I would not mind if the United Nations System acts as a mediator

-Narendra Kumar Chaudhary, RPP Leader

To me the current hotchpotch in the politics of the country has been solely due to Prime Minister Thapa’s sheer inabilities in carrying out King Gyanendra’s instructions offered to him prior to appointing him as the nation’s prime minister. Unless the country sees the formation of an all-party government from among the parliamentary parties, the country will continue to be in a mess of the sort of what it is now. Thus, the need of the hour is an all-party set which will later announce a ceasefire and then will conduct dialogues with the Maoists. The polls will follow later. I am clear about it.

The agitating political parties apparently have been concluding that King’s recent moves were headed towards an active monarchy and thus been demanding that the King accepted his limits as stipulated in the 1990 constitution. However, the inner fact is that it is these agitating parties who then seduced Sher bahadur Deuba to request the King to unknot the tangle developed in the constitution due to Deuba’s demand for a further grace period for the elections. It was Deuba who on the advice of the political parties forced the King to act. The King would not have acted sp if not advised by Deuba. So why is this fuss. Add to this, when the parliament stood dissolved, the King took over the charges of the country.

Equally interesting is the fact that Lokendra Chand enjoyed the support of all the political parties. But yet they created furor over his appointment. Now Thapa is the prime minister who also enjoyed the clandestine support of the Girija Congress. The UML knows about this secret.

Talking about the current slogans about a republican order in the country let me tell you that this country can not and should not move towards that line. The fact is that our leaders all along these thirteen years could not remain honest to their commitments that they made in the favor of the people: the Dalits, the Tharus (from the community I myself belong) , the Kamaiyas, the JanJatis and the likes. Neither, on top of that, they could even tolerate the very existence of the other political forces. Intra and inter party wrangling consumed the whole period of thirteen democratic years. Moreover, I don’t see any leader of the national stature who could provide a real and effective leadership to the country. It is the King who only can be trusted and taken in good faith for the development of the country in an equitable basis. Don’t forget, the Nepali people have ever relied on the King as and when crisis of this sort have had gripped the nation. The nation can’t imagine its existence in the absence of the King even for a minute.

Regarding the issue of the Maoists, my vision is clear. I am of the opinion that when the two guns are face to face and the nation has to pay a colossal price, both in terms of lives and property, some one has to, either national or international, take the initiatives of mediation. I would not mind if the United Nations System acts as a mediator. The UN being an international body presumably having no political biases could be the best mediator. We want peace. Peace has become a rare commodity in a country that till the other day symbolized peace around the world. What is the harm if UN is told to mediate?

Talks have got to be opened. It should naturally be the State which should call for the resumption for the stalled dialogue. But then prior to the talks with the Maoists, an all-party government must be in the existence. Don’t forget the fact that the Maoists have already been recognized as a force to be reckoned with.

Today’s disturbed situation is the culmination of the un-fulfillment of the desires of the various oppressed and neglected castes, ethnic tribes and of the janjaits. It is their irritation now that is creating disturbance in the society and the country at large and, I predict, will continue to expand if their solutions were not found by the State that guaranteed their security and livelihood with dignity and honor. If their issues remain un-addressed, disintegrative forces will rule the roost and the State will plunge in a crisis of a permanent nature.

How their issues are addressed should be the concern of the men handling the system. I would wish to suggest the powers-that-be to take up their issues whether it demanded effecting certain tangible changes in the 1990 constitution or even by going into the scheme of the constituent assembly.

Before I conclude, I think the present constitutional crisis is the result of the efforts of the champions of the movement who in 1990 tried to cut the powers of the King as much as they could. I would then propose that the King must be allowed to play a role, or at best to have a meaningful say in the constitution so that the King could act as and when the country is gripped in a crisis of the sort of the present day one.

(Based on tête-à-tête with the author- Editor)

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