Editorial»
Democracy in danger
DEC 25 - In China, Communist party leader Mao Tse Tung is still remembered for his wise remarks: “Party must guide the gun, not the other way around”. Mao largely lived up to his famous dictum, and thus the People’s Liberation Army never went against the party directives. He realised that any movement, whether revolutionary or insurgent, would face defeat if it resorted to mindless violence. The history shows that whoever took to the gun devoid of ideas later faced a humiliating defeat.
Take an insurgency or a state too, it is the idea, not the gun, which is vital for the economic development as well as for the promotion of democratic values. US former president Dwight Eisenhower had also warned against the danger of continued dominance by the military and the armament industry.
Recently, American scholar Noam Chomsky expressed his fear that supporting violence in the name of ideology would become counter-productive and dangerous. He further said that reckless increase on defence budget would make governments dependent for their survival on armed forces, not on people.
Chomsky has opposed all the attempts of the rulers to using armed forces as an important electoral constituency to forward their anti-people agenda. However, there are a few takers who still listen to such wise counselling.
The need of the hour is, therefore, to realise that violence alone cannot lead us to any meaningful solution to the current impasse. The country needs to free from the culture of violence and intolerance. The innocent people are losing their lives because of the confrontation between the state and the rebels. The incidents of Bhairahawa and Pokhara point to that fact. If not tackled the situation wisely, things could go beyond control of the government.
The government should not do anything that harms and hurts the sentiments of the innocent people, on the pretext of dealing with the insurgent group. Both sides, therefore, realise the fact that confrontation between the two forces is harming the defenceless common people.
The government as well as the political parties during the war should realise that victory cannot be achieved unless the other side accepts the defeat.
When it does not happen, the stage is set for perennial war. The government can leave the rebels some room for compromise. The rebels have come down from the earlier demand of republic to constituent assembly, all-party conference and interim government. Subsequently, the top rebel leaders came out over ground some months ago, giving an indication of their readiness for a face saving deal. So, imposing very harsh conditions on the rebels might take them further away from reconciliation.
Wise leaders of the then America had used their influence to end the US Civil war with less recrimination. In the first Gulf War, the US emerged as victor defeating Saddam Hussein who vacated Kuwait. It was a devastating humiliation for Iraq and its leadership. Iraq was defeated so badly that in the Second Gulf War, its army virtually ceased to fight. The US could have avoided the option of the Second Gulf War by letting Iraq to have some sort of face saving compromise soon after the first Gulf War.
In the context of Nepal, we too can apply the Gulf War analogy to Maoist insurgency. It will be fatal if the parties concerned take entrenched positions. Leaders of both the parties should become wise and show flexibility, allowing room to manoeuvre. They should not depend on those advisers who push them into a position from where no retreat is possible.
The country today suffers because of the lack of strong tradition of democracy. Now the leaders of five agitating political parties seem to have realised the importance of a democratic path. However, they are still guided by the policy of self-protection. They had themselves deviated from the democratic path when they were in power, even yielding to the temptation of becoming dictator of their respective parties as well as the nation. In India, too, the political leaders became aware of the danger of their internal bickering and unprincipled fighting among themselves when Indira Gandhi slapped on the country the 19-month-long state of emergency during which democratic parties were suspended. Though, later she held a free election and lost it comprehensively, still the period is treated as a dark era in the history of Gandhi. After the emergency, Indian political leaders have learned a lesson that democratic path should not be abandoned even temporarily for any reason whatsoever, including the acceleration of the pace of development.
Our country, too, needs acceleration of economic development without discarding the democratic path. The government, the rebel group and other parties should realise how the Nepalis face humiliation and insult while visiting abroad.
Ten days ago, a Hindi daily — Dainik Jagaran — published from Lucknow and Gorakhpur printed a news item on the front page. It was about several hundred thousands of Nepali young girls and ladies now working as prostitutes in various brothels of Indian cities, including Mumbai, Calcutta, Lucknow and New Delhi. The news reporter writes that in Mumbai alone, there are over 22 thousands Nepali girls forced to sell their flesh for mere
survival. The paper further mentions Sonagachhi of Calcutta where equal numbers of Nepali women serve as pimp.
The news reporter said that Nepal exports such girls to India. The paper says the majority of these girls belong to Magar, Gurung, Rai, Tamang and Dalit communities. The rest belong to Brahmin and Chhetri castes. Anyone who reads the news item is bound to feel ashamed as a Nepali citizen. The news exposes the hollow socio-political system of Nepal that cannot take care of its citizens.
As long as we cannot root out such problems from our society, it is meaningless to opt for a WTO member. Becoming WTO member at this stage will endanger the possibility of establishing democracy. It is still not clear to many that WTO will take away democratic rights of the poor countries like Nepal. It is hard to believe that big and rich nations will do anything to enhance the socio-economic position of Nepal. The need of the hour is to realise that becoming WTO members will not benefit the country.
Once Nepal becomes a WTO member, it has to open several sectors to foreign investment, by lessening our control on our own affairs. Therefore, the country should resolve the present conflict on its own and proceed to economic development without giving unlimited access to foreign companies. If all parties concerned comprehend the reality of the country, the danger for democracy can be minimised.Posted on: 2003-12-25 02:47
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