly elected Prime
Minister in a democratic set up and the only way he knows when to quit is when a vote of
no confidence is passed in the Lower House of Parliament. All democratic countries
including the European Union, Norway and the United States will vouchsafe for this
democratic norm. For after all, the ruling party has secured as much as 36 percent of the
votes cast in the last general election forget that the majority of 64 percent did not
vote for the party and the NC had opted for Koirala’s indispensable and sage
leadership. Not unexpectedly, the Prime Minister thought it fit to blame all except his
own government for the sorry and many say critical state through which the country is now
passing. That his resignation would have solved many of the ills that have bedeviled the
nation is irreverent to Prime Minister Koirala who continues to enjoy majority in his
party and his party continues to command majority in the House.
Yet for a person driven to the wall, it must
be said to the credit of Prime Minister Koirala that he displayed a remarkable sense of
daring. He had, of course, nothing new to tell the people but he did admit his failure to
tackle the problems that confront the nation today. He warned the Maoists to disarm or
face the full force of state law and security enforcement machinery. He called on the
opposition for talks to solve "problems". He blamed the opposition for
obstructing the 19th Winter Session of Parliament. What is the way out of the present mess
in which the nation unfortunately finds itself? The Prime Minister did not tell the
nation. But the fact is that Koirala’s credibility is at an all time low. And there
is little he can do to live up to the pledge he made when he seized power from his
colleague, K P Bhattarai, almost a year ago. The one front that counts, the law and order
front, has deteriorated beyond anyone’s imagination in the last one year. More people
have been killed in the past one of the Maoist assaults than in the previous four years
put together. Yet Prime Minister Koirala does not think of paving the way for a new
leadership within his own party who can put the country back on track again. The nation is
having to pay dearly for Koirala’s obstinacy of clinging on to power. The Nepali
Congress legislators must now rise up and prove that their first and foremost allegiance
is to the country and not to Koirala. This is the only way that the present impasse can be
ended without bleeding the country any further.
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