Change-Resisting Forces Pose a Challenge to Inclusive Democracy in Nepal

Nepal’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, also the President of the Nepali Congress Party, has failed to fulfill his promise of resigning. He was expected to facilitate the formation of a new government after the Constituent Assembly (CA) poll held more than two and half months ago. Many have wondered why Koirala has been reluctant to resign even seven weeks after the poll.

Talking to the BBC Nepali service on 3 July, Sadbhawana party leader Anil Jha disclosed that his party and other Madhesi parties prefer that Koirala stay back in the prime minister’s position because his continuity will help implement the Madhesi demands. The Madhesi parties have been demanding the constitutional provision of a single Madhesi province along with an organized mass entry of the people into the Nepal Army. However, the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), the United Marxist-Leninist (UML) and many leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) have stressed that such sensitive demands should be the agenda of the elected Constituent Assembly assigned to draft a new post-conflict constitution.

The leaders within Koirala’s party—NC—seem to have been divided between supporting and opposing the Madhesi demands of a single Madhesi province and the mass entry of the Madhesi youths into the Nepal Army. This has added further confusion to the existing perplexities.

The interim constitution has carried a vision of multi-ethnic representation with federalism though federal structures are yet to be defined by the Constituent Assembly. Proportional multi-ethnic representation has been the grassroot vision embraced by the transformative forces led or influenced by the Maoists who conducted a decade-long armed insurgency and who are in the peace process at present.

Following the emergence of Maoists as Nepal’s largest political parties, Indian and US ruling elites with hegemonistic psychology are all at sea. They prefer the traditional forces to lead the government while they would not mind seeing the Maoists in subordinate positions. But the people’s preference is just the opposite: let Maoists face hard tests of leading Nepal towards overall transformation since all others have already proved themselves as bankrupts.

While the struggles between the change-favorers and the change-resisters continue, frictions are inevitable; people’s ultimate victory is unpreventable.