By Narayan Prasad Mishra
It is a well-known fact that during the Royal massacre and King Birendra’s death, Girija Prasad Koirala, the leader of the Nepali Congress Party, was our Prime Minister. After King Birendra’s sad demise in June 2021, his brother, Prince Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, became the King of Nepal. However, the country was not in good shape due to the Maoist movement, a revolution with guns, grenades, and bombs. People’s lives were not safe throughout the country. At the same time, there was also a big rivalry between Sher Bahadur Deuba and Girija Prasad Koirala in the Nepali Congress Party. Sher Bahadur Deuba became the prime minister on February 1, 2001. As prime minister, he requested the King to dissolve the parliament and hold a parliamentary election on November 13, 2002. The king acted accordingly.
Consequently, on May 26, 2002, Deuba was expelled from his party for three years on charges of not consulting the cabinet and his party. On September 22, 2002, he formed the Nepali Congress Party (Democratic). He was dismissed from his prime ministership by King Gyanendra for not being able to hold the election on time. After some years of unstable government under different prime ministers, Deuba became prime minister again. However, the country’s political situation was alarming because of the feud among the political parties, personal rivalry, conflict, accusations, and counter-accusations among the parties and their leaders. This resulted in the disruption of the multiparty system and the parliamentary system. The new parliament could not exist after the existing parliament was dissolved. Because of the disturbance, there was no possibility of an election soon to establish the dissolved parliament. So King Gyanendra assumed direct power by dismissing Deuba on February 1, 2005, aiming to keep the country in good order and create the atmosphere of the election according to the constitution. However, most political parties doubted the King’s motive. They did not try to create a harmonious relationship with him for the country’s cause except by demanding the reinstatement of the dissolved parliament.
In this situation, the Nepali Congress Party, under the leadership of Girija Prasad Koirala, started a protest and movement demanding the reinstatement of the dissolved parliament, which was against the court’s verdict. In this troubled situation, the enemies of our country and people played an unimaginable role against us.
On November 22, 2005, there appeared a twelve-point agreement between the seven political parties and the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist, the organization which was still called and labelled a terrorist organization.)with unbelievable surprise. The agreement was signed in Delhi, India. That was like a friendship between the mongoose and the snake. In an ordinary sense, that was impossible. That impossible was made possible and actual by a foreign power in disguise.
As soon as I learned about it, I thought the center of politics in Nepal would be the Maoists, and Maoists would drag all other parties to their agenda, plan, and programs. As a result, I composed the following poem, Sat Ghodako Sundar Buggy (The Beautiful Buggy with Seven Horses), which was published in the Nepali newspaper Janasatta Saptahik (Weekly) on September 8, 2006 ( 2063/5/31 ).
Poem in Nepali
Poem translated into English
The Beautiful Buggy With the Seven Horses
The beautiful buggy with the seven horses
The Charioteer is not seen in it
When I see the way the buggy is moving
The Charioteer seems very clever
Neither did it move right nor left
It went it’s proper direction
The Charioteer has a strong hold over the horses
The Charioteer must be saluted for its skill.
A picture of a buggy with the seven horses representing seven political parties, but the Charioteer is hidden.
The poem was born from my reaction and thoughts on the agreement. It came just like a picture in my mind that the political buggy was created by a foreign power with seven parties making its seven horses, and the Maoist leader Prachanda was made its Charioteer (prime conductor). Still, the Charioteer was hidden behind the screen. His wishes would decide the political line of the country. The movement and revolution started, and a massive number of people turned out.
Unfortunately, King Gyanendra became helpless and was compelled to reinstate the dissolved parliament on April 25, 2006, even against the Supreme Court’s earlier version on the issue, with hand-overing all the royal power. Girijja Koirala, the prime horse among the seven horses in Prachand’s buggy, won over the King with the help of six other horses and Prachanda, the unseen Charioteer. The Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) achieved its goal through the buggy of seven horses. Our King lost the game as he was betrayed by innumerable conspiracies woven by national and international forces. Of course, he made some mistakes and had weaknesses on this issue, such as bringing and appointing Dr. Tulsi Giri and some others to his cabinet when he assumed power, which was more irritating to his opponents and even the free-thinking people of the nation.
According to the Maoists’ wishes and conspiracy, Nepal became a republic instead of a constitutional monarchy, a secular state instead of a Hindu State, and a federal nation instead of a Prithvi Narayan Shah-unified nation. Putting an end to absolute monarchy was mentioned as the number one clause of the seven-point agreement. It showed they were not against the constitutional monarchy. But later, they ended even the constitutional monarchy, which was an open conspiracy towards the people, the crown, and the country. Initially, they even added a new rule during this period that even the King’s daughter could be the heir apparent if a male member of the same rank did not exist. That was guileful if they always had the motive to remove the kingship from the country and make it a republic. The three prime features of Nepal’s constitution, 1990 – 1. Constitutional Monarchy 2. Hindu State 3. Unified Nepal, happily accepted and adopted by all other parties, disappeared in the country for Prachanda’s Maoist wishes with the present constitution. Besides, the system of a large number of nominations in the name of proportional representation was included in the constitution to nominate their dear and near parliamentarians.
As a result, we lost our traditional head of the country, who always had a neutral role. Instead, we are bound to suffer from a political president who works as their party’s political pawn but not as a neutral head of the country. Besides, with a secular state, we lost harmony between our several faiths – Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, etc. Instead, many other faiths have the opportunity to convert others to their faiths and religions with money, political pressure, and power. We are witnessing the unimaginable increase of other faiths and their faith centers throughout the country, which is a big challenge to the existence of this country. We very often witness clashes between the different faiths. Because of the federal system, we are bound to spend enormous amounts of money on hundreds of portfolios and positions, including legislatures, chief ministers, and ministers, in a tiny country without any tangible gain, making our administrative system more complex and challenging to serve the people. We can see a burning example of the present unclear, complex administrative problem when we look at the current cooperative victim’s problem. According to the present Pradesh Sarkar’s Authority, the case of some cooperatives, including the Civil Savings and Credit Cooperative, is to be handled by Bagamati Pradesh. It is heard that they have not been able to do this duty due to many administrative problems, including a lack of knowledge and human resources. Because of the proportional representation system, they created a system where no party would get the majority. The country was always unstable with a coalition government. That made the system of sharing and dividing (Bhagabanda) all portfolios, state positions, etc., among themselves, and the power holders could loot the country, deceiving the constitution.
Consequently, the country has been ruined almost to an unrepairable condition in all sectors—politics, economics, education, religion, science and technology, business, factories and industries, and international relations. We see development and flourishment only in corruption and mismanagement. Corruption, like the fake Bhutanese refugee scandal, stamped Nepal and Nepalese synonymous with the most corrupt nations and countries globally. All are aware of it. The nationalist forces are in the streets raising big voices for the constitutional monarchy, a Hindu State, and the abolition of the federal structure. According to Martin Luther King, Jr, the well-known American civil rights leader, we should not be guilty of wrongful deeds while gaining our rightful place. He is so right in his statement. In achieving the above-mentioned rightful demands, one should not give false hope or assurance to our people about the exemption of bank loans, bank interest, or anything else like doing wrongful deeds as the Maoists did during their movement. If we love our country, we should all undoubtedly be gravely concerned and work to mend our mistakes in our political system and the constitution and put our country back in order. May God bless our people to fulfil their wishes successfully with unity and wisdom.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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