UML’s changed stance bodes ill for Deuba cabinet

August 4, 2004
4 MIN READ
A
A+
A-

Kathmandu: Political undercurrents have suddenly become high in this Himalayan Kingdom.

Political leaders of various shades, in government or in the streets, are ventilating their inner voices caring little as to what impact it would have on the country’s already turbulent politics.

Ministers in the Deuba cabinet at times forget that they are tied to certain ministerial ethics.

The fact is that ministers belonging to the UML camp speak diametrically opposite to what the ministers of the Deuba party reiterate.

Yet another minister, independent or a royal nominee or give it any name, Dr. Mohsin, has an altogether different version to depict the country’s politics and for addressing the Maoists issue.

Thanks that the NSP man, Badri Prasad Mandal, is silent and thus is not creating any sort of confusion in the minds of the laymen as his cabinet colleagues have been doing of late.

The cabinet has become like an untamed circus horse that is entertaining the population.

Certainly bodes ill for the nation.

As if this were not enough to make a laugh of the country’s politics, Madhav Nepal, the strongman of the UML, has begun issuing strictures in the name of the government under Deuba that his party will prefer to quit the government if things did not change as per his dictates.

Madhav Nepal upon his return from Korea is a changed personality now, infer analysts. What made Mr. Nepal to pass on threat loaded statements against a government that has been partnered by his own party men is not only surprising but fraught with dangers as well.

Is Madhav speaking on his own or reiterating some thing that he has been told to is what is boggling the minds of the political analysts here.

If he were speaking on his own then question could be asked as to what factors made Mr. Nepal to change his tone against his own party government?

Similarly, questions could well be raised as to, if he were not speaking on his own , which force on earth did change his minds that he is prepared to even bring about a total collapse of the Deuba establishment.

Madhav Nepal’s challenge to Deuba or say to his government comes at a time when the man issuing strong worded statements understands better that the moment UML decides to quit from the government, the Deuba cabinet will fall the next minute like a house of cards. When he understands the calamity that would come to the scene after UML’s quitting the government then what forces him to risk instability in the country?

Or is it that he has been told to do so by certain inimical quarters that do not wish to see a stable Nepal? Or is it that he has been advised by the Maoists to bring about a collapse of this government and secure the next prime minister ship?

To recall, the Maoists have time and again said that since Deuba’s establishment were a continuation of regression and hence their talks with this set would be an impossible affair. Looking at this possibility what could be said fairly that in the recent months and weeks, Madhav Nepal’s tone and gestures towards the Maoists issues appear rather positive.

But it is hard to imagine that even if the incumbent government collapses, what was the guarantee that things in a changed atmosphere will favor the elevation of the UML leader to the ranks of the nation’s next prime minister? Will the monarch prefer Madhav Nepal as against Deuba who is largely considered to be very loyal to the King? Even if the King, let’s suppose for a moment, decides in favor of Mr. Nepal, what about the reactions of the quarters, within and without, who apparently do not wish to see nepal filled by the REDS!

At yet another level, how Madhav Nepal will justify his actions if he manages a collapse of this government to his formers colleagues still roaming around Ratnapark? How he will convince Koirala and others in the coalition against regression? What will happen to UML’s theory that with the reappointment of Deuba as prime minister, regression had been partially corrected?

With UML’s departure from the present cabinet what will happen to the theory of regression? Will it continue to reiterate that regression was partially corrected or will join the band of those who see the regression still intact?

These were some questions that Madhav Nepal will have to answer if he secures the collapse of this government.

It will have to be watched as to how Madhav Nepal proceeds in the days ahead.

Nepal’s conspiratorial politics remains par excellence.