By choosing the name of 84-year-old Nepali Congress-leader Girija Prasad Koirala as the new prime minister unanimously, the seven agitating parties have charted a new political course. Following the proclamation of King Gyanendra shortly before mid-night on April 24, 2006, declaring the reinstatement of the House of Representatives as demanded by seven political parties and supported by popular uprising, Nepalese politics has shifted from the street to the floor of the parliament and the annoying political wrangling has landed into a safe and stable middle road. In a country with literacy of just over 50 percent, huge unemployment, slow economic growth and ruined by decade-long insurgency, it is now a great challenge as well as an opportunity to manage the state affairs. From bringing insurgents to the mainstream politics to holding elections and to take the nation towards new course of development by providing employment opportunities to hundreds of thousands, the government has many difficult tasks ahead

By Keshab Poudel

“The middle of the road is the entire stable surface. The extremes, right and left, are the gutters,” former American president and statesman Dwight D. Eisenhower once said.

What former American president said more than five decades ago comes true in Nepal as Nepal’s political forces, too, realize that the revival of parliament will pave for the middle way course with stable surface.

Through a televised address to the nation aired around the mid-night on April 24, King Gyanendra reinstated the House of Representatives that was dissolved in May 2002, ending country’s 19-day long popular uprising. After the royal proclamation, politics has shifted from the street to the floor of parliament. In response, seven agitating political parties withdrew their street agitation and chose the 85- year-old Nepali Congress leader Girija Prasad Koirala as their candidate for next prime minister unanimously.

Started from capital Kathmandu, the popular April uprising intensified throughout the country with unanticipated consequences. The popular uprising that affected public life for such a long time receded as soon as the House of Representatives was reinstated.

Koirala : Difficult times ahead.
Proposed by CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and supported by United People’s Front leader Amick Sherchan and Nepal Peasants and Workers Party leader Narayan Man Bijukcche, Koirala- who was the supreme leader of popular uprising – became the unanimous choice of seven political parties. “Girija Prasad Koirala was our unanimous choice to lead the all-party-government,” said Deuba and Nepal duo addressing a press conference. “The new government will declare a ceasefire, call Maoists for peace talks and work to settle the political dispute through constitution assembly.”

The leaders of other parties in the alliance, too, concur with the duo’s voice. “Girijababu has reluctantly accepted our suggestion as he is in no mood to lead the government,” said the leader of United People’s Front Amick Sherchan, who led the crusade against Koirala four years back. “The new government will announce everything necessary to hold the elections for constitution assembly.”

Shift of responsibility

The responsibility to run the state of affairs and fulfill the popular will expressed by the people has now shifted from the King to the political parties through three weeks long uprising. From addressing the populist political slogans like the constituent assembly to improving the ailing economic situation and maintaining social stability, the new prime minister has to deal with all kinds of challenges. In his fifth tenure as a prime minister, Koirala has burnt all his fingers and learnt the essence of state-craft.

Although Nepali Congress leader Koirala gambled his six decade long political career by taking all high risk in the uprising, he had little to lose. Had the result of the agitation gone the other way, Koirala’s image as a nationalist would have been permanently tarnished. But the politics developed in the country by the resilience on the part of King Gyanendra and peace-loving people hankering for peace in the country matched with the sincere motive of Koirala to broaden the alliance for democracy. “I will take rest from politics only after the restoration of democratic rights of the people,” Koirala had said. “My whole thrust is on pursuing the reconciliation between all political forces including the King, political parties and the Maoist.”

Demonstrations : Victorious people
With the support of all mainstream political parties, popular will of the people and the King on his side, Koirala now has an opportunity to pay a real homage to his mentor and brother late B.P. Koirala’s ideology of national reconciliation. The proposition of national reconciliation is rested on two prominent pillars of democracy and nationalism.

“The present agitation has made everyone aware of the people’s power. This was such a crisis that if it had gone unmanaged, the country could have also lost its existence and independence. Had there been such a great upheaval in other parts of the world with other forms of dictatorship or autocracy, the ruler would either have fled the country or the people would have been violently suppressed. But, it has been a long tradition and practice of institution of monarchy in Nepal to submit itself to the popular will of the people and prevent bloodshed,” said a leading political analyst.

