Since the CA elections, each government has been formed over shifting issues, and each government has failed over these issues—anti-India-pro-India, holy-unholy alliance, chicken or egg controversy. However, some issues have remained constant: While the anti-Maoists always raise the issue of Maoist dishonesty over PLA integration and the broader peace process—an issue over which they prevented the Maoists from coming to power—the Maoists themselves, even while suspecting the non-Maoists, have shifted their goal posts from revolt to peace and constitution in the throes of their own intra-party dialectic. Despite some salutary effect of this shift in the Maoist position on the public at large, it has had little impact on the Congress and a section of the UML. And now that Khanal is out of government, he, too, has forgotten all about left solidarity and begun to sound like Oli and has already wished Bhattarai bad luck. In the meantime, the Madhesi leaders, after tearing each other apart and splitting or looking up to the Congress and now to the Maoists for the fulfillment of their demands, have finally overcome their confusion and hang-ups, and joined the Maoists in government formation.
In all this confusion and back-and-forth over the last three years, the Maoist position has constantly evolved. Can the same be said of the anti-Maoists? For example, the Armageddon that the self-appointed guardians of Nepal’s democracy had foretold after Khanal government’s so-called Left Alliance, never materialised. Instead, we have Baburam Bhattarai trying his best to settle in and steer the process forward despite
a foreseen hurdle from his party hardliners. But the majority government must turn into consensus political formation for Bhattarai to succeed. And the Congress and the UML must join hands in order to A. rescue themselves from their own confusion and future doom and B. help Bhattarai and Dahal wrestle with their own hardliners so that Nepal can have a future as a country and so they can have a future as political parties.
But it appears that the Nepali political scene has turned from hopelessness and suspicion into fear of success. And this fear of success has afflicted both the Maoists and the non-Maoists in different ways: Suffering from the martyr’s syndrome and steeped in the language of fire and brimstone, Maoist hardliners fear that, alas, they may not have to die for the cause and that, by living, they may have to deal with the capitalist world and its technology of freedom and prosperity—its iPads and iPhones rather than the grass bread in the jungle. Secondly, they fear that the comrade they vilified so much for his political stance may very well succeed. How can a man whom they designated as revisionist and pro-India succeed? They have read about success always stemming from the barrel of the gun based on the theories of the past two centuries; not pragmatism, diplomacy, or by running the state based on original thinking that they can themselves come up with after the deep reading of the past and present in a new dialectic. They fear that dialectics, after all, is not just something of historical events alone but of theories and philosophies also.
Then we have the anti-Maoists. They have their own fear of success. They fear that the Maoists, whom they detested so much for so long, have finally got their house in order by taking up the challenge of peace and constitution seriously and, like the success of the insurgency, will deliver peace and constitution under their leadership. So, Khanal, embittered by his ouster, has begun to sound like his arch rival Oli, and many of his party colleagues—who at heart, are anti-Madhesi— and has begun to oppose what the Madhesis might get as a result of their alliance with the Maoists. The perfidy of the UML’s anti-Madhesi stance stems from Madhav Kumar Nepal government’s decision to make daura-suruwal and topi Nepal’s national dress. I mean, what do these people think? Do they live on some other planet or what? Or, are they burying their proverbial heads in the sand? So, UML has reason to fear Dahal and Bhattarai’s success in delivering peace and constitution and rendering its hill chauvinism defunct. The Congress, too, has its own fear of success. Long held, and justifiably so, as the bulwark of Nepali democracy, it fears the
Maoists and Madhesis dethroning them from that high pedestal. Besides, they fear that the Maoist-Madhesi alliance will forever rob them of their already shrinking Madhesi vote bank. Both the UML and the Congress suffer from the hubris of the entitled: that they are the only forces ordained to rule Nepal and that only their rule can get the stamp of legitimacy. Congress had this hubris in the 1990s. By now, the UML, too, suffers from it after so many stints in the government.
Somebody should tell them that times have changed; the ground beneath their feet has shifted. Old political and cultural verities no longer hold nor will they endear them to Nepal’s divergent people. Fear of others’ success will not save them from electoral doom in the future. To remain in currency, they need to update and upgrade themselves.
On the other hand, the Maoists should also know that without the help of Congress and the UML, the constitution will be difficult —even if the peace process finally concludes. But if the Maoists and the Madhesis play their part well and the Congress and the UML remain hung up on old prejudices and hubris, as goaded by their organic intellectuals, then they will have nobody to blame but themselves if they disappear from the Nepali political scene like the Liberal Party in Britain. In a post-Congress-UML Nepal, the Maoists will become the party based on economic issues and a new party will emerge based on ethnic and cultural issues with economic conservatism. In any event, if not totally wiped out, the UML and the Congress will have to sit in permanent opposition.
