Thapa is a sinking horse now; Students’ come to rescue of political parties

December 31, 2003
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Kathmandu: The five parties now in agitation against what they call “regression” appear that they will not settle for less than forcing the King to yield.

The King is silent though he too appears in a mood to devise a formulae that could save the face of the both: agitating parties and the King. But then yet those who have been meeting the King in the recent days, both national and foreign personalities, including Christina Rocca, the Assistant Secretary of State, state that the King in their conversation is all for strengthening of the democratic system and that he would not be any sort of impediment to the pattern of governance in the country which the nation embraced for itself as back as in 1990.

The King’s assurances does not tally with his political overtures, comment the agitating parties for whom the continuance of the same must have become a heavy burden.

Thanks the students affiliated to their political paraphernalia have come to their rescue. Had it not been so, the agitation of the political parties, now in its tenth phase, would have fizzled out easily.

The government under Thapa added fuel to the fire to the students’ agitation by arresting the three top student leaders. In fact, analysts agree, if the government would have not taken seriously the students’ utterances, the students would have not been able to take to a new height to their agitation. Since the government took action on them, there has been a reaction to that.

The net result has been that statements, utterances, lectures that are being made by the leaders and the students all were directed against the Nepali monarchy.

Nepali monarchy is obviously under tremendous pressure, by default indeed.

The students now appear vocal against the monarchy than their top-hats handling their own party-organizations. For the political parties, the students coming to the streets and their shouting of slogans against the monarchy has become a handy tool to pressurize the King to their demands. This situation has also come for the political leaders a boon in disguise. The government of Thapa is helpless in the sense that it can neither arrest the students enmasse nor can tolerate their some what “yet unheard” slogans against the monarchy.

On the contrary, the students’ appear to be in a mood to irritate the government with more such slogans so that the latter comes heavily down against them so that they in turn could create more problems to the government and the monarchy as well.

The King’s hands appear to be tied. Neither he can sack Thapa at this juncture nor he can bless him any more. For the King apparently understands that sacking Thapa at this period would sent wrong signals at the impending SAARC Summit. He also presumably understands that Thapa’s continuation in the current post would cause more damage to the institution.

Analysts, therefore see a change immediately after Thapa returns upon attending the Islamabad SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in the early days of next year. Analysts also opine that the King has reasons to sack Thapa for the Prime Minister has summarily failed in discharging key instructions provided to the prime minister. He has neither been able to invite political participation from the agitating parties nor has been able to bring the Maoists to talks. Given this situation on ground, what is the raison de etre of having a sick Prime Minister that does more harm than good to the nation and the institution of the monarchy.

On another plane, what is boggling the minds of the Nepali intellectuals is that how come the five parties’ now in agitation could switch their allegiance from their acceptance of the constitutional monarchy to republicanism? How come the political parties could talk of a republican state in Nepal which practically tallies intoto with the demands of the Maoists? What factors, analysts say, could have provoked the political parties to go in for a demand that they till the other day rejected summarily?

Is it a bargain? Is it a threat to the monarchy? Is it a signal to the monarchy that if the traditional institution did not heed to their demands would bring them all more closer to the Maoists? Is it a sort of pressure on the monarchy?

The fact is that the political parties apparently do not subscribe to the views of the Maoists till todate, but what is for sure is that they just wish to send signals that if their hands are ties might provide them ample leverage to go in for a search of some other options that might not be in the overall interest of the institution which they would wish to retain for long.

Matured political analysts maintain that the political parties by initiating talks on republicanism too had derailed themselves from their admitted and avowed constitutional commitments. This means that if the King has, for example, made a mistake on constitutional grounds, they too appear to have said good-bye to their own accepted convictions.

Be that as it may, surprising though it may appear, the political parties in agitation have begun talking of republicanism well after Madhav Nepal made a much “publicized secret trip” to Lucknow. Is it a mere coincidence or has it some meaning underneath? The significance of it all lies presumably here.

It is not surprising therefore that yet another UML stalwart, Ishwar Pokhrel, is currently on a tour to India. Is it Lucknow again? Could this trip be taken as a continuation to the Madhav Nepal’s sojourn to India?

The UML sources say that Mr. Pokhrel was on a tour to India to attend a sort of meeting sponsored by students residing there.

The RPP establishment is against its own prime minister which brings them closer to the five agitating political parties. The five parties, by default or otherwise, appear close to the demands of the Maoists. This is intriguing indeed if not absurd.

Logic demands that the institution of the monarchy will benefit immensely from its friendly ties with the now agitating parties. By all means, Prime Minister Thapa is already a “sinking-horse” indeed.