Former premier and NC (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba (File Photo)

Former premier and NC (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba (File Photo)
Former prime minister and president of Nepali Congress (Democratic), Sher Bahadur Deuba, has alleged that His Majesty King Gyanendra wants to rule the country by installing a rubber-stamp parliament.

In his February 1 statement, His Majesty said elections to all popularly elected bodies will take place within mid-April 2007.

In an exclusive interview with Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post dailies on Sunday, the former premier who was freed after nine-month-long detention early this month—alleged that the king did not want to remain as a “constitutional monarch.” “He has got ill intention; he is not committed to democracy. The word ‘democracy’ used in the Democracy Day message delivered by the king was merely a formality,” said Deuba, who was sacked twice by King Gyanendra over the last four years. “There is no way. This king is not going to give us the Constituent Assembly,” he added.

Elections to the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution has been one of the major demands of the Maoist rebels.

During his two-hour long interview, Deuba—one of the leaders of the seven party alliance that has inked 12-point pact with the CPN (Maoist)—was equally critical of the Maoist leadership.

“The Maoists should prove their commitment to peace and understanding by their deeds, not only by lip service,” said Deuba adding, “ (Maoist chairman) Prachanda needs to clarify his stance on the fundamental right of the people. You know how they killed Ganesh Chiluwal (president of the Maoist Victims’ Association) for burning Prachanda and Baburam’s effigies.”

“The king should be thanked since the Feb. 1 move helped the seven parties to come together (and) helped patch-up within the (CPN) Maoist that was on the verge of vertical split.”
“If we are not compromising with the king on the basic issues of democracy, why would we do so with Prachanda?” Deuba asked.

When asked if he was overtly influenced by the USA, particularly ambassador James F. Moriarty, Deuba said that he was only being thankful to the USA and all other friends who supported him when he was in prison.

“Wasn’t the king unfair to me? They arrested me at midnight, this house of mine is mortgaged to a bank, my joint family can be ruined. In such a situation, Senator (Patrick) Leahy passed a resolution demanding dissolution of the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC), Tom Daschle and Christina Rocca visited here and demanded my release. Shouldn’t I be thankful to them?” he retorted.

Deuba was freed on February 13 this year after the Supreme Court held the formation of the RCCC as an ‘unconstitutional’ move and declared all its previous decisions “null and void.” In a case involving the multi-million dollar Melamchi Water Supply Project, the Commission found Deuba and his colleague Prakash Man Singh, among others, “guilty of corruption” and decided to jail them for two years each besides imposing a fine of millions of rupees.

“I don’t mean that we should just obey whatever the US has been saying. In fact the question being put to the Maoists is the question of all the Nepali people. Everybody is apprehensive how it will be under the Maoists? All the international community has the same question. It is just that the US gave an audible voice to it,” Deuba said.

According to Deuba, the Maoists need to clarify whether they would allow a free and vibrant press or not, whether or not they would support free radio and television. “Will they allow competitive and free business? Will they allow private property? Will parties be free to protest against the government? Will they also interfere in the judiciary like the king has done, or won’t they?” he asked.

“My one-point agenda is the restoration of the fundamentals of democracy in this country. For this I won’t compromise with anyone. Prachanda says if a Constitution Assembly chooses absolute monarchy, he would support that, but I don’t support any absolute system, no matter how it comes,” Deuba asserted.

Deuba also defended the Royal Nepalese Army that is fighting against insurgency for the last five years.

“I don’t believe the Royal Nepalese Army is a royal army. The suffix ‘royal’ doesn’t signify anything. It’s a national army, though it helped the king arrest me twice when I was prime minister. It is under the prime minister through the Security Council,” he said.

When asked why he is supporting the army that arrested him, he said, “The army is ours, we cannot dismiss it. Of course, we need to improve it.”

“I feel for them. They are doing very hard work. I even asked them to keep two helicopters each at all five regional headquarters. You cannot believe it, I gave the army anything they asked for. We need to convince them that they should not listen to whatever the King says,” Deuba added.

When asked about the prospect of unification of his party with the parent Nepali Congress led by G P Koirala, he said unification was an arduous task though at the leadership level the relationship had been patched up to a certain extent.

“I don’t want to confuse people. If both the parties had not held their general conventions, things would have been different. Now there are committees from the grassroots to the center in both the parties. It will be difficult to find an amicable solution among all the rank and file of both parties.”

Deuba also said that he will put his reservation regarding the 12-point pact with the Maoists in the meeting of the seven party alliance first. He also demanded that the king should hand over power to the alliance. “The king should be thanked since the Feb. 1 move helped the seven parties to come together, helped patch-up within the CPN (Maoist) that was on the verge of vertical split and helped myself and Girijababu (G P Koirala) to come together,” said Deuba. “All this would not have been possible if the king had not taken direct control of the government,” he added.