Editorial
It is not just the system anymore. The total fabric of Nepali society is tearing at the seams. The constitution is being held at ransom from the streets where the government and its opposing section of the ruling party are fielding cadre. Society waits for the moment when the war of words will translate into fisticuffs and brickbats. The official opposition opts for the streets in preparation for the declared elections while at the same time deploring the government’s action to dissolve parliament for the elections. A section of the supposedly extreme Left has combined publicly for public agitation demanding outright change in the system suiting its radical purposes. The combined Tarai parties and the supposedly Royalist RPP are casual watchers of the Congress but are said to be contenders to any government feelers for a coalition. One does not forget that most successful elections in the country have only been conducted by coalitions. Indeed, participation in government has almost always been a pre-condition for elections shattered only by Girija Koirala’s mid-term that cost him his parliamentary majority but did eliminate the then fringe left from the mainstream precipitating the Maoist revolt.
There is no doubt that the system has stalled because of the constitution’s built-in demands for a share in its spoils. That it has stalled. In its wake, the spoilers being the advocates of the system themselves, the scare of revivalism that is being touted becomes equally real. That revivalism is almost tantamount to the reinstallation of the monarchy in Nepal by the government is among the ridiculous outpourings from both government and opposition sources. The government appears deliberate in its attempts to tempt hopes from these quarters to lure street support from the hopefuls. Its opposition is fuelling these charges to retain its claim to purity to secure for itself the credibility it seeks in preserving the change enshrined in the constitution. Once again both attempts focus on the monarchy while the monarchists remain a hapless lot squandering its street presence usurped by political parties which have taken to the streets in the constitutional fray.
It is thus that focus is being turned to what happened to the street presence of those who want change in the constitution favoring the reinstitution of the monarchy, the country’s Hindu identity and the restoration of its singular status in a manner that can accommodate demands for sectoral representation. For once, there appears to be growing attention on the need to see these changes in constitutional perspective zeroing in on the 1990 constitution. There is this assumption that a coherent leadership precipitating a united response will bring about the change from the streets. This is merely wishful thinking though. The fact that the monarchy failed is a reality covered up by allegations of foreign intents, ineptitude and sabotage. This has allowed the movement to be penetrated from various quarters with ulterior intents all along. The fact that the movement did succeed in showing itself on the streets nationwide is, nevertheless, a demonstration of spontaneity that sabotage could not prevent. That it will resume on the streets with the spontaneity and strength of disorganized public support is a safe bet. It will remain a diluted movement no doubt but the disorganization can itself turn into strength in one manner or the other exposing the fractures in Nepali society that the current system will not have a remedy for but one that will need corrections soon if Nepali society as such is not to be fractured irreparably by the predominance of extreme partisanship.
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