SUBHAS RAI |
As the country reaches another constitutional crossroads, it is being paralysed by a buildup of bandas. The governance failure of the fractious parties has prompted any pressure group with a gripe to call a nationwide shutdown and get away with it.
But as we approach the stroke of the midnight hour on Saturday, the nation waits, not with a sense of hope, but dread. Nepal is a dictatorship of three parties, and although they may fight tooth and nail for power, on extending the CA their interests converge. The NC is playing hard to get on extra time only because its leaders want a berth in a new coalition.
"While the Congress stands by its 10-point proposal for extension, we will not allow the nation to slip into a void on Saturday," NC CA member GaganThapa told Nepali Times.
At first glance, the CA may seem divided between the NC-Madhesi parties and the Maoist-UML alliance, but look closer and they have all made up their minds to vote for a last-minute extension. However, there is a cluster of ultra-radical and right-wing forces, marginalised since 2006, which are against the extension because they would benefit from the resulting political vacuum.
But between the public sabre-rattling, you can see these are the same old faces in the same old parties, bargaining for the same old portfolios. They will really need to convince the people that they deserve another extension.
Anurag Acharya
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