FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Spirit Of Democracy
Remedy For Present Crisis

By Yuba Nath Lamsal

WHAT course the nation's politics will take? What will be the fate of Nepal? These are some of the very pertinent questions every Nepali is asking now.

Faulty Policies

Nepal is now passing through a big crisis. This crisis has not come all of a sudden. The present crisis is the result of faulty policies of the past governments and selfish behaviour of political leaders. Right from the beginning since Nepal emerged as a nation state; government policies have never been people-oriented. Rulers treated people as subjects, not the citizens. People were always exploited for the petty interest of the rulers and the ruling class. The bitter power struggle between rival factions in the ruling families was defined as the politics of Nepal. Right after the death of King Prithivi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal, the rivalry and conflict started among the ruling elites. This power struggle so intensified and worsened that ultimately caused the real power slip out of the hands of Shah Kings to Rana regime.

The Rana rule was the worst part of Nepal's history, which was also characterised by family conflicts and confrontation for power. The rulers bogged down in their interest of power and property rather than the people and the nation. People were fed up and aspired for change, which toppled the Ranas from power and established multi-party democracy in 1950.

The political change in 1950 brought new hopes and aspirations among thepeople. But their hopes were dashed and downed by the rivalry and rumblings of newly emerged politicians and parties. It continued for ten years, which is best known in the history of Nepal as the period of political instability and uncertainty.

The real issues of the people and the country remained on the back burner of the parties and the politicians. This situation paved the way for the royal move by which the elected government was disbanded, political parties were banned and partyless Panchayat imposed. Following this, the period of absolute monarchy began. Panchayat lacked both legitimacy and popular faith. However, it continued for almost 30 years by means of divide and rule policy. During this period as well, the real issues of the country and the people were grossly ignored. The wave of democratic movements across the globe influenced and motivated the Nepalese people to rise against the authoritarian regime. The mass movement jointly launched by the Nepali Congress and the United Left Front (a loose coalition of all leftist groups in Nepal) overthrew the Panchayat and restored multi-party democracy in 1990. The 1990 change dawned a new era in the history of Nepal's political development. A new euphoria sprouted among the large masses. With the change in the political spectrum, people expected change in their life style and livelihood, too.

However, the triumph and euphoria faded very shortly. The political players in the post-democracy period were the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. Rastriya Prajatantra Party came to fill the vacuum created by the head-on collision between the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. The agenda of these parties was also to grab and retain power by hooks or crooks. Democracy, national interest and people's problems remained in rhetoric and not in action.

Nepali Congress ruled more than 10 years in the 12 years of multi-party system followed by CPN-UML and RPP in brief intervals. In the name of economic restructuring and reforms, the Nepali Congress introduced market fundamentalism. This ruined Nepal's economy, capabilities and competitiveness of national and indigenous enterprises. Inflation shot up and people's purchasing power nose-dived. Unemployment climbed up and economic opportunities declined. This period added another ten per cent poor people to the mass of almost half of the country's absolute poor population.
The popular euphoria soon turned into public apathy. When governments and the political parties failed to address the nation's burning problems, people naturally tend to look for alternatives. People took democracy as an alternative to autocratic Rana regime in 1950. People rose against the Panchayat in 1990 with the clear alternative of democracy. Democracy is the alternative to all other forms of dictatorial systems. And it is the democracy that delivers goods and solves people's problems.

Any dictatorial systems are centralised governments that concentrate power at the hand of few individuals. And power is misused to strengthen the central state authority and exploit people in real sense. However, it is different in democracy. It is the system that decentralises authority and strengthens the people at the grassroots level. Actors of democratic system may be incompetent. But blame should not be placed on the system itself. When the actors in democratic system fail, an alternative should be sought and found within the system itself. People naturally tend to look for an alternative when the existing system fails to address their issues and problems. That initiative should come from popular level. When people are weak and powerless, politicians easily manipulate the situation for their petty interest. This is the case of Nepal at present. Nepal's 12-years democracy was characterised more by power and money game. Despite tall talks of empowering people, decentralising authority, raising life of the people by attacking mass poverty, ensuring clean, transparent and accountable government and curbing corruption, the problems of the people grew and became more acute owing to the mismatch between rhetoric and actions. The market fundamentalism unleashed by the Nepali Congress rule increased poverty, unemployment and decline in national productivity. Corruption was institutionalised and decentralised. Some national industries were sold out in the name of privatisation. Politicisation and political intervention crippled bureaucracy and educational institutions. In totality, economy ruined, social fabric was dismantled and cultural values destroyed. This is all because of defective policies of governments and irresponsible behaviour of the leaders and parties. In such a situation, it is natural for people to seek an alternative. The growth of Maoist violence can be viewed against this background. Maoist violence is the result of failure of leaders and political parties to address the people's problems. However, exercises and efforts have been made from some quarters to term it as a failure of democracy. This is a mere excuse to defame and derail democratic developments in Nepal. It is true that if governments and parties had properly heeded their attention to tackle the problems of the people in time, the present situation would definitely not have arisen. It is the accumulation of all problems in the long history of Nepal.

Complex

The problem is complex. Situation is going from bad to worse. And the solution is also not easy. It takes a lot of time, energy, patience and hard work to bring the situation back to normal. It is necessary to find out the root causes of the problem and address it effectively. Democracy is definitely not the cause of problems but a solution. Real efforts should be made in the true spirit of democracy, which alone can bring a permanent peace and solution in the country.

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