The coalition is certainly suffering from ideological bankruptcy, composed as it is of parties with opposite ideologies. Yet it has created an opportunity for respecting one's own as well as others' ideology. So, the coalition has served a kind of sweet and sour political dish, which may even be satisfying given the harsh reality of the political situation
The political skyscape of Nepal has been enveloped by a thick cloud of confusion at the present. People are at a loss regarding whom to vote in the forthcoming election with two unprincipled coalitions staring at their face. The five-party coalition led by the Nepali Congress appears like a buffalo and bull yoked together. The other coalition, which has been euphemistically coined as seat adjustment by the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML), is like ducks and roosters flocking together. Whilst the Nepali Congress, long since known as a democratic party, has tied its knot with the communists, the UML representing the left has tied its bogey with the rightist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the socialist Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP).
Nepal has been practising all the forms of politics - oligarchy, monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. The Gopals recognised as the first dynasty to have ruled in Nepal practised the monarchy. We know very little about the following Abhirs, but the Kirats emulated the Gopals. So did the Licchavis, Mallas and Shahas.
The Ranas practised oligarchy and aristocracy, caring little about the welfare of the people. It triggered a national revolution that established democracy in Nepal with the NC forming a government in the early fifties.
But this nascent democracy was nipped in the bud with the revival of monarchy again through the installation of the partyless Panchayat system. However, it could not last long and the People's Movement brought about the dawn of multi-party democracy in 1990.
Nepali politics was based strictly on ideological footing till the nineties. It was tri-polar with the rightists represented by the RPP, the centrist socialists by the NC, and the leftists and ultra-leftists represented by the UML and Maoists. But it began to fade after the promulgation of the new constitution of Nepal with a Federal Republic flavour.
The election of direct and proportional representatives necessitated the coalition of political parties as no solitary party could obtain a majority. This necessitated the rise of coalition system. The coalition followed ideological lines with the communists like UML and CPN-Maoist Centre (MC) on one hand followed by the democratic NC and RPP on the other.
The people displayed po-litical maturity by providing near to two-thirds majority to the left parties as it was often said that the political instability in Nepal was the result of the political parties not receiving necessary representation in the parliament to form a majority government that could last a full term. This thinking was so widespreadthat the NC, the party in the opposition, even helped the government to survive a full term to such an extent that it did not even oppose the policy and programme announced by the government led by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli.
People had expected the nation to take a great leap forward in the arena of development with the gov-ernment enjoying near to two-thirds majority in the parliament. However, chinks started to appear in the government armor with fracas between the top leaders. Prime Minister Oli could not maintain the unity among the leaders of its own party, and the party disintegrated with the senior leaders leaving it.
The situation started going downhill as Oli dissolved the parliament on two occasions despite the declaration of the first dissolution as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It appeared that Oli was all out to dismantle the federal constitution which was drafted by the Constituent Assembly after much sacrifice of the people. His aller-gy towards the federal structure, which he had demonstrated by terming it as a bullock cart that would never reach Nepal to the United States, appeared to be real more than a passing comment.
The unconstitutional moves one after another led to the compulsive formation of a coalition of parties diagonally opposed to each other, namely, the NC, MC, Unified Socialists (US), Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal and Rastriya Jana Morcha. This was also the case in India when the Janata Party was formed by cobbling up different parties after Indira Gandhi imposed the unconstitutional Emergency.
The local election was won by the five-party coalition even though fought with such an unbecoming alliance recently. The UML slumped to second position from its initially held first rank despite its claim it would sweep the election. Later, it boasted of its larger number of votes, which was however like a losing football team saying that it had the ball under its control most of the time.
People have been rightly complaining that they have been deprived of their right to vote for the party of their choice with the two coalitions tying their political horns. In their constituency, the coalition may have nominated a party whom some people may not have voted in the past.
This is a very murky situation indeed as if covered with dark monsoon clouds. But there are also some bright elements as every dark cloud has a silver lining. They can vote for their party in the proportional voting if not in the direct voting at both the federal as well as provincial level. This is like getting to enjoy the best of both the worlds.
Sometimes, the supporters of the political parties tend to become one-sided with no tolerance of one another. This is also not good if democracy is to flourish. The coalition has allowed to learn to live with others as well even if they are of a different ideology. It has also created an opportunity to vote for the party of one's choice at the same time.
The coalition is certainly suffering from ideological bankruptcy, composed as it is of parties with opposite ideologies. Despite being so, it has created an opportunity for respecting one's own as well as others' ideology at the same time. So, the coalition has served a kind of sweet and sour political dish, which may even be satisfying given the harsh reality of the political situation.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 18, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
