Kathmandu: University teachers, intellectuals, media men and civil society members have expressed their profound anxiety over the state of the Nepalese politics as it stands today and have also questioned the very existence of a functioning government as such in the nation.

The men of letters at a Kathmandu seminar held Saturday last week regretted over the personalization of the politics instead what should have been an institutionalized one. They concluded that the total absence of national consensus in and among national level political parties of the nation regarding genuine national issues that have a direct bearing on Nepal’s national interests to have contributed largely for a distaste for the system itself.

The scholars also took note of the growing criminalization of the national politics which, opined the scholars, had given a very bad name to one of the best systems in the world that is democracy.

Majority of the seminar participants felt that neither the government of the day could be called a functioning one nor could it be termed as the one which delivered goods to the people during the past ten years of the order.

The question that was raised by most of the participants was: “Who is responsible for all these sad events and non deliverance of goods to the people and who is to be primarily blamed for the blunders?

Pat came the reply from the participants that all the responsibilities must be “shouldered” by successive governments formed in the past by various political parties and more specially by the congress which ruled the nation for most of the period of the advent of the new order.

The seminar had been organized by the Nepal Forum for Human Rights and Development and the topic brought under discussion was “Consolidation of Multi-party democracy in Nepal: Inter Party relations.

A paper on the topic was presented by Dr. Gopal Pokhrel who is teaching political science at the Patan Multiple campus.

Dr. Pokhrel presenting his paper amidst the presence of the qualified gathering maintained that Nepalese politics had taken a very ugly turn because the major political parties could not rise above their petty political interests.

“The parliamentary practice should have already taken a definite direction which it could not”, lamented the paper presenter.

He also opined that there was the absence of national consensus on main national issues which had disillusioned the national population for obvious reasons. Dr. Pokhrel expressed his regret over the shift seen of late in the NC’s professed goals as manifested in its election manifesto.

“The NC which claims that it is a party adhering to democratic socialism lacks perhaps social justice in its actual practice”, lamented the scholar.

He also felt pity for the current stalemate seen in the ruling party which in the scholar’s opinion could lead the nation to uncertainty and chaos should the two factions prefer to go their way at time of the voting at the parliamentary party.

Speaking from the chair, the chairman of the Forum, Mr. Subash Pokhrel, dwelt at length on the objectives and the goals of the seminar. In his opinion, the seminar had been organized to gather valuable inputs from the attending scholars on how to consolidate the system now in force so that it continues for long in the country. He also said that his forum looks after, besides holding seminars of the present sort, human rights issues as well.

“Our forum has directed its entire efforts on ascertaining as to how should the inter-party and the intra-party relations be in and among the political parties so that the democratic order gets strengthened and consolidated for the benefit of the majority of the people”, added Subash Pokhrel.