It is clear by now that the top leaders of these parties, unable to form a consensus for a variety of reasons, will not deliver either the peace process or a complex constitution that satisfies most Nepalis. Too many big egos, too many petty ambitions, too many outdated mental habits—and dearth of vision for a just and prosperous Nepal. This is why, it is the Central Committee folks of the Congress and the UML who have to step up to the plate to press their leadership to forge consensus with the Maoists and Madhesis on peace and constitution. They need to wake up, stand up and break ranks if necessary, and come together for the common cause. Don’t let the upstarts steal the show.have remained constant: While the anti-Maoists always raise the issue of Maoist dishonesty over PLA integration and the broader peace process—an issue over which they prevented the Maoists from coming to power— the Maoists themselves, even while suspecting the non-Maoists, have shifted their goal posts from revolt to peace and constitution in the
throes of their own intra-party dialectic. Despite some salutary effect of this shift in the Maoist position on the public at large, it has had little impact on the Congress and a section of the UML. And now that Khanal is out of government, he, too, has forgotten all about left solidarity and begun to sound like Oli and has already wished Bhattarai bad luck. In the meantime, the Madhesi leaders, after tearing each other apart and splitting or looking up to the Congress and now to the Maoists for the fulfillment of their demands, have finally overcome their confusion and hang-ups, and joined the Maoists in government formation.
In all this confusion and back-and-forth over the last three years, the Maoist position has constantly evolved. Can the same be said of the anti-Maoists? For example, the Armageddon that the self-appointed guardians of Nepal’s democracy had foretold after Khanal government’s so-called Left Alliance, never materialised.
Instead, we have Baburam Bhattarai trying his best to settle in and steer the process forward despite
a foreseen hurdle from his party hardliners. But the majority government must turn into consensus political formation for Bhattarai to succeed. And the Congress and the UML must join hands in order to A. rescue themselves from their own confusion and future doom and B. help Bhattarai and Dahal wrestle with their own hardliners so that Nepal can have a future as a country and so they can have a future as political parties.
But it appears that the Nepali political scene has turned from hopelessness and suspicion into fear of success. And this fear of success has afflicted both the Maoists and the non-Maoists in different ways: Suffering from the martyr’s syndrome and steeped in the language of fire and brimstone, Maoist hardliners fear that, alas, they may not have to die for the cause and that, by living, they may have to deal with the capitalist world and its technology of freedom and prosperity—its iPads and iPhones rather than the grass bread in the jungle. Secondly, they fear that the comrade they vilified so much for his political stance may very well succeed. How can a man whom they designated as revisionist and pro-India succeed? They have read about success always stemming from the barrel of the gun based on the theories of the past two centuries; not pragmatism, diplomacy, or by running the state based on original thinking that they can themselves come up with after the deep reading of the past and present in a new dialectic. They fear that dialectics, after all, is not just something of historical events alone but of theories and philosophies also.
Then we have the anti-Maoists. They have their own fear of success. They fear that the Maoists, whom they detested so much for so long, have finally got their house in order by taking up the challenge of peace and constitution seriously and, like the success of the insurgency, will deliver peace and constitution under their leadership. So, Khanal, embittered by his ouster, has begun to sound like his arch rival Oli, and many of his party colleagues—who at heart, are anti-Madhesi— and has begun to oppose what the Madhesis might get as a result of their alliance with the Maoists. The perfidy of the UML’s anti-Madhesi stance stems from Madhav Kumar Nepal government’s decision to make daura-suruwal and topi Nepal’s national dress. I mean, what do these people think? Do they live on some other planet or what? Or, are they burying their proverbial heads in the sand? So, UML has reason to fear Dahal and Bhattarai’s success in delivering peace and constitution and rendering its hill chauvinism defunct.
The Congress, too, has its own fear of success. Long held, and justifiably so, as the bulwark of Nepali democracy, it fears the
Maoists and Madhesis dethroning them from that high pedestal. Besides, they fear that the Maoist-Madhesi alliance will forever rob them of their already shrinking Madhesi vote bank. Both the UML and the Congress suffer from the hubris of the entitled: that they are the only forces ordained to rule Nepal and that only their rule can get the stamp of legitimacy. Congress had this hubris in the 1990s. By now, the UML, too, suffers from it after so many stints in the government.
Somebody should tell them that times have changed; the ground beneath their feet has shifted. Old political and cultural verities no longer hold nor will they endear them to Nepal’s divergent people. Fear of others’ success will not save them from electoral doom in the future. To remain in currency, they need to update and upgrade themselves.
On the other hand, the Maoists should also know that without the help of Congress and the UML, the constitution will be difficult —even if the peace process finally concludes. But if the Maoists and the
Madhesis play their part well and the Congress and the UML remain hung up on old prejudices and hubris, as goaded by their organic intellectuals, then they will have nobody to blame but themselves if they disappear from the Nepali political scene like the Liberal Party in Britain. In a post-Congress-UML Nepal, the Maoists will become the party based on economic issues and a new party will emerge based on ethnic and cultural issues with economic conservatism. In any event, if not totally wiped out, the UML and the Congress will have to sit in permanent opposition.
It is clear by now that the top leaders of these parties, unable to form a consensus
for a variety of reasons, will not deliver either the peace process or a complex constitution that satisfies most Nepalis. Too many big egos, too many petty ambitions, too many outdated mental habits—and dearth of vision for a just and prosperous Nepal. This is
why, it is the Central Committee folks of the Congress and the UML who have to step up to the plate to press their leadership to forge consensus with the Maoists and Madhesis on peace and constitution. They need to wake up, stand up and break ranks if necessary, and come together for the common cause. Don’t let the upstarts steal the show.
Picture itself said. no word we had to say
