Nepal's parties are source of problems
Yuba Nath Lamsal
In a democracy, the political parties are the instrument to find solutions to political crises and other problems of the country. In the case of Nepal, the political parties are the source of all problems, from which we cannot expect any solution. The way the political parties and their leaders are behaving, acting and saying, Nepal is not likely to get rid of the ongoing political crisis.
Partisan interest
The problem began with the parties pursuing their personal and partisan interest grossly neglecting the national cause. Had this not been the case, the country would not have fallen into its worst crisis in modern history. It is the first time in Nepal’s history and perhaps in the world’s history, too, that the parliament has not been able to deliver a country a government for such a long time. The caretaker government is at work for almost six months even after its prime minister stepped down to pave the way for the formation of a new government.
The crux of the problem lies in who or which party should lead the government. Each and every party is trying to play one against the other. No single party is unanimous about who should lead the government. The intra-party feud is so intense that the factions are not prepared to accept the leader of their own party for the prime minister’s post if one belongs to the rival faction. Instead, they are willing to offer the post to a particular leader of another party.
If we look at the developments in each individual party, this becomes clear. All the three major parties are vigorously pushing to take the leadership of the new government. But they are so internally divided that they are not unanimous within the party on one particular leader.
The UCPN-Maoist is the largest party in Parliament commanding stronger strength than that of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML combined. The Maoist party has 240 seats in the 600-member parliament whereas the combined strength of the second and third largest party - Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML - is 113 and 105 seats respectively. That means the combined strength of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML is 218 - far less than that of the UCPN-Maoist.
Being the largest party, the claim of the Maoists to form the next government is justified, and if one of the two major parties supports it, the UCPN-Maoist would easily have a majority to form the government. However, the other parties are not prepared to accept this and are trying to take advantage of the complicated political equation in Parliament. As a result, the deadlock has continued for so long.
Despite being the largest party in Parliament, the Maoists have appeared a little more flexible on this issue, and this party withdrew its candidate from the race of the prime ministerial election. However, the Nepali Congress is still not prepared to follow suit even after failing to get the required support of parliamentarians in the series of elections that have been held.
The crisis is due largely because the parties are playing one leader against the other in the rival parties with the objective of splitting them. This began with the Nepali Congress trying to create division in the UCPN-Maoist. The Congress leaders have more than once made their intention public that the Nepali Congress would support Maoist Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai as the new prime minister if the Maoist party so agreed. The Nepali Congress is prepared to sacrifice its own candidate Ram Chandra Poudel to create division in the Maoist party. However, the UCPN-Maoist has dubbed this as interference in its internal affairs and an attempt to split the party.
Similar is the case with the Maoists and CPN-UML. The UCPN-Maoist has also not stopped from creating rift in the other parties. The Maoists have tried to pit the Deuba faction against the Sushil-Ram Chandra faction in the Nepali Congress and are reported to have said they would back Sher Bahadur Deuba for the post of prime minister.
At the same time, the Maoists have openly and formally backed Jhalanath Khanal of the CPN-UML for the coveted post of prime minister, which has been opposed by the rival UML faction. The Oli-Madhav Nepal faction of the CPN-UML is openly supporting Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel for prime minister while opposing the idea of backing its own party chairperson. Khanal is openly against any kind of new alliance with the Nepali Congress.
Two distinct factions have emerged in the CPN-UML - pro-Maoist and pro-Congress factions. Even in the Nepali Congress, Deuba is relatively more liberal with the Maoists compared to Sushil Koirala’s hardline faction which is staunchly anti-Maoist.
The case with the other smaller parties is also identical. They are divided into pro-Maoist and pro-Congress camps. The Madhesi parties were divided due to their sharp differences on issues pertaining to which party they should support. The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum split a year ago on exactly the same basis, and Gachchhadar created a new party by breaking up the mother party. The Madhav Nepal-led Congress-UML coalition government was formed with the backing of the Gachchhadar group of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, while the group led by Upendra Yadav opposed the UML-Congress coalition.
