Raison d’etre and ramifications

Ajit N S Thapa

Nepal is going through the most excruciating period in its history. The economy has been strangulated by insurgency (more terrorism) over the last eight years and the country is pulled apart in three directions by the palace, political parties and the Maoists. Currently, King Gyanendra is in command over the State affairs and supervises a lame duck government that is desperately prolonging its life by the promises of early elections and the valiant efforts of the security forces to contain the Maoist mayhem. Everyday is a sad story of body counts, armed assaults and wounded people; bombs, devastation and eviction of village folks from their homes by Maoist hoodlums. Political parties are in disarray: they have failed to put up a common front to either confront the King for derailing the constitution and putting democracy in jeopardy, nor have they been able to agree on a formula to join hands with the Ling to confront or negotiate with the Maoists. The country could not be more directionless and in desperate need for redemption. Against this background the call by Nepali Congress President G.P. Koirala for uniting the two Congress parties, NC(D) and NC that split in June 2002, with the view to safeguard national sovereignty and democracy, seems timely and significant in spirit.

However, as welcome as this declaration of good intent may seem, the modalities adopted so far fall far short of realising the goals of unification. As of today, Girija Babu has only declared a general amnesty for the purported offenders (without evaluating which party, in fact, is the real culprit) and offered reinstatement to original status for all those who return to the fold. As is typical of him, he is totally unrepentant of gross mishandling of the internal party conflict, which ultimately resulted in it’s breaking up. Before making this unilateral call, he did not even bother to consult the venerated Kishunji, who in his period as party president had literarily drank poison like Lord Shiva to keep the party intact.

Nepal’s future lies in a functioning democracy that works for the larger benefits of the people by being people oriented, providing effective service deliveries through better governance, by being clean and above board and above all, providing political stability. It is unfortunate that with the advent of democracy, political parties have suffered the phenomena of break ups, unity and break up again in a routine manner. Whether such phenomena are parts of a “grand design” is a matter of conjecture but political parties have lost their credibility in the process. Even in the NC, which had not split in spite of bitter internal wrangling, the last straw on the camel’s back was placed in June 2002 when Girija Babu refused to withdraw the three years suspension penalty imposed on Sher Bahadur Deuba, the party’s premier, for the dissolution of the House of Representatives. The NC cadres supporting Deuba were obliged to convert the gathering of NC General Convention members into a special General Convention, which voted out Koirala and installed Deuba as the new President, resulting in the formation of two distinct political parties from the single mother party.

What could be the modalities for a successful and lasting union of the two? There are four elements of the merger that need to be carefully considered: attitudinal; ideological; procedural and substantive. In the first place, NC needs to accept the existence of NC(D) as a separate political entity and needs to treat it with equality and respect. The NC must facilitate the NC(D) to be an additional allay in the five parties alliance to oppose regression and to restore democracy. Since its inception about 60 years ago, the NC has championed the cause of democratic socialism, multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy and the NC(D) swears allegiance to this philosophy. However, the NC, after being a member of five party alliance, has deviated from this core philosophy and has even supported the cause of a Republican State indirectly through the open articulation and debate amongst its cadre and directly, by endorsing the anti-monarchy and pro-republican slogan shouted by stone pelting

students’ rallies. This ideological cleavage needs to be filled up before the parties move ahead with the unification process. On the procedural front, Girija Babu needs to start a dialogue with the party’s founding member Kishunji and Deuba about the urgency and desirability of the merger. Even after the leaders agreed on a such a course, the NC(D) cadres would need to debate and support such a move. Given the utter lack of confidence and trust between the two parties, there is a need to gradually build confidence through collaboration and joint endeavours.

Finally, what needs to be resolved is: what good will the merger bring about? What is the vision and mission of the united party and what kind of synergy will this new party have? What guaranty can we have that the internal bickering, which plagued the party in the past, will not again resurface during the distribution of parliamentary tickets or the formation of a new government, should the party be voted to power. How can internal democracy be safe guarded and how can party workers be given assurance of fairness and equity? The NC(D) would need to ponder these issues seriously before it plunges into the purposed merger.

Thapa is NC (D) Mahasamiti member