Observing the resentments and angers expressed in the streets of Nepal on April 21, 22 and 23, the international community became nervous and expected major bloodshed in the capital. From United States- the world’s only super power-to Nepal’s neighbors and other western countries, all the countries had asked their citizens to leave Nepal. However, following the third royal proclamation in the month with the declaration of the reinstatement of the House of Representatives, the mass turned victory. After delivering the New Year’s message to the nation, a second royal proclamation followed the visit by Karna Singh- special envoy of Indian prime minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh-on 21 April.

Peaceful Nature

As usual, Nepal’s political forces and common people have once again proved that they are peace loving and have a sense of reconciliation and adjustments. Although millions of people marched into the streets of Nepal with hundreds of thousands in the capital alone, the victory rally concluded without any untoward incident on April 25.

“The mid-night royal proclamation of April 24, 2006 has ended a phase of conflict and confusion between the King and constitutional forces. After the proclamation both the forces have come into compromise and vowed for cooperation. Now, another difficult phase lies ahead where the constitutional forces have the leading role and the institution of monarchy a supporting one. Like everyone who has witnessed this agitation, the political forces also have gone through a major trial phase and a learning process,” said the analyst.

Youths : Emerging factor
When the parliament was functional, the institution of monarchy, the army and the constitution all were out of controversy. The parliament stood as a shield to defend them. After the reinstatement of the House of Representatives, the institutions have again got a shield to defend them.

Had there been such a great upheaval in other parts of the world, either the ruler would have fled the country or the people would have been mercilessly butchered. But Nepal didn’t face this misfortune as it has time-tasted institution of monarchy in the prominence.

The sky of the capital – which was full of anti-monarchy slogans – filled with slogans of victory of the people. Similar scenario was witnessed during the upheaval of 1990. This clearly shows that Nepalese people do not tolerate any kind of suppressions.

Support of Other countries

Along with popular uprising, Nepal’s neighbors and western democracies including the world’s only super power United States encouraged King Gyanendra to return his power to the people.

The changed political leaderships of India, too, had asked King Gyanendra to handover power to the political parties. Besides that the USA, EU, Japan and all other industrial democracies had been persistent in persuading the king to choose a democratic way to deal with the ongoing political crisis. This kind of support was not there during the 1990 people’s movement. The democratic west has now unanimity to support democratic systems of governance all over the world.

If there is support and assurance from Nepal’s neighbor and west, Nepalese can manage democracy as other countries. By solving the crisis, Nepal has proved that it has an in-built process of crisis management. If Nepalese are left alone, they are quite capable of resolving these controversies and conflicts. During 1990s upheaval, the constitution as well as popular representatives both were in rejection. That was just a beginning from a scratch – the old constitution was suspended and the new constitution was on the process of draft.

In the present context, a complete democratic constitution is there in the operation. There is a demand for rewriting the constitution through the ‘Constituent Assembly’ in order to accommodate the Maoists in a democratic process. Otherwise, the constitution in itself had not left any discretionary power to the King in the state affairs.

In fact, the present constitution has made the monarchy ceremonial in real sense. When asked to a constitutional lawyer what amendments in the constitution would make the King ceremonial, there was no precise answer. The royal proclamation of April 24 has concluded a phase of conflicts and confusions between the King and pro-constitution forces. After the proclamation, both the forces have come into a compromise and vowed for cooperation. Now a more difficult phase has begun with constitutional forces in the leading role and the institution of monarchy in the supporting one.

“One of the important lessons of the recent popular uprising is that no body will dare to grab power again with the backing of arms. Thanks to the overwhelming support of Nepalese people, seven political parties have been able to restore the rights of the people,” said Govinda Raj Joshi, member of Nepali Congress Central Committee. “With the leadership of Girijababu and support of Nepalese people, we will now settle all the political problems faced by the country.”

The present agitation has taught a lesson everyone. The leaders of the political parties have realized their mistakes of the past that had put the democratic process into a deadlock and vowed in public forums not to repeat them. As they have always been in contact of the general people, they should have learned how furious the mass can be if they repeat their mistakes.

Some people are still groping for the logic behind the dissolution of the House. They are still astonished to know how the house could be reinstated in the aftermath of four years of political crisis.

“The political pundits of Nepal are very curious and eager to learn about the powerful hand behind the premature dissolution of the lower house, in May 2002 and its reinstatement after almost four years,” said attorney general Badri Bahadur Karki. “On which goal and purpose did this power or the counter power reinstated the prematurely dissolved parliament remains to be known, ” he added.

