Political battle lines drawn

AKHILESH UPADHYAY

KATHMANDU, NOV 04 - The deep polarisation between Maoists and non-Maoist parties has put the peace process in peril. There is now serious danger that the constitution making process will continue to remain on the backburner and the CA will fail to draft the new constitution by the May deadline.

This growing public perception—that the parties can’t work together and write the constitution—will further erode their legitimacy and may lead to crisis in governance, say analysts.

With the Maoists’ nationwide protests launched this week, the battle lines have been even more clearly drawn. On Monday, the Maoists in Dhankuta besieged the municipal office, where they “appointed” the mayor and deputy mayor. Pushpa Dhungana, the local Maoist leader who made the “appointments”, declared that the move was based on the “people’s constitution” under the Limbuwan Autonomous State.

A day later, a deeply alarmed Home Ministry convened an emergency meeting in Kathmandu atten-ded by heads of security agencies from Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, National Investigation Department and Nepal Army. The government concluded that the Maoist action had breached the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and reiterated what its Spokesman and Minister for Information and Communications had said a day before: the government could go so far as to mobilise the Army if the situation so demanded. On Nov. 9, the Maoists are scheduled to announce autonomous regions, as part of their ongoing protest, which will be yet another breach of the CPA, according to non-Maoist parties.

If anything, both the Maoist move in Dhankuta and the government response thereafter in Kathmandu have only increased the levels of mutual suspicion.

The turn of events since the Maoists started their nationwide protests on Nov. 1 is, however, only the manifestation of the political leadership’s—both Maoists and non-Maoists—failure to find a common ground on some core issues without external coercion: On the fundamental principles for the new constitution (on models of federalism, for example); on issues of integration and rehabilitation of PLA combatants; and on the president’s move in May reinstating then-Army chief Rookmangud Katawal who was sacked by the Maoist government.

Increasingly, the political leadership continues to be seen by the public as having failed in its core responsibi-lity of drafting the constitution by May next year. The race to stay in office, much in display in the 1990s, has restarted. Increasingly, Nepalis are publicly expressing frustration over non-delivery by CA members, each of whom is paid a monthly salary of close to Rs. 50,000. There have been su-ggestions that the CA members should receive a revised paycheck each month depending on their attendance.

“All the parties have abandoned commitment to value-based politics,” says analyst Lokraj Baral. “Unless there is consensus on minimum issues, history will repeat itself.” He attributes Nepal’s failure since the 1950s to institutionalise democracy and relapse into renewed conflicts to political expediency.