Editorial
Somewhere in the possibilities of turns in the dark tunnel that the country has entered, us Nepalis are hoping that there is light at the end. When K.P.Oli turns holy of a sudden and media covers his obeisance at the Pashupatinath Temple knows that he is ‘playing’ politics. Oli, the Mahakali Treaty promoter, is once more re-building his image. And, why shouldn’t he? All concur that his steps to defeat the arbitrary Indian blockade on Nepal helped his party win near a two-thirds majority in the now-dissolved parliament. The Party, on the other hand, placed itself under his leadership to cash in his nationalist credentials. In this sense, Oli’s strategy is meaningful if his declared political agenda is the elections for which he is said to have dissolved parliament. There is another angle to his public display of religious belief also. The Prime Minister is currently being opposed at the moment by hard-line members of his party who vigorously champion the undemocratic abrogation of Nepal’s traditional identity as the Hindu Kingdom. Oli is seeking support (and votes) from the increasingly vociferous anti-secular population. Of course, he could simply have discovered religion again. For an increasing sceptic population though, Oli the long time communist whose first stint in office was marked by his unpopular attempt to host an international gathering of an obscure Korean Church, the latest gimmick can only be politics and not mere religion.
There is more though. Oli’s opponents are now squarely on the side of a constitution that emerged from the New Delhi deal. The constitution is in the docks and Oli’s opponents are near-unanimous in portraying his actions as regression. Indeed, he is being portrayed as a hidden monarchist wanting to do away with the ‘gains’ of the second people’s movement that ushered in the current constitution. Given that most analysts concur with the possibility that politics has entered a new phase whichever way the judiciary decides on the constitutional provisions, Oli the politician would surely be wise to seek a constituency outside his now divided party. That he has been kicked out of the party is merely one of the many factors behind Oli’s search. Oli seems to be hinting that he has triggered a whole new ball game. It is the prime minister, as his detractors point out, who opposed the republic by saying that you can’t reach America on a bullock cart. It is he who instructed the government to revert to the official use of Nepal as just Nepal and not the Federal Republic of Nepal as the constitution would have it. And a regressive prime minister would surely behaviorally advertise his religion despite his communist credentials. And so there is a message it seems.
To stop this, Nepal’s ever-hopeful Indo-centric politics is being given signals from down south that, possibly, quite possibly, change is due in the Nepali system. The argument in nosy South Block voices of late is that Nepali politics has tilted north and that this adversity has to be dealt with for Indian interest. However contradictory this may sound, the magic of micro-management may well be working for a crisis and, for all one knows, Oli could well lend a helping hand to mentors down south too. Given the nature of interventions in this country, not all may be that comfy though. We are for sure bracing ourselves for a ‘third Jana Andolan’ which none less than a suddenly active once again civil rally has announced. Since it Oli versus the rest, which direction micro-management will lead to and whose micromanagement is no certainty in today’s Nepal. Turmoil in the tunnel? Dangerous prospects surely.
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