Is Nepali politics heading for a change?

August 6, 2003
4 MIN READ
A
A+
A-

Kathmandu: Nepali politics is poised for a change, analysts predict.

That the politics is heading for a change gets reflected from the fact that an arrogant Girija Prasad has “appealed” the monarch to use article 127 and restore the now dissolved parliament. Koirala’s modesty this time around appears to have been guided by two things primarily: either Koirala knows that the King will not heed to his demands if he continues to exhibit his arrogance; or Koirala has been told to tone down his language and instead plead the King for obliging to his demands; it could be also that Koirala concludes that his captaincy of the agitation has already gone to the dogs and that he also knew in the meantime that a movement of the sort which he is waging will surely have no impact unless the people supported it. The fact is that the people don’t know about the agitation which the agitators claim to have already entered into its sixth phase.

The politics is about to change becomes also evident from the Maoists desire to see the King in person. The Maoists only recently expressed their desire to see the presence of the King in their would be talks with the government. In saying so the rebels apparently hint that the King’s role can’t be rejected and that he still holds power. Its corollary would be that the Maoists in some way or the other wish the King asserting his role which in their implied opinion remains dormant. Does all these mean that the Maoists wish an active monarchy in the country? Furthermore, the Maoists wish that the political parties too participated in their talks with the government. A significant change indeed which now puts extra pressure on the agitating five who still wish to refrain from their participation in the talks.

UML leader Bamdev Gautam too appears to advocate a serious role for the King in untangling the current political uncertainty. Deliberately or other wise, Gautam talking to Nepal television Saturday afternoon opined that the King must now come forward in settling the core political issues plaguing the country: firstly the current constitutional crisis and secondly the Maoists imbroglio.

Gautam wishes that the King acted actively in sorting out the present crisis. In saying so what Gautam means then? Is he suggesting the “constitutional monarch” to become an “active monarch” even if it were for a short duration. The Gautam utterances have come at a time when his own party leaders are up against the monarch alleging that the monarch has become an active monarch which he must have not.

The party says the monarch to limit himself to the stipulated constitutional limits. Bamdev Gautam from the same party pleads the monarch to exhibit his political acumen in settling the issues plaguing the nation. Contradictory statements indeed.

Analysts maintain that a personality of Gautam’s stature must not have uttered so unless he was advised to speak so. If, for a moment, we consider that he was told to speak so, doesn’t it mean that there has been a substantial change in the UML vis-à-vis the Nepali monarchy?

The King hints that he doesn’t wish to exceed the limits but yet remains adamant in listening to the cries of the agitating five.

Perhaps tired by the continuing Nepali political crisis, the international community has begun ventilating that the King too shouldn’t linger the problems indefinitely. Some powerful donors have greeted Thapa’s decision to invite political parties in the talks with the Maoists. ” I am consequently extremely pleased that there is now agreement to invite all political parties to the negotiating table and that this is a significant step towards an all inclusive process which Denmark believes is a precondition to an enduring solution”, said the leader of high powered Danish delegation last week in Kathmandu. If it were any clue, what could be drawn from the Danish wish is that the entire donor community would wish the participation of all the political parties in the talks with the Maoists.

All in all, the politics appears really heading towards a change. However, who is the catalyst for this change is yet uncertain.