Editorial
Beware the political parties; they could bring us to riots and insurrection. This is no quote from King Mahendra who introduced the party-less Panchayat Democracy in Nepal. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria found it convenient to quote these lines from George Washington’s farewell statement in his excellent coverage ‘The Divided States of America’ recently. Mahendra based his conclusions on the behaviour of political parties in Nepal during the fifties. Washington’s farewell statement reviewed the American experience and the lines went virtually unchanged even if it was originally written five years previous to its public delivery since he was asked to retain his presidential post an additional five years after the expiry of his original two terms. The founding American president was aware that his birthing country faced challenges from then global powers England, France and Spain. Nepal’s own Mahendra was verily conscious of his neighbours and the West. The difference the political party has brought to national performance since its reintroduction in 1990 would surely have had to reflect in national performance. Any fair assessment cannot but conclude that national performance has been having not just been poor. It is dangerously unproductive. It has cost the state.
Nepali democracy is once again dysfunctional in Nepal. It is the political party that has made it dysfunctional. Not only have they inordinately succumbed to outside powers. Their use of corruption to reach and keep public office has bled the country. They have performed merely to repeat their previous failure and hold the country at ransom to own the state. Having ousted the monarchy unconstitutionally, they contribute to the entanglement of a constitution of their own making. As on previous occasions, the problem begins within the party. The effect is on the state. Prime Minister K.P. Oli is in the process of cleaning up his political party which he says impeded his functioning. In the process, an elected parliament lies dormant. The streets have been aroused with the most malicious of charges within the ruling party. The elected opposition would rather wait on the sideline for a collapse that can flip them to government. The fact is the dormancy of the sovereign parliament. At what cost to sovereignty? one cannot but ask.
‘The criminalization of politics and the politicization of criminals’ has long been a trait reminiscent of Count Alexei de Tocqueville’s damaging assessment of American democracy a hundred years after the U.S. republic was established. Oli’s sweep of his party politics is not only surfacing the dirty workings of his own political party but the unearthing of buried hatchets threatens to blemish democracy outright. Courts that have ruled to intern criminal acts are now at odds of having to politicize such acts. On the other hand, recourse to a judicial decision is being sought for outstanding corruption cases previously swept under the carpet for political convenience. One is aware that politics is racing for advantage in inevitable elections. It is the political party that must be advantaged. And, of course, its leader. But, not the system. And, of course, not the country.
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