Only recently, the Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party split to create a new party called Terai Madhes Loktantric Party Nepal. The Mahanta Thakur-led group of the Terai Madhes Loktantric Party has openly accused UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal of engineering the split in their party just to get the support for a Maoist-UML alliance. The newly created party has already started echoing the views of the Khanal faction of the UML, which gives room for believing in the allegation.
In this era of democracy, politics is said to be the guiding force behind peace, development and democratisation. In Nepal’s case, it is just the other way around. It is the politics stupid that has messed up everything in Nepal. Be it during the hey days of the Rana oligarchic rule, monarchical dictatorship, multi-party system or in the present federal democratic republic, politics is the fundamental factor behind Nepal’s sorry state.
Politics is seen as a tool to amass wealth by misusing authority. The rulers consider the country as their private property. To go to power and retain it, the parties and politicians apply all possible means - both legal and illegal. The norms, values, laws and ethics are just subjects of public discourse and not to be practiced. This kind of mentality has ruined our political arena, which has polluted every sector of the country.
Had this not been the case, the parties would not have so openly betrayed the people. The parties and politicians miserably failed to live up to the popular expectations and failed to keep the promises made to the people during the Constituent Assembly election. They had promised to write the constitution in two years but failed to meet this deadline. Yet the parties have no iota of regret. Instead, they have extended the life of the Constituent Assembly and ensured the continuity of their perks and facilities. This shows how the people are being taken for granted instead of taking the people as the source of strength.
People power
In this situation, the civil society should come up to mobilise the people in the interest of the country and the people. Unfortunately, our civil society, too, is partisan, politicised and corrupt. Politics has ruined the civil society as well. This has clearly demonstrated that politics is the problem in Nepal. When the parties and politicians become the problem, there is no solution at all. The fate of the country is, thus, bound to be ruined.
The only solution is the people who should rise up against the crooked politicians and set them right. Unless the people rise, the parties and politicians are not likely to learn any lesson and make correction.
In a democracy, the political parties are the instrument to find solutions to political crises and other problems of the country. In the case of Nepal, the political parties are the source of all problems, from which we cannot expect any solution. The way the political parties and their leaders are behaving, acting and saying, Nepal is not likely to get rid of the ongoing political crisis.
Partisan interest
The problem began with the parties pursuing their personal and partisan interest grossly neglecting the national cause. Had this not been the case, the country would not have fallen into its worst crisis in modern history. It is the first time in Nepal’s history and perhaps in the world’s history, too, that the parliament has not been able to deliver a country a government for such a long time. The caretaker government is at work for almost six months even after its prime minister stepped down to pave the way for the formation of a new government.
The crux of the problem lies in who or which party should lead the government. Each and every party is trying to play one against the other. No single party is unanimous about who should lead the government. The intra-party feud is so intense that the factions are not prepared to accept the leader of their own party for the prime minister’s post if one belongs to the rival faction. Instead, they are willing to offer the post to a particular leader of another party.
If we look at the developments in each individual party, this becomes clear. All the three major parties are vigorously pushing to take the leadership of the new government. But they are so internally divided that they are not unanimous within the party on one particular leader.
The UCPN-Maoist is the largest party in Parliament commanding stronger strength than that of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML combined. The Maoist party has 240 seats in the 600-member parliament whereas the combined strength of the second and third largest party - Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML - is 113 and 105 seats respectively. That means the combined strength of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML is 218 - far less than that of the UCPN-Maoist.
Being the largest party, the claim of the Maoists to form the next government is justified, and if one of the two major parties supports it, the UCPN-Maoist would easily have a majority to form the government. However, the other parties are not prepared to accept this and are trying to take advantage of the complicated political equation in Parliament. As a result, the deadlock has continued for so long.
Despite being the largest party in Parliament, the Maoists have appeared a little more flexible on this issue, and this party withdrew its candidate from the race of the prime ministerial election. However, the Nepali Congress is still not prepared to follow suit even after failing to get the required support of parliamentarians in the series of elections that have been held.
