By Dr. S.Chandrasekharan
At last, the Koirala Government appears to have realised the
seriousness of the situation. The top three leaders who in the words of
their own Baburam Bhattarai had transformed themselves into a “ruling class”
met at Baluwatar yesterday and decided to withdraw the army to its barracks,
provided the protests are peaceful.
Koirala also cancelled his trip to USA to attend the UNGA
meeting and instead sent his Deputy Prakash Man Singh to lead the Nepali
delegation.
More importantly and perhaps nudged by the President, two
days after the promulgation of the constitution, PM Sushil Koirala made the
first move in meeting Mahant Thakur, one of the Madhesi leaders at the latter’s
residence. K.P.Oli of the UML met Gachhadar of the MJF (democratic ).
Gachhadar in his turn asked the triumvirate to come out with concrete
proposals before he could make any move.
It sounds strange but it is true that while one part of the
country is celebrating, the other part continues to be in turmoil with violent
protests.
Some of the protests in the last few days include-
* Parsa- A Police patrol was attacked in broad daylight.
* Kalaiya- A major clash took place between the members
belonging to SLMM ( Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha) and the Police.
* There were continued violent demonstrations in Udayapur,
Siraha, Saptari, Morang, Kapilavastu and Kailali.
* There was in addition a Limbuvan Bandh in eastern Nepal.
The leadership of SLMM and Sadhbhavana party of Rajendra
Mahato have now threatened a blockade of east-west Highway as well as the
Thirubuvan Rajpath connecting Raxaul and Kathmandu. Already picketing has
started at the customs check posts at three points.
There were rumours of a blockade ( blaming India as usual)
creating panic in Kathmandu and people were said to be stocking their supplies.
Long queues were seen in petrol outlets. Officials formally
declared that there had been no blockade and there has been no obstruction in
the movement of Cargo containers, trucks and fuel tankers to Nepal.
But the strikes and protests have hit the industries in
southern Nepal.
Rumours were said to have been spread of India stopping the
traffic to Nepal on instructions from Delhi. These were found to be
baseless. Another rumour that had no basis at all was about the seven
demands made by India to amend the constitution. These were mentioned not
only by a prominent daily newspaper but a popular weekly like India today also.
The fact of the matter was that the seven demands were made
by the Madhesi Groups and not by India. Surprising that the official
denial from India was rather feeble and this had created unnecessary criticism
on both sides of the border that India is “intrusive.” Indian position as
seen by the latest statement of the Ministry of external Affairs was- I quote “
We still hope that initiatives will be taken by Nepal’s leadership to
effectively and credibly address the causes underlying the present state of
confrontation.” There is nothing wrong with this statement.
The Indian Ambassador was also called to Delhi for a
briefing and he in turn, on return to Kathmandu on 23rd briefed Prime Minister
Sushil Koirala.
There is still time to begin a genuine dialogue with the
Madhesi and other marginalised groups to make suitable amendments to the
seventh constitution. Normally each successive constitution was supposed
to be an improvement than the previous one. But there appears to
many retrogade provisions in the current one from the previous interim constitution!
The draft constitution was rushed through with hardly
anytime given to the people to understand the implications. The public
had only one week to make the suggestions. Secondly, the promulgation of
the constitution was continued despite the Supreme Court ruling
that the delineation of the provinces should be completed first.
Thirdly it is a “hill centric” constitution excluding the Madhesis and
the Janjathis. The latter has realised that this is the only chance they
have, to redress the 240 years of marginalisation they had experienced.
The key word is “inclusiveness” and this is what India has
been pressing. But India looks to be isolated in an issue where it is
fully justified to take a position much against the support given by the
international community.
The President has called for a special session of the
Parliament on 2nd October. This session is supposed to elect a new
Prime minister and within another 20 days a new speaker will be in position.
These changes are unlikely to bring any change in the mind set of the
elite that is ruling the country. I hope I am proved wrong.
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