Lethal freefall

Lately, politicians have discovered a new mantra for building a "New Nepal." And that new mantra is, "negotiation." Be it mutiny within the security forces or an absurd demand like creating a single province to house heterogeneous populace, anything and everything is up for negotiation. Nepal could tip into "freefall" if a parameter for what is negotiable and what is not, is not set.

There is no method to the ongoing political madness. Politicians can do anything and everything and get away with it. There is no accountability whatsoever. We have a finance minister, who talks about fiscal responsibility and financial restraint, but runs finance ministry like a drunken sailor. He wants to exhibit his sense of entitlement on national coffer by disbursing 330 million to ex-members of the Legislature-Parliament. And, we have another great one -- Krishna Prasad Sitaula. Nobody has really been able to understand, who his real masters are.

Sitaula's job is to maintain law and order in the country and that is what precisely he has been unable to do for the last two years. The Young Communist Leaguers seem to be safer than ordinary citizens under his tenure as a home minister. Sitaula has his own unique way of uplifting the spirits of Nepal Police -- negotiate with mutineers. What a brilliant home minister we have, don't we? If you negotiate with mutineers, mutiny will never end. The only way to deal with it is, do what other countries do -- use brute force to bring it down so that it never happens again. If there are institutional problems like ill-treatment of the fellow servicemen and corruption in the security forces, which I am sure there are, initiate institutional reforms.

In a lawless society like ours, mutiny if negotiated, will shatter the required cohesiveness within the forces and destroy its ability to maintain law and order.

It is not only the Nepali Congress (NC) that houses "luminaries," Jhapali Naxalites too have their own set of geniuses that are relentlessly engaged in churning out innovative ideas. In order to fight widespread corruption and social injustices and counter youth brigade of brigands of Ropali revolutionaries (read YCL), Jhapali Naxalites have come up with a custom and unique solution -- create brigade of brigands of their own. Initially, we had one brigade of brigands to deal with, now, we have two. For ordinary citizens, it might be "political warlordism," but for our progressive leftists, it is an efficient use of wasted youth force. Can anyone argue against such a brilliant proposition?

In Nepali politics, politicians' past does not hold any importance. You can be from a Tharu community; marry a Pahari woman, serve pahari masters for decades and make fortune out of it, marry off your siblings to paharis, and overnight propose yourself as the biggest proponent of Madhesis' rights. Pahari-bashing is fine, you might have to do that to disassociate with past associations, but discrediting Tharus' revolution against one Madhes, one province proposal as UML's sponsored act is, totally outlandish. And, strangely, Madhesi friends with whom we grew up idolize such politicians and see us as colonizers. Where in the world will you find such a well- intentioned people other than in Nepal?

As an undergraduate student at the University of Delhi in the mid-nineties, I was surprised to see my Indian friends hate Pakistan. During the cricket matches between India and Pakistan, hostel's common room where we gathered to watch matches would be filled with curse words. It was surprising to see my friends whose parents might not have been born during the partition share such strong emotions against their neighbor. Pakistan-bashing politics practiced in India for the last fifty years is to be blamed for that. While India shirks its responsibility in establishing and supporting Mohajir Qaumi Movement in Pakistan, it blames Pakistan for every terrorist attack that takes place in Indian soil. In the process of finding a "scapegoat" for its security lapses, India has permanently vilified Pakistan in the hearts and minds of millions of Indians.

Like in India, where Indian politicians have been cashing in on anti-Pakistan rhetoric for more than half a century now, Madhesi politicians in Nepal are filling the hearts and mind of illiterate and semi-literate Madhesi populace with anti-Pahari propaganda. Every pahari living in Madhes is being painted as colonizer, which is far from reality. There are hundreds of thousands of Pahari like myself, whose family have been living in the tarai for more than eleven generations. We might have been in the Madhes well before the family of many Madhesi politicians, who now claim that the Madhes belonged to Yadavs, Thakurs, Mishras, Shahs, Shuklas, Tripathis, Mahatos, and Guptas and paharis colonized it.

