On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
We saw the recent election developments in London. The general elections were held peacefully, results were made public immediately and the Labor Party won the elections by defeating the ruling Conservative Party. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made brief remarks and quit the government residence along with his wife. Sunak said sorry to the British voters and took sole responsibility for the defeat. He not only quit the PM’s post without any delay but also decided to quit the Conservative Party’s leadership. In the morning, Sunak left the PM’s residence and on the same day, the British King appointed Keir Starmer of the Labor Party as the new Prime Minister. There was no hue and cry and no hurdles in handing over the power. The new Prime Minister, in his first statement, said, “The nation is always above the party”. This is an example of democracy.
Maybe, there is a difference between democracy and “loktnatra”, PM Pushpakamal Dahal is still hanging on the power even knowing the fact that he has fallen into the minority and there is no chance for him to demonstrate a vote of confidence except from a miracle.
This time, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML chairman K.P. Sharma Oli gave a big surprise to Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal. Dahal was talking about the magic number of 32 that will lead him to the PM’s post until the next general election. Surprizingly, the July 1 midnight agreement between Deuba and Oli turned into a big misfortune for PM Dahal. Nepali Congress, the largest party, and UML, the second largest party, in Parliament, developed an alliance to run the country turn by turn. Following the written agreement between Deuba and Oli, perhaps, after July 12, Oli will become the prime minister and after two years, Deuba may become the prime minister but we cannot expect a drastic change in the governance. We have already seen both of them as the prime minister again and again. Their contribution to nation-building was negligible, nevertheless, both of them established new records in bad governance and corruption. The new partnership is also for sharing the government coffer in a planned way.
There are speculations that the partnership developed overnight in Delhi’s interests. Pro-Nepali Congress intellectual Puranjan Acharya, in an interview, said that in the Indian interests, the new alliance between the Nepali Congress and UML was developed. According to Acharya, PM Dahal was preparing to implement the BRI and to stop the BRI projects, India decided to topple PM Dahal. Be that as it may, Dahal always worked in the Indian interests. He handed over some key rivers to India. Moreover, in the Indian interests, PM Dahal inked an agreement for exporting electricity to India. Now, it is Oli’s time to serve the Indians. Then, Deuba’s turn will come to serve them. Unfortunately, the Nepali people will get nothing.
While talking about Dahal or Oli or Deuba, they all are in the race to please their Indian bosses. One Indian ex-army general Ashok Maheta, in the recent past, had said, that Dahal is an Indian horse in the race and Deuba a horse in the stable. Claver Oli wants to become a strong Indian horse stronger than Dahal. Oli is committed to proving it as he wants to become stronger with the blessings of the Indians. In the past also, Oli tried his best and held a one-on-one meeting with the then RAW chief Sawant Goel by offering a red-carpet welcome for him at the PM’s residence, which was against the diplomatic protocol. Nevertheless, the very person, who escorted the Indian RAW chief, Captain Rameshwor Thapa was the key person in inking the seven-point agreement between Oli and Deuba. The signing ceremony took place at Thapa’s residence in Maharajgunj.
Unfortunately, we make our prime minister serve the foreigners’ interests. We cannot expect the nation’s welfare from such characters.
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