The crisis is due largely because the parties are playing one leader against the other in the rival parties with the objective of splitting them. This began with the Nepali Congress trying to create division in the UCPN-Maoist. The Congress leaders have more than once made their intention public that the Nepali Congress would support Maoist Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai as the new prime minister if the Maoist party so agreed. The Nepali Congress is prepared to sacrifice its own candidate Ram Chandra Poudel to create division in the Maoist party. However, the UCPN-Maoist has dubbed this as interference in its internal affairs and an attempt to split the party.
Similar is the case with the Maoists and CPN-UML. The UCPN-Maoist has also not stopped from creating rift in the other parties. The Maoists have tried to pit the Deuba faction against the Sushil-Ram Chandra faction in the Nepali Congress and are reported to have said they would back Sher Bahadur Deuba for the post of prime minister.
At the same time, the Maoists have openly and formally backed Jhalanath Khanal of the CPN-UML for the coveted post of prime minister, which has been opposed by the rival UML faction. The Oli-Madhav Nepal faction of the CPN-UML is openly supporting Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel for prime minister while opposing the idea of backing its own party chairperson. Khanal is openly against any kind of new alliance with the Nepali Congress.
Two distinct factions have emerged in the CPN-UML - pro-Maoist and pro-Congress factions. Even in the Nepali Congress, Deuba is relatively more liberal with the Maoists compared to Sushil Koirala’s hardline faction which is staunchly anti-Maoist.
The case with the other smaller parties is also identical. They are divided into pro-Maoist and pro-Congress camps. The Madhesi parties were divided due to their sharp differences on issues pertaining to which party they should support. The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum split a year ago on exactly the same basis, and Gachchhadar created a new party by breaking up the mother party. The Madhav Nepal-led Congress-UML coalition government was formed with the backing of the Gachchhadar group of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, while the group led by Upendra Yadav opposed the UML-Congress coalition.
Only recently, the Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party split to create a new party called Terai Madhes Loktantric Party Nepal. The Mahanta Thakur-led group of the Terai Madhes Loktantric Party has openly accused UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal of engineering the split in their party just to get the support for a Maoist-UML alliance. The newly created party has already started echoing the views of the Khanal faction of the UML, which gives room for believing in the allegation.
In this era of democracy, politics is said to be the guiding force behind peace, development and democratisation. In Nepal’s case, it is just the other way around. It is the politics stupid that has messed up everything in Nepal. Be it during the hey days of the Rana oligarchic rule, monarchical dictatorship, multi-party system or in the present federal democratic republic, politics is the fundamental factor behind Nepal’s sorry state.
Politics is seen as a tool to amass wealth by misusing authority. The rulers consider the country as their private property. To go to power and retain it, the parties and politicians apply all possible means - both legal and illegal. The norms, values, laws and ethics are just subjects of public discourse and not to be practiced. This kind of mentality has ruined our political arena, which has polluted every sector of the country.
Had this not been the case, the parties would not have so openly betrayed the people. The parties and politicians miserably failed to live up to the popular expectations and failed to keep the promises made to the people during the Constituent Assembly election. They had promised to write the constitution in two years but failed to meet this deadline. Yet the parties have no iota of regret. Instead, they have extended the life of the Constituent Assembly and ensured the continuity of their perks and facilities. This shows how the people are being taken for granted instead of taking the people as the source of strength.
People power
In this situation, the civil society should come up to mobilise the people in the interest of the country and the people. Unfortunately, our civil society, too, is partisan, politicised and corrupt. Politics has ruined the civil society as well. This has clearly demonstrated that politics is the problem in Nepal. When the parties and politicians become the problem, there is no solution at all. The fate of the country is, thus, bound to be ruined.
The only solution is the people who should rise up against the crooked politicians and set them right. Unless the people rise, the parties and politicians are not likely to learn any lesson and make correction.
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