Who benefits from our follies?

It has been said that if God wishes to destroy a person he makes him mad. Knowledgeable persons in this country say that God has not been kind towards Nepal and that he has made our leaders foolish. The madness being exhibited by Nepali leaders is there for all to see.

Several attempts, at times genuine ones, have been made to bring in the Maoists to the table by our leaders. Every time such initiatives are taken, the results come in negative. Since the talks are held in camera the inside stories do not trickle down to the people and what is given to understand by our negotiators have got to be accepted ditto. Albeit, the other side too expresses its irritation at the end of the talks in a manner that has double meaning. Moreover, this side at times summarily rejects the talks for surprising reasons and leaves one to understand that this party remains susceptible to telephonic calls at time of the talks providing the impression to all and sundry that some one, within or without, controlled the party's structure through a remote. Such events have happened in the past, to recall. But then yet we do not find any fault in the Maoists when they reject the talks. Indeed, in doing so they wish to extract greater concessions from what they call the "old regime". It is only natural that this force would wish to linger the prospect of the talks until and unless they were assured of substantial benefits to the cause to which they have been championing since a decade plus. This they are forced to do in order to show their own party cadres that the party has not settled for less or else the cadres will pounce on the leaders of the organization which is only but natural. Thus the dilly-dallying process acquired by the Maoists were not unnatural politically speaking.

However, what is intriguing is the Nepali leaders' inability in bringing the other side to the talks. This could be either our leaders' were not or less interested in inviting the rebels for the talks for fear of being agenda less if the other side attended to the talks or were incompetent or powerless in the eyes of the rebels.

After all why it is so that the Maoists who had in the not so distant past participated willingly in the talks with a government of L.B.Chand and S.B.Thapa and rebuff to sit in for talks with more or less a similar sort of government currently led by Sher bahadur Deuba? The fact is that the monarch has constituted all the governments mentioned above. So why is the Maoists hypersensitivity to this government? The internal dynamics of this inner reality is very difficult to understand. Who else better knows than those who have so far boycotted Deuba and his government's offer for talks?

The Nepali leaders either were incompetent enough to invite the Maoists to the talking table or were terrified of the other side which certainly has become pretty stronger in the villages and the districts summarily abandoned by the prominent political forces of the bygone era. The leaders assemble in Kathmandu and their cadres for fear of life have congregated in Ratnapark Islet. This has allowed a virtual free-play for the Maoists to penetrate into the villages and the districts which once upon a time were the strongholds of the communists and the congress'.

Neither our leaders go to their constituencies nor they prefer to embrace the polls. At best what they do is to see each other every afternoon at the Ratnapark Island wherein they inevitably deride at the monarch for his alleged constitutional faults. The process is on since two years plus. A part time job indeed.

The monarch is quiet and has been listening to the allegations labeled against him by his political detractors. The King too can't escape blame for having not acted on time when it was opportune for him some two years ago. This had been the expectation of the majority of the population as well. However, that was not forthcoming and the time has lapsed. Now if the King acts, he would be taken to task. If he does not act to bring about an end to the ongoing constitutional crisis, he will have to bear the allegation that being the guardian of the nation he did not exhibit in taking out the country from the mess. Both way the King will be charged for his failure in understanding the gravity of the situation.

However, a section of the population understand his constitutional limitations and thus would wish the King not intervening into the mess brought by the follies of the managers of the system in the past.

The leaders are reluctant in providing a solution to the country's crisis. The King's hands are tied. It is this that has been benefiting the rebels.

Under such state of affairs, it is only but natural that certain alien forces who want to have a greater say in our politics will certainly wish to further intensify the Nepali affairs in order to extract tangible benefits from our follies.

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