A reinstated Parliament with Gen Z representatives can make a decision to hold a referendum on a host of unsettled issues along with the election
National opinion remains incredibly divided for or against the reinstatement of the Parliament in the country. Whilst the new political force of the Country, the Gen Z, is dead against this move, the second biggest party of the Parliament, the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) is all for it. The largest party, the Nepali Congress, has also started providing chorus to the UML lately.
The word 'Parliament' comes from the French word parier, which means to speak. No wonder one sees Parliamentarians tirelessly speaking in the Parliament. Though it appears to have existed in some other forms in Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, the one that we see today had its beginning in England, which is also known as the mother of parliamentary democracy. The first parliament was instituted in 1236 during the reign of King Henry III. It was when King Abhaya Malla was ruling in Nepal, who unfortunately died in a killer earthquake of 1255.
Since then, the parliament has gone through ups and downs, but it passed through the most crucial phase during the rule of Charles I in mid-seventeenth century when it was dissolved and restored many times. They were known as the long as well as the short parliaments. Later, it came to be known as the rump Parliament. It consisted of the opponents of Charles I, chiefly Oliver Cromwell, who executed the King in 1648. After that, the Parliament has been fairly stable in its land of birth, and it is dissolved only after instances like the declaration of an election.
Parliamentary democracy was adopted in many countries around the world, particularly in its colonies like India. It also spilled into neighbouring countries like Nepal after the Rana regime was deposed by a people's revolution launched by the NC. The Parliament was dissolved for the first time in Nepal by King Mahendra when he dismissed the popularly-elected NC government led by the charismatic Prime Minister B P Koirala in 1960 by banning the multi-party polity. Later, it was lifted following a People's Movement in 1990. However, this act was again repeated by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in 1992, who called for a mid-term poll after his party the NC was dogged by rampant infighting. The following Prime Minister Mana Mohan Adhikari also imitated it in 1994, but it was reinstated by the Supreme Court.
The dissolution of the Parliament in Nepal underwent a short pause in Nepal before King Gyanendra again revived this phenomenon in the year 2005, duly declaring himself as an absolute king by spurning his constitutional role. But he had to reinstate it after a nation-wide protest launched by the Maoist rebels and the political parties. The Parliament held the election of the Constituent Assembly, which declared Nepal a federal republic, showing the exit to the 240-year-old monarchy in Nepal.
The Republican era witnessed the dissolution of the Parliament on two occasions by former Prime Minister K P Oli, but it was restored by the Supreme Court both the times. The change of governments very frequently, at times, headed by the coalition of parties ideologically at daggers drawn with each other like the democratic NC and the ultra-communist, the Maoist Central (MC), irked the people further. Worse followed when there were only cosmetic attempts to bring the corrupt into account simultaneously putting the window open for all-pervasive corruption.
As a result, the Gen Z were demonstrating against the rampant corruption and for good governance, seeking employment opportunities inside the country. In the meantime, the government happened to close the social media after the service providers refused to register with the relevant office of the government.
This triggered incredible protests, resulting in the brutal killing of 75 persons in toto, 25 on the very first day. The Home Minister resigned immediately and the Prime Minister followed a day after when there was arson and looting in the historic principal secretariat, the Singha Durbar, the Supreme Court, and many governmental as well as private buildings. Consequently, a new government, headed by the Gen Z-supported former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sushila Karki, was formed with a solitary mandate of holding the polls on March 5 by the President after again dissolving the Parliament.
The interim government has accepted the present constitution even though such movements in the past had invariably dumped them and drafted a new constitution. Accordingly, the constitution has raised question marks against Prime Minister Karki herself as it has prevented the appointment of a former chief justice to any post. Moreover, the Gen Z, the harbingers of such a profound political change, are outside the Parliament. There are some debatable issues like executive prime minister, secularism, federalism, and the restoration of the monarchy, which also need to be addressed soon.
So, the way out of this troubled water is the emulation of Koirala's successful campaign by restoring the parliament for just a week to include majority Gen Z representatives in the Parliament like the erstwhile Maoists. The Parliament can then cancel clauses which bar a former Supreme Court chief justice from taking any public position in order to provide legality to the present Gen Z-supported prime minister.
Besides, it can make a decision to hold a referendum on the aforementioned issues along with the election. It can also include outlying dissenting individuals and parties so that all the political forces may work hand in glove by establishing political reconciliation from within the Parliament.
It will pave the way for national internalisation of Gen Z's ideal like good governance through successful conduction of the election-cum-referendum. Prime Minister Karki should thus immediately open political dialogue with all the political forces if the need arises by even forming an all-party government under her. Such a move will lead the country out of the present crisis.
