NATIONAL 2 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Futile Debate

Setting aside vital national issues, the central committee meeting of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist wastes time discussing the issue of succession to the throne

By KESHAB POUDEL

What is the major national issue today? If you ask the CPN-UML, it is succession to the throne. The recent central committee meeting of the main opposition party discussed various aspects of succession to the throne. At a time when political parties are unable to resolve their own institutional problems and to ensure transparency in their functioning, their tendency to raise questions on an issue that is neither in controversy nor a source of complication defies logic.

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As a traditional institution, the monarchy is governed by its own system and procedures that have evolved over the centuries. Even after the unification of Nepal by King Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great, the country has kept succession to throne out of controversy. There has not been a single instance where the succession has faced complications. Nepal’s two traditional institutions, the monarchy and the Royal Nepalese Army, have traversed various phases of history together, overcoming all odds.

Unlike political parties such as the communists who have made a habit out of frequent splits in the name of leadership, the monarchy remains intact and united because of the procedural sturdiness of succession. In the last 50 years, the communist parties have split into more than two dozen groups. The Nepali Congress, too, has seen many splits, including the last one led by its supreme leader Ganesh Man Singh.

The Succession to the Throne Act of Nepal has proved successful in ensuring the stability of the institution of monarchy. The demand by the CPN-UML, which split three years ago over differences rooted in leadership succession, was particularly strange. It seems the CPN-UML wants to ensure its survival and relevance by raising non-issues.

Every monarchical country has its own system of succession that is determined by its traditions and political developments. In Japan, the parliament has the right to decide on succession but the monarchy is so influential that the Japanese people see the monarch as symbol of unity and parliament defers to the traditions of the institution. In the United Kingdom, too, the monarchy has its own system of succession and parliament has nothing do with the matter.

In South Asia’s context, the national assembly of Bhutan can replace the King by a two-thirds majority. The CPN-UML and other communists had made efforts in 1990 to introduce the Bhutanese model but were forced to abandon them.

"By rocking the country’s two most stable traditional institutions, the monarchy and the Royal Nepalese Army, the CPN-UML and other political leaders are trying to prolong instability in the country," says a political analyst. "How can CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is himself uncertain whether his party can remain united until the next convention, raise questions about who should become monarch?"

"The CPN-UML has a history of raising non-issues to drag the country into fresh rounds of political uncertainty and turmoil," says senior advocate Mukund Regmi. "Whether it is in Tanakpur case, Dasdhunga accident, Lauda Air or the issue of free and fair elections, the CPN-UML has pushed the country into anarchy and turmoil," he says.

"In the Tanakpur case, the CPN-UML obstructed the house for a month and finally paved the way for the ratification of the Integrated Mahakali Treaty. In Dasdhunga movement, the CPN-UML actions led to the deaths of 19 people. While raising the Lauda Air issue the party obstructed the winter session of parliament for 64 days and called a three-day Nepal bandh. Finally, RNAC is virtually on the brink of collapse," Regmi says.

Whatever ideological underpinnings that guide CPN-UML leaders, they seem to be more concerned on a single-point agenda: to create anarchy and disrupt the democratic process by raising issues that do not need to be debated.

The country is today facing several problems, including unemployment, illiteracy, trade imbalance with India, health worries, water inundation and, most importantly, growth of political institutions and the transparent functioning of parties. However, the CPN-UML found succession to the throne as the major agenda in its 128-member central committee meeting.

Although some influential members of the Nepali Congress like former spokesman Narahari Acharya and some CPN-UML leaders have raised the succession issue in parliament, the CPN-UML’s latest decision is another bid to drag the monarchy and the Royal Nepalese Army into needless controversy.

It remains to be seen whether the CPN-UML latest adventure would strengthen or weaken the monarchy. However, the history of the CPN-UML shows that its steps have often brought the opposite results.