 MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA |
The Maoists say that they are hindering CA proceedings to establish "civilian supremacy", Orwellian doublespeak which actually means "we get our way, or else". There is no way an institution can be made supreme without allowing it first to do what it is expected to do: elect a new leader after the old one has resigned.
Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal occupied the moral high ground by exiting from the government the moment he realised his allies had deserted him in the middle of a crisis in governance. He needs to show similar statesmanship and let a successor government take office through accepted norms and procedures of a parliamentary system.Everyone knows he is buying time.
The UML now wants to disown its past in a coalition with the Maoists. It has now emerged that Dahal had taken the decision to sack Gen Rookmangud Katawal with full knowledge, even if not the direct consent, of his UML colleagues. The UML needs to devise a face-saving formula to protect its own democratic credentials and hide its duplicity.
Katawal may have to step down to save the Nepal Army from the charges of harbouring political ambitions. This is an option that can buy the UML support of the Maoists and rid it from the destabilising influence of minor parties. The NC has a selective memory and doesn't realise it set a destructive precedence by obstructing CA session that it has helped call in the first place.
The political impasse isn't as inextricable as it seems. It appears knotty because parties in the gridlock are looking for excuses rather than solutions.
Time to stop the blame game and accept in all humility that every major political actor has failed to live up to the expectations of the Nepali electorate. Corrective measures will begin to shape once they realise that all of them are equally responsible for the mess they find themselves in. They should all learn to say sorry and start again.
