Nepali Times

Gagan Thapa, NC, Kathmandu-4

At every mass meeting, friends ask me: “What will happen in your constituency?” My answer is always the same: we might win or we might lose, it completely depends on the voters and we will have to wait until 21 November for the final results. But we don’t have to wait to see who won or lost the politics, because we are already winners in our constituency.

In 1996 when our Maoist friends took up arms, they told us that begging for votes from the podium is futile. They said the only way to state power and to bring true change and progress in society is through the barrel of a gun. If I had chosen to join the war in Rolpa and Rukum, my politics would have lost and they would have won. But the exact opposite has happened, we have won, our politics has won.

Former rebels have laid their rusted guns down and are now standing on the same podiums that we built and asking Nepali brothers and sisters for their votes. It has been proven that violence is wrong and that peaceful politics is the only path to prosperity. Unfortunately, it took 10 years and 17,000 lives to understand this basic truth.

We stand at a most challenging juncture in our modern history as we elect another CA. But what if we fail to write the constitution this time too? We cannot revive the 1990 constitution. Neither can we run the country on the interim constitution. Our journey towards peaceful politics will end even before we reach our destination and we will be forced into authoritarianism. There will be another uprising and democracy will return, but Nepal will lose yet another generation. We simply cannot afford to be trapped in this vicious cycle. Therefore, we have no other option than to make CA-II a success.

However, we also need to introspect and analyse why the previous CA failed. In 2008, our Maoist friends had a huge majority on the assembly floor. But they couldn’t establish a strong leadership and couldn’t give Nepal a new constitution. There were so few NC candidates, that we had very little clout. When a party that wins politics loses the ballot, Nepal cannot find a long-lasting solution.

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Baburam Bhattarai, UCPN (M), Gorkha -1 and Rupandehi-4

Butwal is the gateway to Lumbini and it is of great cultural, social, and historical importance to Nepal. Right around the corner is the Jitgadi Killa, where Nepalis crushed a British invasion. The city is a symbol of the defeat of imperialism and is also the centre of industrialisation and economic progress. If we can develop a place like Butwal, it will kick-start the development of the entire nation.

Currently, the Tarai is home to 51 per cent of the country’s population. In the next decade, the number of people living here will continue to increase and there will be fewer people in the Hills. If politicians from the hills, whether Gorkha, Kaski, or Ilam, ignore this demographic reality and focus only on their home region, then Nepal cannot flourish and its unity will be at risk. Therefore we need to focus on the unity of the mountains, hills, and plains and major leaders need to develop their ideologies into a national agenda and be able to represent people of both the hills and Madhes. That is why UCPN (M) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is a FPTP candidate from Kathmandu and Siraha and I am standing from Gorkha and Rupandehi.

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Kamal Thapa, RPP-Nepal, at a rally for candidate Udhav Poudel, Kathmandu-4

The past seven years have set a terrible precedence in Nepali politics. As a result, the country is currently sucked into a whirlpool of crisis: our unity, integrity, and independence are at risk; our religion and culture are under threat, and our economy and society are in a downward spiral. We should use the 19 November elections as a means to rid the country of these catastrophes. We should not forget that we are repeating CA elections for the second time. If the citizens are going to approve the failed policies of the past and give continuity to old ways, then what is the use of conducting polls again? Nepalis want progress and respite from the political deadlock out of the upcoming elections. We want to assure all 12 million voters that if they support us, we will reestablish Nepal as a Hindu nation where all religions are given equal respect and freedom. We will create a constitution that can accommodate everyone from the king to the Maoists.

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