While a transitory political phase may be blamed for some of the frustrations and chaos but rising chaos can’t be brushed aside
By Dr. Som P Pudasaini
By Laba Karki, Ph. D.Chaos and frustrations are on the rise and are becoming pervasive elements of political landscape in Nepal. Streets, thoroughfares and highways are blocked on the spur of moment with no regard to sick, elderly, weary travelers or common folks. Offices, clinics, schools or other public institutions are locked out in the whims of any Tom, Dick or Harry. Deputy Prime Minister, Vice Chancellor, Director General or any public figures are locked in for hours or days. Private properties are burnt or shattered by mobs with incalculable physical and psychological damages. Proliferating gangs of criminals roam around snatching jewelries, burglarizing houses and looting banks at any hours.
Drivers hit and hurt pedestrians and then turn around and kill them mercilessly instead of rushing the victims for treatment or offering drops of water to quench their last thirst. Rowdy crowds beat drivers and burn their vehicles even if the accident was unavoidable. Part-time professors, temporary municipal workers, paramedics or innumerable categories of public or private sector workers are at continual agitation. Politicized laborers are regularly shutting factories. Greedy industrialists do not meet laborers’ genuine demands rather lockout their enterprises. Politicized students perpetually agitate instead of pursuing their studies. Students’ genuine concerns are not addressed by the authorities unless they cause havoc.
Farmers with parched fields are agitated so are those in the western hills suffering from acute food shortages. Disadvantaged Madhesis, Dalits, Janajatis, Kamaiya or victims of conflict or Janaandolan do not see tangible actions. Pseudo-industrialists and crooks cheat banks and are occasionally blacklisted but go scot-free after oiling the palms of corrupts in power. Poor farmers, however, lose their collaterals for not being able to repay small loans because few goats they bought from it died. Petrol prices are sharply raised and reverted back to within days due to official inefficiencies or when the “petrol mafia” completes their deals. The list contributing to frustrations and chaos is long.
The government of SPA under Girijababu’s premiership is fast losing people’s confidence. The ministers’ partisan attitude and weak service delivery focus hasn’t helped. Half-hearted promises made to part-time professors and myriads of groups or rushed decisions made without adequate debate and preparations, including recently reported 45 percent reservation in civil service posts for disadvantaged groups, are likely to complicate genuine issues than resolve them. The Maoists have taken some courageous steps towards mainstreaming themselves but are far from fully mending their ways. Civil society is beginning to be chaotic and lose its neutrality and credibility due to rising partisan focus or donor influence after remarkable contributions during Janaandolan-II. The Seven Party Alliance (SPA) is both in the government and banging on the streets. The reinstated House of Representatives (HoR) continues to extend its “supremacy tentacles” beyond the call of Janaandolan-II instead of making way for alternative to ensure timely Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.
Political leaders have been in the forefront of initiating mobocracy to attain their political goals and must promote a culture of self-discipline starting from their cronies and paid goons. Regressive elements and criminals fishing in troubled water must be short-chained. Obviously, merit based and truly people-oriented politics and mainstreaming the Maoists are critical for managing the chaos.
While a transitory political phase may be blamed for some of the frustrations and chaos but rising chaos can’t be brushed aside. Political leaders have been in the forefront of initiating mobocracy to attain their political goals and must promote a culture of self-discipline starting from their cronies and paid goons. Regressive elements and criminals fishing in troubled water must be short-chained. Obviously, merit based and truly people-oriented politics and mainstreaming the Maoists are critical for managing the chaos.
SPA was catapulted to power by the forces of Janaandolan-II with the mandate of building peace and an inclusive polity. Girijababu, the SPA and the Maoists assured us that the 12-point, 8-point and 5-point agreements reached with tremors of varying Richter scales would get us there. Negotiated settlement was the agreed modus operandi. Returning to conflict was declared “no no”. However, interim constitution, interim government, arms management and dates and modalities for CA elections are still in the backburner.
Peace talks started off well. The talk teams were beaming. Prachanda and Girijababu looked like comrades in arms. Influential external power was for camaraderie between the SPA and the Maoists. That was yesterday. The peace process and politics appear to be confused or crumbling lately. Breach of trust and foreign interference are blamed for widening misunderstandings. United stand on peace and politics would prevail against undue external pressures. However, the old habit of inviting external forces to meet partisan interests rather than pursing a common stand may be creeping back.
Non-compliance with written or informal agreements or unclear details seems to be at the heart of perceived breach of trust. Efforts to outsmart each other to quickly meet their own political ends can’t be ruled out completely. The Prime Minister’s request to the UN Secretary General to help manage arms by decommissioning the Maoists army and supervising Nepali Army (NA) within their barracks and Prachanda’s terse demand to treat both the armies at par was the first serious indicator of brewing misunderstanding. Non-dissolution of the reinstated HoR soon after it declared CA elections and took care of other critical matters, possibly curtailing the king’s power and bringing NA under civilian control, was the second breach of trust from the Maoists’ point of view. Third, Girijababu’s firm stand on “ceremonial monarchy” lately and the Maoists’s sharp reaction to it has further clouded their understandings.
In politics it is not uncommon to try to outsmart each other in the negotiating process. Finding a balance on the Maoists’ desire not to disarm too early and Girijababu’s compulsions not to include the Maoists into interim government with arms is apparently at the heart of misunderstanding. Resolution of the problem is neither easy nor impossible. Girijababu, SPA and the Maoists have a historic opportunity and unparallel responsibility to steer the country out of the conflict and the rising chaos. Any breach of trust occurred must be rectified and undue external interference can be shunned . A great injustice will be done to the nation and to your own legacy if you failed after raising so much hope and extracting so much sacrifice from the millions, including the 21 martyrs.
Dr Pudasaini has served with the United Nations in Sri Lanka, Yemen and Maldives and can be reached at [email protected]
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