I grew up with the first generation Madhesis. And, it didn't bother me a bit. So forget about, who came first and to whom Madhes belongs. Such debate will not lead us anywhere. Either by design or by default, we all are there now, and should try to prosper together. The Madhesi people should not get carried away by political slogans put out there by the politicians. Where were they when the late Gajendra Narayan Singh was fighting a lone battle against Pahari elites for Madhesis' rights and dignity?

The very same people, who blame the past rulers of forcing a national language upon Madhesis, are now giving speeches in Hindi rather than in Maithili. Politicians by nature are self-serving. It is, thus, important to remain vigilant about their motives.

It would be foolish to look upon India for emancipation of ethnic minorities in Nepal. The Bhutanese refugee imbroglio is a case in point, which clearly shows India's sensitivities towards ethnic rights of foreign nationals. For India, its national interest comes well before democratic rights or ethnic emancipation of foreign nationals. The Madhesi leaders should not be too influenced by the assurances of India's point man in Nepal. If they are really for ethnic rights of Janjatis and Madhesis in Nepal, where were they all these years? Why didn't ethnic minorities' issues come under their radar for so long?

Had India not supported King Mahendra's autocratic regime, we would have had democracy long ago. It is because of India's backing of Mahendra's rule, life of a visionary politician like B P Koirala got wasted. When India could not trust a person like BP Koirala, who had close ties with Indian leader like Jaya Prakash Narayan fully and force King Mahendra to bring down his autocratic regime, Madhesi leaders should reassess the assurances and promises made by the point man in Lainchaur durbar. Their unequivocal support for the Maoists, whom they had unilaterally branded as terrorists, in the changed political context shows how quickly they change sides. It might be worth joining hands with fellow pahari citizens in Madhesh and putting up a fight against the ruling elites for greater rights rather than be at the mercy of Indian benevolence.

One thing that I still remember what my Sri Lankan roommate of two years during my stay in Delhi University told -- there is no clear winner or loser in an ethnic conflict, we all lose equally and often wish we could undo the past. Pahari rulers should not hold the rights that Madhesis deserve and Madhesis should not stick to unreasonable demand like one Madhes, one province just because New Delhi's point man wants you all to stick to it. Sticking to unreasonable demand will make the conflict intractable and worsen the lives of not only paharis but also madhesis, whom Madhesi politicians want to see prosper.

Let the people decide

It’s been almost a decade since Nepal had legitimate elections. A lot of things have changed since then. The Maoists that once ran for their lives are now making others run. The mainstream political parties that once hardheadedly undermined the inclusion of Madhesis and Dalits have fielded candidates from these marginalized groups in large numbers in the upcoming CA elections.

The upcoming CA elections may not be perfect like any other elections in the developing world but they will definitely take the nation a step forward. For now, it is the best game in town. It will help break the cycle of political stagnation.

With the successful conduction of CA elections, we can: (1) get rid of monarchy that has never stopped fiddling around with democracy and democratic rights of people, (2) put a brake on autocratic aspirations of graffiti-president Puspa Kamal Dahal even if it is a temporary one. These two individuals pose a perennial threat to stable democracy. Unless we negate the threat posed by them, transition to a stable multi-party democracy will always remain an illusive dream.

We have long passed the discussion on utility of the monarchy. The nation is ready to embrace a new system. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and his followers should stop confusing the voters with their open exhibition of royal obsession. King Gyanendra’s foolishness of 2005 aside, the monarchy as an institution has been serving as a punching bag for politicians that want to hide their own incompetence and failures. It is, thus, necessary that we get rid of monarchy and prepare grounds for politicians whereby they will be forced to take responsibilities for their incompetence and failures.

Like the democratic movement in Nepal did not die after the demise of the visionary statesman like BP Koirala, we, as a nation, will definitely survive as a republic.

