After the 1990 movement, which was directed against the Panchayat system, succeeded and multiparty democracy was reinstated, the country witnessed progress in various forms in the lives of the ordinary Nepali people. Among the numerous fields in which unprecedented progresses were made, the expansion of quality education and proliferation of information technology have been the leading developments. Therefore, any person could feel that the country was heading towards the right direction. One could be confident that the economic progress of the nation was also bound to move ahead.

Meanwhile, a political party, having come to the conclusion that the system lacked real justice to all the people particularly the women, Dalits and ethnic groups lost faith in the parliamentary system and took up arms to salvage the marginalised people. Thus the nation entered into a phase of insecurity and uncertainty.

In the last ten years, thousands of people were maimed and killed, lakhs of people were rendered homeless and forced to become refugees inside their own motherland. This created immense problems for the state. It led to the destruction of many useful state structures and buildings, roads and bridges, electricity and communication services.

While this was the dark side of the state of the nation during the last ten years of insurgency, there emerged some bright sides as well. For the first time, the Nepali people resisted the many millennium old oppression resorted to by the state and for the first time they took up arms on a large scare in order to challenge the oppressive system. The insurgents had a large number of women cadres as well, which proved that given the opportunity, the women too could handle any hardship that men alone were supposed to handle and negotiate.

The other bright aspect was the emergence of the needs and aspirations of the marginalised population — the women, the Dalits and the ethnic groups. When the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) brought forth these issues, there was a great deal of reluctance among other political parties and the civil society to accept the issues wholeheartedly. Today, there seems to be a national consensus on those very issues — the empowerment of women, the emancipation of Dalits and the recognition of rights of ethnic groups.

Thanks to the insurgency, a mass awakening of vital issues, which had been ignored before, came to the forefront and a realisation has dawned that these issues cannot be left unaddressed. To ignore such issues would again mean to push the country to the realm of violence and terror.

Similarly, when the Maoists raised the question of the need for a constituent assembly in order to address all the problems vexing the nation, in the initial stage, it was opposed by all the parties. Today, this fact has been unanimously accepted that the only way to address all the issues tormenting any section of the population is to deal with them through a constituent assembly.

While the perpetual fear and terror during the insurgency was troubling the people’s mind to find a solution for the establishment of peace and harmony, the prescription forwarded by the Maoists received popular attention and approval. The reason the people participated so widely in the just concluded Jana Andolan against the royal regime was their conviction that without considering the Maoist proposal through negotiation peace could not be established. Along with the popular feeling that ceasefire and negotiation with the Maoists was essential to end the insurgency, the people also came to realise that the issues raised by the Maoists were most pertinent and had to be addressed as soon as possible. That is why the mass movement raised slogans in favour of democracy and constituent assembly. The main reason of the quick fall down of the royal regime was its ignorance of popular will and its unwillingness to politically solve the insurgency. Completely cut off from the people and depending solely on force, the royal regime’s base went on narrowing and isolated it totally from the people.

The popular uprising of April 2006 has marked the birth of a new nation — a confident and fearless people who not only follow the leaders but also demand the leaders to listen to their reasoning and beliefs.

During the popular uprising, all the sections of people — political workers, civil society members, people of all ages and both sexes, peasants, labours, teachers, lawyers, civil servants, doctors, nurses and even physically disadvantaged — staged demonstrations against the royal government. The brave people faced lathi-charge, teargas, rubber bullets and metal bullets and still dared to face the brutality of the state.

Today, a new Nepal has emerged where people do not rely on fate and feudal traditions. They do not fear to die in order to live with dignity. They believe in their own rights and in the rights of the others. The 21st century has really begun for Nepal.

Upadhyay is a former foreign minister