The biggest test
for the small Kingdom of Nepal
Rift Grows between
Monarchy, Political Parties
Suman
Pradhan
KATHMANDU:
Nearly a month after the abrupt dismissal of Nepal's elected government
by King Gyanendra, a growing rift between the nation's political
parties and the monarchy has put this small Himalayan Kingdom
on tenterhooks.
At issue is the fate of Nepal's blend of multi-party democracy
and constitutional monarchy, which it adopted in 1990 after three
decades of struggle against an absolute monarchy.
Many analysts now believe that more than the royal massacre of
June 2001, the present times are a bigger test for Nepal's young
democracy and constitutional monarchy. Stunned by the Oct. 4 dismissal
of the government and the assumption of all executive powers by
the king, political parties are forging a united front to pressure
the king to undo his ''unconstitutional and
undemocratic'' action.
On that day, King Gyanendra sacked the government of Sher Bahadur
Deuba and took over all executive powers. A week later, he appointed
a new government headed by old royalist Lokendra Bahadur Chand,
but still held onto most of these executive powers.
Ironically, that action is giving a boost to those who want to
abrogate the monarchy itself: the rebel Maoists who have, since
1996, called for turning the world's only Hindu kingdom into a
communist republic.
These days, even the mainstream political parties who acted as
a bulwark against creeping republicanism are debating whether
or not to support the Maoists' call for a new constitution.
The first indications came early late last week when the Nepali
Congress, Nepal's largest political party which has shunned talk
of a new constitution, for the first time officially debated the
Maoists' demand for a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.
In a meeting of the party's Central Working Committee (CWC), several
senior leaders, including former Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad
Bastola, strongly argued for a constituent assembly. The idea
was proposed by one of Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala's
staunch aides, Narhari Acharya.
''In the present context, the king's actions has rendered the
constitution defunct,'' Acharya argued. ''We should now seriously
consider supporting calls for an election of a constituent assembly
to draft a new constitution.''
Although the CWC ultimately rejected the proposal, the fact alone
that the party has been discussing it at its highest levels sends
a clear signal to King Gyanendra. Analysts here note that it was
the rebel Maoists who first raised the issue of a constituent
assembly.
The rebels have always slammed the present constitution, drafted
in 1990 by a select committee, as a compromise document between
the Congress, the communist forces and the monarch. Thus,
they want the people to elect representatives to a constituent
assembly to draft a new constitution. Many observers say the Maoists'
ultimate motive is to prescribe republican ideals into a new constitution.
''The rebels have not dropped their demand for a republican state,''
said Padma Ratna Tuladhar, a leftist leader and human rights activist
who often acts as a go-between between the government and the
Maoists. ''They
see the constituent assembly demand as a way of achieving that
measure. They want the people to decide,'' Tuladhar said.
The Congress party however may not be ready for such moves, but
wants only to use the issue as a tactic to force the king to hand
over power to political parties. Even the Congress' Acharya, who
proposed the idea says, ''A constituent assembly can draft a constitution
which upholds the constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy.
It need not be a republican constitution.''
But for many there, it is significant that voices like Acharya's
are growing louder in the party. ''This is after all the party
which has always supported constitutional monarchy,'' said Narayan
Wagle, a political commentator.
''If voices like Acharya's are growing now within the party, it
means that some of its leaders are willing to take a fresh look
at the party's long-standing values,'' Wagle said. In the debate
over the constituent assembly, the key role could belong to the
CPN (UML), Nepal's largest and most organised communist party.
Party leaders have remained tight-lipped about where they stand,
but the communists never gave full support to the present constitution
in the first place and could well begin supporting a move to a
constituent assembly if the conditions are right.
If the Congress and the CPN (UML) were to jointly support calls
for a constituent assembly, then King Gyanendra could find it
difficult to ignore such calls since the two parties jointly represent
over 70 percent of the nation's electorate.
''The king should immediately correct his unconstitutional action
or else we may have no choice to launch another struggle,'' the
CPN (UML) general-secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal warned in recent
days. What rankles the mainstream parties here is not so much
the sacking of the government, but the ''usurpation'' of executive
powers by the king.
The
monarch has given the new government only five tasks -- chiefly
related to the improvement of the security situation and the holding
of elections. For
this reason, newly appointed Prime Minister Chand is handicapped
since he has no real authority, and the political parties too
are unwilling to recognise his government.
Even the Maoists, who have recently stepped up attacks on government
positions, have not recognised the Chand government. Responding
to Chand's calls for restarting peace negotiations, the rebels
last week urged King Gyanendra to convene a roundtable meeting
of
all political forces ''to discuss the issue of a constitutional
assembly to draft a new constitution''. The king has so far remained
silent.
''If the king holds power longer than expected, and if this government
too fails to deliver peace, then the public mood could sour soon,''
said Wagle, the political commentator.
''If the mainstream political parties, which have so far functioned
as a bulwark against republicanism, themselves begin to question
the king, then it signals a titanic shift in Nepal's political
landscape,'' he said. ''The king has to quickly win their confidence
back.''
