Jul 12, 2012

Nepal: Verbal bang and its aftershock


N. P. Upadhyaya Nepali

Kathmandu: Battle Royale is round the corner which may straighten out the current Nepal ailments once and for all. It is so presumed. Enough has become already enough.

The stage for a possible triangular fight- to-finish has already been set which will though situate the Nepali political course in a straight line yet the process will definitely be an alarming one associated with political anarchy.
Nepal’s sidelined King Gyanendra, July 8, 2012, evening while talking to a Television Channel positioned the tone for such a possible tussle which has not only stirred the nation but also in many more ways than one divided the population into two halves. But it may not be a fifty-fifty affair. Yet it has begun swinging to and fro.

This political dissection among the national population is equally treacherous in that the people who trust and believe to what the former King said while talking to the TV channel will sooner or later take the side of the King and the rest will oppose his “assertion” toeing to the political lines they prefer which is to reject the King’s claim. A natural phenomenon indeed. It is a democratic phenomenon.

In effect the former King asserted while talking to the Idiot Box that “an agreement had been reached between “Me and the then agitating parties to keep the Royal Institution intact at time of the movement”.

No such agreement had been reached in between the King and the parties, says Madhav Nepal and his party Chairman Khanal who both were then in NOIDA and later returned to Nepal with needed counsels.

Khanal even went to the extent and said emphatically that why should the parties sign an accord with a King who was about to flee the country and thus the King’s fresh declaration is nothing but a complete lie?

NC leader Sitaula of the Sudan infamy in an aggressive mood dismisses the King’s revelation that the parties at time of the movement, at the fag end perhaps, had accepted to keep the Royal institution intact.

“If he has then let him produce the signed paper”, Sitaula challenged the former Nepal sovereign.

Yet Sitaula appears to have come to his senses, July 11, 2012, wherein he stated that “a third equally strong force is round the corner” if the parties fail to patch up their present day political disputes.
 Line Ayo?

Madhav Nepal, who had appealed the King to appoint him as the Nepal Prime Minister during the Royal regime thinks that the former King has begun day dreaming. A grand satire indeed.He now susggests the former monarch to form a political party.

Sujata Koirala-Jost of the Sudan-RUBEL Voip fame has also talked on the same line as election defeated Mr. Nepal has been chatting about.

Analysing these utterances of various sorts positive and negative both, what becomes imperative is to draw the attention of all interested quarters, both within and without, as to why the sidelined monarch consumed so much years in revealing the truth that he claims to have been in his possession? Isn’t it a delayed affair? Perhaps yes.

And look at the timing of his message that he had been assured in “writing” that Nepal Monarchy would be kept as it is sine die?

The former ruler has definitely chosen to air his inner thoroughness at a time when the country is swimming in the deep blue ocean sans life jacket due to the unprecedented constitutional crisis that has overwhelmed the country or is about to. The crisis though remains, claim constitutional experts.

Constitutional vacuity prevails with both PM and President falling flat with the CA body’s death which had duly elected them both, if one were to recall.

Some even say that HE is fishing in the troubled waters?

But if it is so then what could be fairly said that the seven parties too had, if they recall, fished in the same troubled waters some six years back. The King was thus cornered then, albeit with the Indian declared support. India fished in Nepal’s troubled waters but not the Indo-pendent parties. Let’s admit this reality.

The parties scathingly disapprove the former King for having told the unbelievable. But can a personality of HIS stature make deceitful comments and make such unreliable remarks unless he is in possession of a legitimate and well signed manuscript which had ensured his Institution’s continuation?

Mind it that when this text, as asserted by the then King, had been signed, the Indian Prime Minister’s special emissary, Dr. Karan Singh, too was right here in Kathmandu.

The then King though could not produce the “signed document” while talking to the Television, July 8, 2012, but at least hinted that such a document must have been in possession of “some” political leaders who were then in close touch with the King.

Should it mean that Dr. Karan Singh may have a copy of this Nepal text in his possession as he was the witness from the Indian side? The obligation of proving this reality now lay upon the shoulders of Karan Singh-King Gyanendra’s close relative, by the way. 

As far as analysts understand, the sidelined King had presented a copy of the signed text to Madame Sonia Gandhi when the former met her in March (12?) 2010 in New Delhi at Sonia’s residence.

Sonia is learnt to have assured her special guest stating that “justice would be done to Your Majesty”.

Former King’s announcement, a hilarious one indeed, too has come at a time when the population have already begun comparing the country’s political situation of the past and that is in existence at present. In addition, King’s self-confident mood has come to the fore when the champion of the revival of the Nepali monarchy, Kamal Thapa, the Chairman of the RPP-Nepal commands sizeable strength at the moment which the party led by Thapa proved it to be the one only recently.

Grand polarisation will begin thus in the Nepali society.

One distinct advantage the former King will have is that those parties who have been predicting of a State Capture fearing the real intent of the Maoists will eventually side with the King in order to minimise the political strength of the Maoists and in the process also to increase their decreasing political stamina because of the Maoists formidable force associated with heightened arrogance though having embraced a split.

Needless to say, if the King’s dismissal was their prime target then the parliamentary parties are now the Maoists second structured target in that the Maoists fairly believe that unless they wipe out the democratic forces, they can’t impose their authoritarian rule in Nepal which is what their declared and avowed goal is. They don’t hide their well thought-out goal. They are honest thus comparatively. 

So it could be some sort of fight in between democratic forces versus authoritarians. The NC and the UML and now RPP--Nepal included still think that the institution of the Nepali crown is more or less a democratic force comparatively speaking.

And with the fresh split of Mohan Baidya and his assistants declaring that guerrilla warfare was round the corner to capture the state must have jolted the democrats across the region which is what eventually may compel the democratic forces, including those inside the RAW machinery, to take the side(s) they now prefer.

Finally, whatever the sidelined King revealed must not have been done under the spell of a personal whim but instead HE too has said so when told to speak.

The supporting forces may be the local ones and across the border. He too enjoys blessings from unknown quarters. Politics appears to have taken a different course.

Summing up, the days ahead are dangerous as well. Any misfortune may befall upon the nation if this triangular fight fails to have a safe landing. Yet, high placed sources say that Mohan Baidya’s role, for some understandable political reasons, will not be less important in settling the impending catastrophe.

No less would be the role of Dr. Karan Singh as he presumably had convinced the conflicting parties then. Thus the Indian establishment remains as the witness to whatever happened in between. That’s all.
Monarchy versus Democrats versus Maoists. Options are limited.

For the road: Former Nepal King is shortly flying to London. 

Courtesy: Telegraph Nepal

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