High On Oxygen

(Courtesy: Zizimous)

Savvy streets in Tokyo are hoarded with Oxygen Bars, this is where the concept of the Oxygen Bar first originated in the world. The high intake of oxygen enhances your stamina and in tandem reenergizes your body and refreshes your mind. Today, expensive bars and even night clubs around the world provide facilities of an oxygen parlor; this dramatically has enhanced the party goers’ ability to dance all night long. Similarly in Nepal, while the country blatantly seems to be falling apart, the prime minister on the other hand is very optimistic – he even told a foreign dignitary that he would hold elections on the eve of the deferral of elections. Perhaps, the prime minister is high on oxygen and he last lost his grip on reality.

First, over the last one month at least three hundred civil servants have resigned en masse in the Terai. Second, the Maoists have already come up with a new set of demands as a prerequisite for their participation in the polls. Third, the country is plummeting towards anarchy and this claim can be validated by the apparent lawlessness throughout Nepal. And last, the very democrats (Civil Society and the Dixit’s) who talked highly about democracy are falling in the Maoists trap once again. And Girija is of course oblivious to all of this.

The Terai is burning and the problem has morphed significantly from what it was in the summer. The inability on the part of the government to exhibit political authority has eroded its own capability to leverage any influence in the Terai. In the absence of government authority, radical ethnic groups have filled in the vacuum. While it would make sense for the government to directly negotiate with these ethnic groups, the Maoists have put on a lot of pressure on the government not to talk with the agitating Terai groups. This is primarily because the Maoists have lost their base in terai and are in no state of mind to allow other groups to prevail the terai.

Perhaps it is naiveté; but even now the political pundits and the civil society leaders boast of taming the Maoists. Ironically, the reality is the exact opposite. The biggest problem in Nepali politics is the inability of the political class to understand the complexities of a communist insurgency and the dogmatic ideology it stands for. Even if the parties yield to two of the Maoists key demands, it is only foreseeable that the Maoists will put forward new set of demands as a prerequisite to their participation in the polls. Just like Sher Bahadur Deuba chose to ignore the 40 Point Demands put forward by the Maoists in 1996 and flew to India; Girija and his aides have failed to realize that the Maoists have twenty other demands that have to be met by the other political parties. Ignoring the 40 Point Demand by Sher Bahadur resulted in a decade long war; the time around the inability of Girija to comprehend the nefarious scheme of the Maoists to sabotage the political parties in their 22 point demand is a ploy to ultimately overwhelm the political parties and storm to absolute power.

Perhaps Girija’s outburst in the cabinet and ordering the home minister to prepare a security plan with in 24 hours might have amused the debutant health minister Giriraj Pokharel. No sane man would want a government to chart a security plan in twenty four hours. But the twenty four hours has passed and there is no concrete security plan in sight. The home minister on the other hand is busy pocketing hefty commissions and chalking conspiracies to defame perceived political opponents. A businessman on the condition of anonymity revealed that “the home minister had transferred SP Dhak Bahadur from Hanuman Dhoka to the airport after he submitted to Sitaula a large chunk of cash. The cash was raised by Dhak Bahadur on the premises of Casino Royale”. On the other hand a Terai politician narrated an incident where in February during the height of the terai agitation, “the home minister had partnered with the Maoists when the Maoist cadres attempted to assassinate Upendra Yadav. The police were instructed by Sitaula not to provide adequate security cover to Yadav”. Koirala has indeed gone too far in trusting and shielding Sitaula and in the process; he has birthed a Rasputin in Sitaula.

If the country is declared a republic without the mandate of the people, the decision can be reverted at any time in the future. A lasting solution is a solution that is never debated or contested in the future. A lasting solution can only be achieved when the people of Nepal vote to decide on whether or not they want a Republic in the country. But if the country is declared a republic abruptly without going to the people, the move contradicts democratic norms and values. What was most embarrassing was when Dr Shekar Koirala, the prime minister’s nephew declared that “a referendum would give the king the benefit”. This cowardly statement only signifies that the political parties are seeking ways to end the monarchy by either refusing the people to vote or by initiating electoral mechanisms that are designed specifically to guarantee the kings loss.

Who knows what Girija Babu has under his sleeves, but he sure doesn’t seem to have a plan. He has failed repeatedly to live up to his assurances and his time is certainly running out. While GP Koirala and his party are repeatedly being ambushed by their own, Sitaula, GP is all high on oxygen and refuses to come to terms with the reality.

Related Posts:

Sovereignty Should Lie With the People - But It Lies With the Parties and the Maoists
http://nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com/2007/10/sovereignty-should-lie-with-people-but.html

Girija's Grand Design
http://nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com/2007/08/girijas-grand-design.html

New Nepal - A country out of whack?
http://nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-nepal-country-out-of-whack.html