When the House was dissolved, there were only four parties in the parliament. In the course of time, the MPs elected from one of these four parties have registered several different political parties. For instance, Nepali Congress has two major factions Nepali Congress Democratic and Nepali Congress. Prakash Koirala and Narayan Singh Pun, who were elected with congress’ ticket have registered two separate parties. Similarly, CPN-UML has to accommodate some half a dozens of MPs who have left their party. Rastriya Prajatantra Party has three factions with 11 MPs and Nepal Sadbhvana Party has two factions. Thus, the parliament now is going to be more complicated.

Victory march : What next?
Had there been elections for the parliament, hardly a fourth would have been reelected. Though the fresh public mandate is not in place, these experienced people will prove to be an asset in a situation like this to provide stability as the parliament has been reinstated. This is the positive side of reinstatement of the parliament.

Similarly, the King has also learnt more by his own experiences and got maturity and wisdom by burning all his fingers within a short period of time. It is very easy to sermonize others to do this and not to do in the affairs of the statecraft. The more influential position one holds, more diverse the opinions he will face.

The King has his own perceptions of the statecraft, but they were not sufficient to help solve the day-to-day problems of the country. He had G.P. Koirala, a senior and seasoned politician as the prime minister when he ascended the throne. Koirala took the oath of office of prime minister from the King on Sunday.

In these four years, both these persons have learnt lessons from their experiences of the period with maximum troubles and turmoil. The King should not have lost a prime minister like Koirala in his initial days as the King. The prime minister was more experienced and capable to defend the government whereas the King was above the controversy.

Slowly and gradually by mysterious machinations, both of them were put into head on collision. Although King Gyanendra and Koirala, both have same sensitivity and the interest towards the country, they followed different paths to promote that. Thus, the conflict between them enlarged into a broader conflict between pro-constitutional forces. The King was almost put into isolation. Though it was too late, it was the realization on the part of the King that the greatest strength of a constitutional monarch is to follow the popular opinion of the people. In the midnight on April 24, the King was very calm and composed while bowing down to the popular will of the people which was being expressed all over the country. Submitting himself to the supreme will of the people, the King enhanced his stature higher than anytime before. Some elites also appreciate the dignity of the crown with humility and courage.

King Gyanendra was similar to his sagacious brother late King Birendra while carrying out the dignity of the state and humility of the person. If he continues his dealings like this, Nepalese democratic process will permanently become stable with support from monarchy. Compared to many other conflict-ridden countries of the world, Nepal has time-tasted institution of monarchy to go along with the changing needs of the country.

King Gyanendra – who is well educated and has an impressive personality with a varied experience of public life – appears to be in the same mental make-up like his August brother late King Birendra. In the view of succession, he has capability to follow the noble tradition of his predecessors from King Tribhuwan to King Mahendra and King Birendra.

Role of Nepal’s Neighbors

Parliament : No agenda
In recent days expression leaders of both the neighbors of Nepal Indian Prime minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh and Chinese vice premier Tang Jiaxuan had expressed similar views regarding the political stability of Nepal. Nepal needs their support to make the functional democracy and economic development possible.

“Well, our role is to ensure that all elements of the Nepali polity are talking to each other. We are not dictating them. Our role is the role of a conciliator- to ensure that the democratic process is restored. Now I hope the King and the political parties will talk about the future of the country,” said Indian Prime Minister Dr. Singh in his recent interview to Indian media. “So far our position is that constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy are the two pillars of Nepali polity. There is no change in that position. No, we cannot afford to have Nepal as a failed state. We will do whatever we can do to strengthen it in every possible way as Nepal’s close neighbor . I’m not saying that Nepal is a failed state. We have to help Nepal deal with the difficulties it has got into.”

In his recent visit to Nepal, senior Chinese leaders reaffirmed their support to Nepal. “We consistently support Nepal in its effort to safeguard sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. We believe that the Nepalese government and people have the political wisdom and capabilities to solve their own problems. A Nepal of peace, reconciliation and amity, enjoying stability, development and prosperity servers the fundamental interest of its people and will promote regional peace, stability and development,” said Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan in his statement.

It is being realized very seriously in both the countries that the stability of Nepal is in their national interests. Both India and China share the views that an independent democratic and prosperous Nepal is in their interest.

(Courtesy: Spotlight magazine)

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