All the democratic institutions must rethink about the idea of election of constituent assembly once again before making any formal decisions on it.

By Kiran Koirala

At any cost, the democratic institutions and values must emerge out as a victorious force and idea from negotiations or conflicts. They should never bow in front of any kind of undemocratic forces whether it is autocratic king or military force or religious force or extremists like rightists or leftists. In recent months, Maoists have put unnecessary pressures to all democratic institutions and many people. .Their activities are against the democratic norms and values. It is now clear how the country would head forward if Maoists come into the government Moreover, knowingly or unknowingly, all kind of democratic institutions (parties, media, organizations, individuals…) in Nepal are on the complete shadow of leftist forces and ideas. Leftists, who are moving with dead political philosophy, have been using both sweet speeches and force, wherever and whatever necessary, to garner the support of the people. It is pity that even some of the intellectuals are fallen into the illusion of extreme left ideas.

One cannot deny the fact that the current constitution is undoubtedly the most democratic constitution. All the democratic institutions have been accepting this fact from the very beginning.
Nepalese people and democratic institutions carried out April movement against the autocratic monarch but not against the constitution of 1990. The protest was for the re-establishment of people’s government, not for writing another constitution. Today, Maoist leaders and some intellectuals are explaining the movement the other way around. The fact is few thousand unruly Maoist cadres took part in the peaceful democratic movement and shouted loudly for the constituent assembly. Eventually, they easily managed to reach in the front of the demonstrations and virtually led the movement. After re-establishment of democracy, people stopped further demonstrations though the Maoists wanted to continue. People simply rejected Maoists appeal because huge majority of people were happy after fulfillment of their real demand of re-establishment of people’s government and democratic values. Later on, Maoists realized that it was not possible to gain support from people anymore and then strategically decided to seat for peace talks to influence the democratic institutions in depth. Meantime other left parties have also started utilizing such volatile situation in their favor and few hundred opportunists from democratic circles have also added their voices to echo the demands of leftists. They are highly successful to gain publicity in national and international media.

In fact, one must remember that the idea of election of constituent assembly is from the Maoists and was flatly rejected by all the democratic forces in the past. In principle, this idea seems very democratic. But one should be careful that the election could be the most dangerous mean to lose democracy legally if one of the contestants is contesting with arms and armies. It will be impossible to expect fair election in Nepal unless the Maoists are completely disarmed at least for a year.

One cannot deny the fact that the current constitution is undoubtedly the most democratic constitution. All the democratic institutions have been accepting this fact from the very beginning. Only the Maoists have denied this constitution just because this constitution does not allow them to establish one party communist system. Furthermore, they did not see any political future in competitive politics. Maoists know that this constitution is the main obstacle for them to achieve their ultimate goal of establishing a communist country. Hence, they have been demanding the idea of constituent assembly election (democratic path) so that at first this constitution could be easily scrapped from the people’s mandate. The whole world looks it as a democratic process. Next, they would be able to build the path legally which could lead towards a new communist republic country. The same other left parties also want and are utilizing the opportunities. Some intellectuals from democratic circle are also echoing on this demand just because they are not able to establish themselves in the existing democratic forces. Looking into this fact, all the democratic institutions must rethink about the idea of election of constituent assembly once again before making any formal decisions on it.

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