The upcoming CA elections will again bring the democratic forces to the forefront. The people, if given opportunity, would always reject both the hardcore left and the right. If we look at the period between post-1990 popular movement and the beginning of the Maoist movement, the nation had already moved towards the center. Even the United Marxists Leninist Party (UML) which has a sizeable number of extreme left-leaning ideologues like Bam Dev Gautam that appears more radical than many Maoist radicals at the higher echelon of the party, had embraced multiparty parliamentary democracy.

The growth of media was impressive. Slowly but surely the mainstream media was eroding the reach of vernacular weeklies that serve political parties rather than shaping public opinion for the greater good of the nation. Schools and colleges were being opened in villages like never before and the private sector had begun to flourish. Had the Maoists not bogged down the genuine democratic process, we would have made a significant political and economic progress by now.

For the mainstream political parties, gaining the lost political grounds might not be as hard as it might seem to be. All they got to do is, act smart and act now. Before it gets too late, the NC and the UML, that are the major partners of the current coalition should do two things: (a) ask security forces to make the cadres of the mainstream political parties feel safe (2) explain to people as and why it is dangerous to get swayed by the brainwashed ideologues and ethnic hustlers. Give them real world examples. Let he people know how Communist regimes around the world got crumbled under the weight of their Orwellian goals, of which, they never got even close. Tell them why it is dangerous to experiment radical communism even if it is for a short period of time.

It is important for people to know how hard people of former communist regimes are struggling to overcome the legacy of totalitarianism, which aggressively sought to eradicate anything that might serve as an institutional foundation for democracy.

Like the recent uprising in the tarai gave moderate regional parties a space to operate, the upcoming CA elections will give space to moderate mainstream political parties that have been competing with each other democratically for almost two decades. Nepali society will again move towards the center.

Like the 3-year long draconian Panchayat regime could not force the society to move towards the extreme right, the decade old Maoists’ propaganda and violence will not be able to persuade Nepali society to move towards the extreme left. It will simply not happen under the ideal conditions. Nepali society is resilient enough to survive forceful indoctrinations.

Lately, the Maoists have been acting like cornered animals and intensified their attacks on political rivals. The mainstream media are awash with the breach of the election Code of Conduct by the Maoists. It is important to understand that the Maoists are intimidating the mainstream political parties’ rank-and-files with a hope that their intimidation tactics will force the NC and the UML to come to an informal understanding that they need to ensure the victory of the Maoist candidates in the upcoming CA elections. They know it very well that without the support of the NC and the UML, humiliating defeat in the CA polls is inevitable.

Unlike in the past, the NC and the UML should not fall into the laid Maoist trap this time around. Any informal understanding to ensure the Maoist victory will falsely project their strength and hence encourage them to indulge in more irrational political bargains in the future. Let the actual strength of the political parties emerge. That is what democracy is all about, isn’t it?

There is still a huge population that despises both extreme left and the right.

Young Turks like Gagan Thapa should rethink the danger associated with positioning oneself towards the far-left fringe of the Congress party. By positioning yourself on the far-left, you will blur the difference between yourself and Khim Lal Devkota.

There is nothing to worry about the Maoist crowd gathered to listen to threat laden rhetoric of the Maoist ideologues in the open theater. Boris Yeltsin is a spectacular example of how former communists can easily become anticommunists. All you got to do is, position yourself in the center, and fight against both the extreme left’s propaganda machine and the muscle power. Once people understand the limits of an outdated utopian dream of equality that the extreme left is trying hard to sell and once they get convinced that the physical threat posed by the left can be challenged, they will come out in favor of democratic forces like never before. People are sick and tired of the violent politics practiced by the hardcore leftist radicals. Just hang in there and do what true democrats do best: fight against the extreme left’s propaganda machine and muscle power by energizing the democratic base. It is definitely a winnable game.