 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
30-June-2009
By Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
Beleaguered by endless problems and daily bandhs, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal is making frantic efforts to get the Maoists on board and has even indicated that he is willing to share power.
Jhalanath Khanal the chief of UML on 29th June has recently called for inclusion of the Maoists in the government.
Both the Nepali Congress and the UML have called for a meeting of all the 24 parties to seek a consensus among them to resume the constituent assembly. The constituent assembly has been indefinitely closed from 5th May due to the disruptive tactics of the Maoist parliamentarians. The fact that the main task of the assembly is to forge a new constitution by 2010 and therefore its urgency has had no effect on those delaying the proceedings.
There are bandhas galore throughout the country. One cynic has rightly suggested that Nepal should be called "Bandhaland" and its citizens called Bandhadeshis! It is learnt that in the last six months, the nation was free from Bandhas for only 14 days. For the last two months, the Maoists are topping the list in crippling the country by bandhas almost every day.
On 26 June, the Maoists leadership made its protest programme public. Besides bandhas elsewhere, the party will organise sit ins in front of Singha Durbar every day for one hour. Other issues besides the "civilian supremacy" that will be taken up include price rise, black market activities, violence and border encroachment. The issue of border encroachment is aimed at India though it is a very small issue but good enough to beat India with. They should understand that ‘violence’ is the by product of their own protest activities.
The long drawn out 45 member politburo meet of United CPN (Maoist) that started on 16th June finally came to a close on 26th June. There were indications that this will be the most important meeting after the Chunbang meeting of the Plenum way back in mid 2005. There was a ray of hope that the Maoists would realise that they have nothing more to gain from the indefinite bandhs they have been carrying out and their agitation for "civilian supremacy" is also losing steam. What they would need now is an exit strategy to come out of the present mess they had created for themselves and perhaps they would go for a compromise. But the indications are mixed.
Unlike other parties, the Maoists do not come out with the details of their meetings. The Press indicated that the Politburo upheld the following issues- peace, constitution, integrity, civilian supremacy and a national unity government. The Politburo had also decided to table the political document of Prachanda in the upcoming central committee meeting for discussions.
Some insight could be had from the statements made by Prachanda after the meeting. He claimed that his party will lead a national government soon. He said that the present Madhav Nepal led government lacked public support. He compared the government to a water bubble that will not last long. His continuing anger towards India was seen in his reference that his party will not compromise with any political force on the issue of foreign interference.
It was interesting to see an article in the media by Hsila Yami, a top leader in her own right in the Maoist party. She made four points that made the Maoists different from other parties. One - they do not hesitate to take extreme measures as extreme situations demand. Two- they have their own military force. Three - they are not after power- they had resigned thrice recently Four- They want a stable civilian rule as in India.
Finally she came out with the real objective of her party- that the need of the hour is integrating two armies with a new restructured army so as to end the "dual nature" of the state of the army.
The question of integration of the army is going to be tough and the army is not going to give in easily. The whole drama of bandha, civilian supremacy etc. appears to be to force the 24 parties to accept the integration of at least 5000 of the PLA cadres. This magic figure of 5000 is coming up again and again, the latest being the statement of Prime minister Madhav Nepal made recently.
Home | Papers | Notes | Forum | Search | Feedback | Links
Copyright © South Asia Analysis Group
All rights reserved. Permission is given to refer this on-line document for use in research papers and articles, provided the source and the author's name are acknowledged. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes.