FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

By Bishnu Budhathoki

"A GOOD politician serves the nation but a bad one makes the nation to serve," Shiva Khera.
Khera, the internationally renowned motivator and consultant, certainly did not write this about Nepal, but his interpretation matches perfectly with the multiparty democracy in the post-90 Nepal. All those who had come down to the streets waving the flags of different hues and ideologies during the popular movement of 1990 were euphoric and had a dream of a country peaceful and heading towards progress. But like they say 'dreams die first' the aspirations of the people began to die when the political parties began to squabble from the very onset of the democratic system. People had expected that the parties would work to solve the problems of the people's livelihood, jobs and economy but instead they were weighed down with all sorts of problems of the political parties.

No Benefit

Economy, which is the measuring rod of the success and failure of any government, was affected the worst in the last 12 years. People, who were the victims of economic backwardness, received no benefit from the political change. The poors had also fought for better lives, but paradoxically the politicians and few of their sycophants had fought for their luxuries.

Transferring the traditional, sluggish and agrarian economy into a thriving one needs a vision. And our politicians failed to show that economic astuteness. Apart from casting their ballots almost every second year, people found them out of the economic and political spectrum. In an electoral system people ask why their aspirations were not fulfilled, but there were no answers. Politicians cannot be more irresponsible when they fail to answer to the people's pleas and problems. After the political parties started ignoring the commitments they had made to the people, and began indulging in the power games only People were shocked and even aghast when their elected representatives crossed over all moral values and principles while running the state affairs. Corruption, nepotism, favouratism, horse-trading, and whatever you name it, is for powers and positions. These adjectives became synonymous with most of the politicians, if not all. What was sore about them that they remained oblivious to their commitments, and indifferent to people's plights. Ironically, our political leaders never seemed to win the public's support, which they could have easily gained had they ever tried even a little bit to work for the people.

The recent step by His Majesty the King is an attempt to bring the change for the better, His Majesty has also committed in the Royal Address that he is fully committed to constitutional monarchy and the multi-party democracy. The situation whereby the King had to step in was actually invited by the political leaders themselves by their modus operandi. It would not be an exaggeration or an overstatement that most of the current problems were brewed up by the political parties and their leaders due to their ineptness and petty narrow interest over the broader interest of the country.
When in 1994 the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala dissolved the parliament for an early poll due to internal party conflict, this has become something like a tradition in the Nepali Congress politics. One can even say that the seed of political uncertainties - of the minority government, unending string of coalition governments with strange bedfellows finding partnerships in power, splits in the political parties - that went on for the next eight years was sown that time. These queer partnerships of all the parties, big and small or mainstream and fringed, drifted from their goals drifted away in pursuit of selfish goals. As the political parties failed to keep their wrangling within themselves, but rather spilt it on all sectors of the country, the nation could not remain separated from its aftereffects and its pay-off. The result was that the country was forced to face three costly and unwanted elections in a span of eight years, but none of the election could resolve the problem besetting the country, rather they were aggravated with each election.

Lately, the Nepalese political scenario was shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty and escalation of tension when the government of Sher Bahadur Deuba dissolved the parliament to go for yet another early poll solely because of internal conflict within his party. Taking advantage of the failure of the government and the other political parties to guide the country towards right direction, the Maoists, had led a rebellion by misguiding some dissatisfied section of the populace into their version of extremism. This Maoist problem continued to grow in size and complexity after the political parties failed to find a common platform on finding a solution to this unwanted problem.

Cul de Sac

On one hand Maoist rebels have been claiming that they will not let the election to be held in the stipulated timeframe. On the other hand the political parties and government reached into the consensus to postpone the election considering the security condition of the country.

Thus the political parties and the government found themselves in a cul de sac. Then there was no option for the King, as head of the state, to take over the executive power. But there is no alternate to multi-party democracy, and the political process of the country must resume to the normal democratic process. The present political development must be a step towards more democracy and not otherwise.

Other Stories