Need For A Meeting Point

Enough dialogues have already taken place but what people want to see is the meeting point for reconciliation between the monarch and the organized political forces

By KESHAB POUDEL

From leaders of agitating political parties to spokesman of the present government chaired by King Gyanendra, all of them are in the process of dialogue through their own channels. What they have failed to find out is the meeting point for reconciliation.

Everything has been aired to the public and the lists of demands from both the sides are there in the public. Common people are confused by their vacillating positions. Democratic sides have shown least concern for democratic norms and that is being reflected by their discourse with the Maoists. And nationalist monarchists are least concern for national unity and respect to the institution of monarchy.

“Our call for dialogue is not our surrender to the King. I can hold the talk with the Maoists on behalf of political parties. Democracy will prevail over monarchy,” thundered Congress leader Girija Prasad Koirala last week. “As long as the King doesn’t accept demands of seven political parties, there is no question for dialogue,” say CPN-UML leaders like Madhav Kumar Nepal and Bamdev Gautam who are harping more extreme line.

Koirala’s statement was immediately challenged by two monarchists – the Minister for Information and Communication and spokesman of the present government Tanka Dhakal and a member of Raj Parishad Standing Committee and retired army chief Satchit SJB Rana.

“If seven parties can hold the dialogue with the Maoists, the government will treat them just like the Maoists,” said Dhakal, one of the active defender of nationalist monarch of the present government led by King Gyanendra.

“Parties should be declared as anti-national element (Arastriya Tatwa) because of their stand to hold dialogue with the Maoists,” said Rana.

At a time when the overwhelming majority of Nepalese people are demanding for reconciliation, the extremist voices coming from democratic as well as nationalist monarchist side do not have strong popular support.

What the people want this time can be reflected in the words of G.K. Chesterton, British satirist who says, “Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quiet forget, for we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.”

Ninety years after it was written, the parts of “Secret People” remain a good account of national character of Nepal. “Yes, people of Nepal have been involved in any call of the King or the democratic forces of Nepal in the issues of national interest as well as democratic rights. They have been always made to cast their vote quietly in the ballot boxes. They have always been choosers between alternatives not the decisive speakers of their own. Unfortunately, at this time in Nepal they don’t have anybody who could speak their heart and mind truly and courageously,” said a political analyst.

Former prime minister G.P. Koirala is leading an extreme group in the name of democracy but with the style of feudal patriarch and the party is taken for granted in his every utterance. “It is unfortunate to say that a Ceasar is leading a democratic movement in Nepal,” said an analyst.

Minister Dhakal, Rana and other nationalist monarchists’ statements are also against the spirit of the institution of monarchy – which stands for stability, unity and integrity of Nepal. Institution of Monarchy’s ability in harmonizing divergent interests and ethnic groups through reconciliation is widely acknowledged in the country and outside. Institution of monarchy and democracy can thrive together to bring stability and prosperity in Nepal. The bitter division between the monarch and the democratic forces is not in the interest of Nepalese people.