On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
“We observe “Ghode Jatra” (horse festival once in a year and the “Gai Jatra” in the rest of the year”, wrote senior colleague Ratna Sansar Shrestha on the day when we were observing “Ghode Jatra” 11 April. I solely agree with him.
Every day, we are observing the Jatra staged by the political leaders. It has already been one and a half months since the Supreme Court restored the House of Representatives, nevertheless, the court verdict has contributed to introducing a political deadlock. Still, there is the government led by K.P. Sharma Oli and the opposition parties are unable to give an alternative government. The political impasse continues. The entire political process has halted. The House of Representatives is running without business. The government is unable to give business to the Parliament as it lacks a majority. There is a pile of matured bills to be endorsed from the Parliament, unfortunately, the House is without business. The opponent political parties are unable to file a vote of no-confidence against the government. Both the ruling party and the opposition parties are running behind the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) for their political existence. The ruling party is trying to save the government with the support of JSP, whereas, the opposition parties are trying to give an alternative government with the support of JSP. The JSP, on the other hand, is indecisive on whether to support the government or to develop an alliance with the opponents. The nation is wasting time and wasting money and exhibiting a grand tamasha to the entire globe. This is an example of the failure of the system.
The base of the present political system is the 12-point agreement and the covert fund provided by the EU to our corrupt leaders who were writing the constitution. As the constitution is written in the sole interests of the foreign powers, it didn’t suit the Nepali climate.
The constitution is non-functional as this is the fusion of a parliamentarian democracy and communism. The Parliament is called the “Byabesthapika Sansad” to give the communist flavour. The main hurdle for securing a majority by any of the political parties is the proportional election.
The UML, NC and JSP are seen keen for a fresh election as the deadlock in the parliament continues. The outcome of the general elections is already clear. The Nepali Congress will emerge as the largest party, whereas, the UML will emerge as the second-largest party, whereas, the JSP and Maoist Center may compete for the third position. RPP will also improve its position significantly. Due to the lack of a necessary majority, the government after the election will also be a hung parliament. Again, we will see practices such as horse-trading, conspiracy against the government, topple down of the government every six months. Even if the political parties will go for a fresh mandate, it will not resolve the existing political problem. However, rather than the political standstill, going for a fresh people’s mandate is a democratic move. Contradictorily, those who are lauding for a fresh election, are blamed for being a regressive element, whereas, those, who are trying to forge an alliance government through an unholy and unnatural alliance, are claiming themselves as an offensive force.
Inside the party also, the leaderships are found dismissing those elected people’s representatives on the charge of being involved in anti-party activities. The Maoist Center has dismissed four directly elected MPs. The UML may also dismiss some MPs soon. On almost every page of the constitution, we can see the words “people’s supremacy” but the party leaders are seen all in all. There is a lack of rule of law everywhere. When there was a majority government, it was unable to perform as the leaders in the party wanted their share everywhere. The prime job of the prime minister was to satisfy the leaders in the party, instead of running the government. In such a manner, the constitutional bodies which are the major organs to function the governance became the platform of those people nearer and dearer of the leaders. Non-qualified people started to pay commission in advance to enjoy posts in the constitutional bodies. In other words, all the government posts including the ambassadorial position are on sale. In short, politics became a business earning profit without investment.
The entire nation has become the hostage of some self-centred greedy leaders. The most unfortunate thing is that well-educated citizens are running behind those greedy politicos. Every day, the leaders are staging tamasha and we, the people, instead of punishing such leaders, are enjoying the comedy show. There is a severe violation of individual rights, democratic values, human rights and fundamental rights, however, we are not tired to claim that this is the best constitution in the world! We talk much about our dissatisfaction but we are doing no effort to end the dissatisfaction. We all know that the system and the politicos are dysfunctional but we are doing nothing to throw away them.
Unless we, the people, will not stand against the perversions, we will be always ruled by those foolish self-centred politicos. If Oli is ousted, Deuba or Prachanda will come to rule us turn by turn and the nation is not going to get anything special from them except the tamasha.
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