Challenges to a "New Nepal"

(Courtesy: Zizimous)

Nepal's peace process is fraught with uncertainty. For those who envision that a CA poll is the panacea to all of Nepal's ills, they are in for a rude awakening. The aftermath of the CA polls have been much speculated, some pundits opine violence will culminate the CA polls, where as some are under the impression the results will be widely contested; in actuality both opinions are accurate, violence will mar the post poll celebrations and the results are expected to be refuted widely. This is because CA poll is being held in the most unceremonious fashion, to put in so many words, elections that are held under fragile circumstances will provide legitimate ground for parties to challenge the outcome of the elections.

On the other hand, the people in general are anxious to cast their vote but at the same time, certain political parties, namely the Maoists who for a decade claimed to liberate the people are now oppressing the people so that, the people will cast their votes in favor of the Maoists. The upsurge in violence and the acceptance of this rugged political approach pursued by anti poll elements has been mandated by the silence of the international community. This leads to a simple conclusion that the farce of New Nepal has out weighed the possibility of realizing a genuine New Nepal. In the most critical hour of Nepal's history, where an elected body is supposed to draft a new constitution, the people are being restrained from casting their verdict due to the fear of their lives. Now, will an election held under force and coercion provide a long lasting solution to Nepal's problems?

The simple fact that the country is embracing an election when the law and order situation has nearly broken down and when political parties themselves openly doubt the fairness of the polls, it becomes evident that the polls are being forced upon the people. Such a forceful exercise will throw new political challenges that will ultimately lead to the breakdown of the peace process. This assertion of mine can be augmented by examining a few critical variables that are crucial to build a New Nepal through CA polls.

Individualism remains the most vital caveat of a democratic society. The very idea of political and civil rights are directly linked with the idea of individualism. Therefore, political parties represent individuals in a multiparty system. But when individuals are purposely bullied into submission and humiliation by a majority group, the whole electoral exercise will prove to be futile. In fact, if these elections are held under such a fragile situation, the repercussions will prove too dear for the country. First, political parties that come out of these elections as losers will not hesitate to refute these results and resort to violence. Second, the vulnerability of the situation on ground will allow political parties to morally challenge the outcome of these elections. The tide is fast turning against the Nepali Congress led by GP Koirala; Prachanda has already claimed that five dozen of his cadres have been killed in the election campaigns across the country in recent months. Even if Prachanda's allegations are not true, the Maoists have already set the tone of the discourse.

In a functioning democracy, the media plays an extremely important role. Political scientists in the modern era have gone as far as claiming media as the fourth branch of the government. The media plays a very important role in society due to people's apathy towards politics. In most cases, the people in general are unable to make legitimate decisions of their own. This is where the media comes into play in a democratic society, the media is therefore, supposed to play an individual role with the aim of bridging the gap between people and politics in the hope of aiding people to make conscious political decisions. But here in lies the problem, if the objectivity of a journalist is blurred due to a vested political interest, the media can be doing more harm to the political process than good. Nepal is at the verge of a truly historic moment, and the media has a magnanimous responsibility to keep people abreast on the unfolding situation of the country. And if politics is allowed to dictate the objectivity of journalism, the idea of a New Nepal may well remain a distant reality as the forces of negative liberty are bound to over shadow the possible good of the electoral exercise. Therefore, the media must awake now and rise to the challenges meted by anti polls elements not on the basis of rhetoric but on grounds of reality.

Unfortunately, the premise of holding these elections has been a major fallacy – to contain the Maoists. If these elections were a parliamentary election, then possibly the notion would prove noble. However, these elections are to draft a new constitution and this exercise is bound to have far reaching consequences. Therefore, given the situation on ground, it is only foreseeable that the elections will bring about a fractured political solution that will endanger both the peace process and the democratic institutions. Second, the credibility of the constitution will be questioned as long as there is room for the parties to doubt that these elections will not be fair. The person who is most likely to lose out of these elections is the callous Prime Minister Koirala and the Nepali Congress. Koirala's growing indifference is fast brewing legitimate grounds for political discontentment after these elections are conducted. But in more important terms, if the true aspirations of the people are not reflected in these upcoming elections, yet another political crisis in the form of a violent agitation is inevitable.

Related Posts:

Nepal's CA Elections - Assume Nothing
http://nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com/2008/02/nepals-ca-elections-assume-nothing.html

Will CA Polls be 'Free and Fair'?
http://nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com/2008/03/will-ca-polls-be-free-and-fair.html

Real Obstacle for Elections - The Maoists
http://nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com/2008/03/real-obstacle-for-elections-maoists.htmlt