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Nepal: Democrats Wake Up !!!

By Kundan Singh Khatri

For the last year the one word which has resounded everywhere in Nepal so highly and repeatedly is Loktantra (liberal democracy) and many political stakeholders have been running away as the messiah of Loktantra.

Just by claiming or by being Loktantric one does not become to be. It is not an all or nothing affair, but a matter of degree to which the people can exercise a controlling influence over public policy and policymakers enjoy equal treatment in their hands and have their voices heard equally.

Certainly it is not a hegemony or domination of certain groups with arrogant prejudice but a political process in which people are fully sovereign and diverse groups of people cooperate in a participatory way for their common good.

Here I would like to ask every citizen and group of people of Nepal, how they felt regarding Loktantra - probably mass carnage in Gaur, ill-treatment of a smaller political party in Birtamod, physical and financial harassment of people, arbitrary abductions and murders will obviously give you some hint on this.

The April uprising had set an ideal platform for the establishment of peace and stability in the country but the inability on the part of the SPA to control the situation and to meet the people's aspirations and Maoist insincerity towards peace and democracy has blown away Nepalese dreams.

Today, communism is the most hated and rejected word around the globe. At a time when communism has been non-existent even in those countries where it surfaced, it is horribly surprising to see the hovering threat of radical communism in Nepalese politics. Now the Maoists are at the helm of power which is not resulting in moderation and they have got more strong headed and metaphorical. It is no secret that the end-state of Maoists has been to establish a totalitarian communist regime in the country.

Maoist chairman Prachanda has said that the constituent assembly has now been overshadowed and that the interim parliament should declare a republic right away to pre-emt regression by royalists and reactionaries. Accordingly, Prachanda has already presented his plan of strategy to CPN (UML) and around one dozen splinter communist outfits to consolidate against the centrist forces and establish a POL POT model of hegemony.

If we glance at the account of the Khmer Rouge, an extreme communist group in Cambodia that vehemently and coercively came to rule, killed and brutalized millions of people. The Khmer Rouge had won over the Cambodians by fulfilling their dreams and that they were different from the other communist rebels; but it is not concealed from the world that how they entered the state authority, destroyed it horizontally, vertically and diagonally and established an acute form of dictatorial establishment detested by the human race.

That all disagreement and opposition was trampled and people massacred with the slightest distrust, is a testimony now. The entire humankind got together and eventually put an end to that loathed regime. In addition to this, the world community is still asking for criminal justice and digs even the graves of Khmer Rouge leadership for international righteousness.

After forcibly coming into supremacy Mussolini disbanded the Fascists and killed his opponents and what Hitler did after becoming the chancellor of Germany is history now. Maoist beliefs, strategy and actions irrevocably justify their totalitarian aspirations. The sister organization of the Maoists, YCL, depicts that they are in the line of achieving their ultimate goal.

Recently and very significantly Mr. Prachanda's gambit to beguile the divided leftist outfits fortifies the absolute majority of the communists in the parliament and cabinet to run Nepal single-handedly imposing their will. They have already done a lot of impulsive things through the interim parliament neglecting the spirit and aspirations of the people. Now exceeding the entire limit, some communist outfits are articulating to declare a republic state when the constituent assembly poll is in the offing.

Are they scared to go the people and listen to their verdict, as it would go against them? They should remember that they are not the genuine and legitimate representatives of the people at large, they are in power as a result of negotiations and consequences of the circumstances and everything they do does not comply with the mandate and wish of the people. A vibrant democracy always requires a serious commitment to human values on the part of the entire stakeholders concerned.

A government submissive to evil decree of extreme communists and maniac flare-up of misguided hordes can't cultivate and nurture democracy. Every force in society, smaller or weaker, should be reckoned with; their voices should be heard, addressed and duly respected. Tit for tat can never be a herald to the designing of peaceful democracy and enhancing socio-political and participatory culture in the country.

Saying this, is it rational to put an end to the traditional forces of the country that has served for the last 238 years in Nepal by a stroke from the interim parliament? This evil Diktat of the communist forces seems to be bizarre and highly undemocratic. It should be remembered that monarchy is not a person but an institution; still the King enjoys the support and backing of millions of people inside and outside the country. Recently, the King and Queen went to Dakshinkali to pay homage and hundreds of people were lined up to recite their grievances to the king.

Monarchy is beyond and above party ideologies and electoral politics. History is testimony that change of regime by the fall of a monarch have led to totalitarian and oppressive rule. For relevant instances, this took place in Russia in 1918, Greece and Spain in the 1960s, Afghanistan in 1970s, Cambodia and Laos in 1980s. Keeping in view the ongoing political scenario in Nepal where the communists are striving perilously and vehemently to solidify their unity, has sparked growing concern in the national and international community that too at a time when this pseudo-communism is virtually at the threshold of falling apart.

It is really alarming and raises serious distress to the patriot democrats. Everyone should once again thumb over the pages of the first 12-point memorandum where the SPA and Maoists had arrived at an agreement of deciding the fate of monarchy by holding the CA Polls. Now it is astonishing that the same Maoists and other like-minded communist outfits are melodramatically not abiding by their previous decisions and barking to close down the monarchy by interim legislature, which is illogical, and hilarious.

Hasty decisions and shortsightedness would lead Nepal nowhere but to cold-blooded civil war. Farsightedness and patience till constituent polls is highly imperative in this serious and sensitive issue of monarchy and this will be acceptable to all including the international community. I, therefore, appeal to all democrats to unite against the evil Diktat of the communists and likeminded people to bring back the derailed politics of Nepal into the right track.