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The Post-CA Poll Political Scenario
C. D . Bhatta
It was always a privi lege to write
a column for this daily, but this scribe was unable to continue
for some time due to occult reasons. With a fresh commitment
to continue, allow me to express my feelings on the current
political affairs. During the period, sea changes have taken
place in the Nepali political landscape. The much-awaited
election to the Constituent Assembly (CA) has been held, and
new political forces have emerged in the Nepali political
arena. Moreover, as is the case in the past movement(s), public
expectations have shot up with the successful completion of
the CA election. The people in general are of the view that
peace will prevail and restructuring of the state will address
grievances of the critical masses and open further opportunities.
Political shape
The victory of the CPN (Maoist) in the
CA elections has raised hopes for the subaltern classes
and the general people, who are of the view that the hitherto
class struggles and societal gap will be bridged. Now, the
political parties are exercising to form a new government,
and the date for the first sitting of the CA has been announced.
Having said this, however, it is still not clear how and
what type of political shape the country will take at a
time when the normative challenges facing the Nepali state
are enormous even in terms of putting the state on 'track'
let alone the 'right track'.
Allow me to jot down some of the facts as to how the substantive
new politics will be and to what extent it can deliver the
public expectations under the current circumstances vis-à-vis
the political parties, political culture, pervasive geopolitical
influence and the like. Let me begin by putting down some
of the empirical political thoughts on the current state
of affairs, which came into limelight during the recent
political discourse that took place in Nuwakot district
as part of the state-building programme.
The programme was organised by Friedrich
Ebert Stiftung (FES), a Germany-based political foundation
in Kathmandu. The political discourses that take place outside
of Kathmandu are particularly important, as I have always
written in the past that what makes a difference in Nepali
politics is not the discourse that takes place in the palatial
hotels of Kathmandu but in the wretched huts of the rural
areas.
The overarching aim of this programme
was to train and educate the local people on contemporary
political issues such as civic rights, democracy, constitution-making
process and current state affairs and trickle down the knowledge
to the grass-roots level. The programme was attended by
members of all the political parties, journalists, schoolteachers,
college lecturers, members of civil society, members of
interests groups and many more. Newly elected members of
the CA from the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) also attended
the programme.
The feeling that came out of the seminar
was that mere holding of the CA election and writing a (democratic)
constitution will not serve the interest of the Nepali state
if the political leadership emerging from the recent political
process does not address the underlying problems of the
Nepali state. For example, we find a lot of emphasis being
laid on land reform, employment, education, health, food
security and inclusion of those communities/groups that
have been historically left behind by the state into the
national mainstream.
Some of the groups are ready to wage war
against the Nepali state if these problems are not duly
addressed. Another interesting point that we found is that
the new political forces have already subdued the mainstream
political parties of the yesteryears vis-à-vis the
Nepali Congress, UML and RPP as they are nowhere to be seen.
In the same vein, the other interesting finding was that
no political party talks about American imperialism and
Indian expansionism; political parties only talk about getting
into the helm of power.
Addressing all internal and external issues
will not be easy sailing, however. A single issue of land
reform or food crisis could easily derail the government
or create political instability for that matter. What we
need is people-oriented politics, which is yet to be ushered
in. Perhaps, Dev Raj Dahal, head of FES Nepal, is right
to argue that a modern state is based on civic political
culture, which is people-oriented, transcends particular
petty interests and is able to reconstruct the Nepali state
and society.
Democratic peace
That said, however, even to establish
a civic political culture, what is needed is some sort of
mechanism/formula and foundation. In this regard, well-known
constitutional expert of the country, Kashi Raj Dahal, provides
a four-point recipe, which could play a crucial role in
establishing democratic peace in the country. For him, election
is a pre-condition to spearheading the peace-process in
the country as it provides legitimacy both to the peace
process and major stakeholders of the conflict. In the context
of Nepal, the CPN (Maoist) has established legitimacy through
the CA election. Secondly, the constitution (democratic)
has to be written according to the will of the people and
should address the incumbent diversity of the nation. Thirdly,
re-integration and reconciliation are equally important,
and, finally, explicit commitment from the political leadership
to translate the political roadmap into reality. If we can
incorporate these points sincerely, the political process,
for sure, can achieve the desired objectives. Otherwise,
merely holding an election will not serve the interests
of the nation.
(Bhatta is a political scientist by training.)
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