Congress unity for power balance

Sensing perhaps the growing high handedness of the UML in government and outside, the thespian congress leader, Girija Prasad Koirala, seemingly has decided to devise a mechanism to arrest this trend which if left unchecked could even damage his own and the party's future prospects. The scheme thus devised is said to be the proposals for a reunification of the parties currently headed by Koirala himself and the one led by his archrival, Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Clearly, the UML apparently is behaving in a manner that is not only surprising but surely could be taken as a mockery to the very norms and the values of a coalition culture in a democracy. The UML is signaling to the rest of the partners in the present coalition and concurrently to the laymen of the country that it is the UML or it should be the UML alone who can and should be told to run the country ad infinitum which is not only undesirable but unaffordable as well.

The UML has plenty of reasons to get excited from the divisions seen in a host of political parties. A divided and internally weak political party other than that of the UML is clearly in its interests which understandably the party in question wants to cash in upon. More candidly speaking, the UML has benefited immensely from the vertical split that took place in the congress some two years ago. For the UML such a division must and should continue in order to continue to benefit from such a split. As a political party if the UML so wishes then it is not undesirable at least for the party that benefits from such divisions. However, what is not undesirable is the party thus benefiting from such splits if goes on the rampage and behaves in a manner that is neither befitting to a party of that stature and standing nor that, frankly speaking, bodes well for the overall political health of the nation. If such a status quo continues for long then the consequences could well be predicted in advance. The massage should be clear to all.

The fact is that the UML has immensely benefited in the past from the congress' weaknesses and it is time perhaps that the congress currently divided into two halves ponder over this fact in a serious manner and bring the tilted power balance that has undoubtedly gone in favor of the communists to a position that takes care of the UML's growing hegemony over the country's politics.

The power balance must be restored and how this should be done is clearly of those who were already the losers or are yet to lose from the growing strength of the UML party. The political parties, more so the divided congress, must read the messages that have begun emanating from the quarters of Madhav Nepal who is issuing strictures to a government which at best is partnered by his own political entity.

Madhav Nepal, if he is a democrat in its truest sense of the term, must go through some books in Political Science that dwell on "political and coalition culture". The UML strongman must not forget how the former Indian Prime Minister Bajpayee steered his country for a full five-year term with so many different political brains. This could have been accomplished only when all the heads in the coalition would have set certain minimum rules to govern the conduct of such a coalition government. Israeli stance in this regard could also be a glaring example, which could open the eyes of those who either don't or prefer not to know the nitty-gritty's of coalition culture.

It is up to Mr. Nepal whether he would like to place himself in the camp of the one who is all set to "destabilize" the nation or prefers to become a personality, a wise one, who shuns from whimsical activities and acts to maintain whatever stability prevails in the country.

The congress president Koirala is hereby advised to embrace his archrival Deuba to tame the UML's growing hegemony in the country's political affairs so that a sort of power balance remains intact.

Let's presume that a personality of this tallness, Madhav Nepal, understands the gravity of the situation and acts in a manner that is expected of him. Nevertheless, we remain grateful for his concerns for the early restoration of peace in the nation.

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