Jan Sharma

US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca ended her two-day Nepal visit urging unity between the King and the “legitimate” political parties to fight the Maoists. This will not happen unless the parties become effective tools of policy formulation.

There is no doubt that neither the resolution of the Maoist question nor restoration of democratic constitutional process is possible unless the King and political parties work together. The alternative is an effective end to democracy.

Wrapping up her fourth Nepal visit, Rocca reiterated Washington’s strong and unambiguous support to Nepal “to overcome the Maoist threat and the serious development problems.”

She urged the King and political parties to work closely within the multiparty framework to develop and pursue a joint road map to fight the Maoists, and welcomed the seven-party alliance for “restoration of full democracy” announced on the eve of the visit.

Priorities

During interaction with leaders of various political parties, Rocca is believed to have discussed both the options – holding of parliamentary elections and restoration of the dissolved House of Representatives – for returning to democratic rule.

Given the deep suspicion on both sides, reconciliation would be a pleasant surprise. The political leaders in opposition suspect the proposed election, which they say will never take place, is a ploy to hold on to power.

Instead, the seven political parties represented in the dissolved parliament have formed an alliance to push for the restoration of the House as “the common demand and obligatory need of the country.”

Such a restoration after a gap of nearly three years is also looked upon with suspicion, even an ulterior motive, of further downsizing the power and authority of the King, as the recent announcement by the alliance implies.

With mutual suspicion running so deep, how the conflicting priorities – holding elections vs. the House restoration – is going to be reconciled remains to be seen.

The agreement among political parties, who remain bitterly divided on almost every other issue, on the question of restoring the House is unprecedented. The agreement itself was reportedly hammered at the Indian Embassy dinner last month.

The political parties still disagree on the Maoist issue. Given their wide divergence of ideological orientation, it would be naïve to expect a common position on seeking a just resolution of the Maoist question.

The seven-party alliance does regret that little was done in terms of pushing for political, social, economic and cultural transformation of the country since democracy was revived in Nepal but fails to clearly spell out the policy details.

It vaguely states that the emphasis is on “creating solid grounds” for making “the people fully sovereign.” In plain terms, this means further curtailment of the King’s power. The need of the hour is certainly not confrontation but understanding and cooperation.

Reforms

While democracy – call it meaningful or full – is inconceivable without political parties playing a major role in the process, the proposed agitation by the alliance looks like a road to nowhere unless the parties reform themselves first.

Instead of playing second fiddle to foreign powers, political parties would do a great service to the country by strengthening their institutional capabilities to produce solid policy alternatives on issues that directly concern the welfare of the people.

The Nepali people have long been fed up with rich rhetoric but poor or no delivery. Tall promises of democracy or development will only further alienate the people from rulers, who risk of being irrelevant to the very people they are suppose to represent and govern.

For example, remarkable achievements have been made in building local capacity at the grassroots to promote local self governance. This is partly the reason why governance at the district level had been far more stable and democratic than in Kathmandu.

Yet, the political parties have been conspicuously silent on consolidating political and financial powers of the grassroots organizations and civil society. Nor have they been able to attract retired bureaucrats for valuable policy inputs in key policy formulations.

Few would disagree with Rocca’s stress on unity between the political parties and the King to set the priorities right. And it would make a lot more sense if the parties first reform themselves before taking up the challenge of democratizing the society.