Thick red lines

It has been apparent for a while that the Communist Party of Nepal Maoist isnt willing to learn the rules of thumb for running a democracy. In the process,it has been undermining the state and taking it through a crisis it could have done without. Nepal has a revolutionary Maoist party at the helm,but it is not a Maoist state. When the CPN-M emerged as the single largest party after elections in April last year subsequent to a protracted,united struggle against the monarchy and declared Nepal a republic soon after,it was the elasticity of the democratic mechanism that accommodated an armed,hitherto insurgent outfit,which nevertheless had secured public trust and enjoyed political goodwill. It was nothing less than an assertion of democracys capacity to effect a reconciliation and take a society forward. It was also expected that,at the head of the government,the Maoists would begin their own process of reconciliation and bend to save a fragile state.

A year since,the intractability of the CPN-M has sparked a crisis that has pitted the Maoists against the army and the judiciary,brought parliamentary proceedings to a standstill for more than two weeks,and almost broken the ruling coalition. Central to the confrontation is the CPN-Ms interference in the Nepal army,an institution still sound,and one into which the Maoists want their own combatants integrated. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda had issued an ultimatum to the army chief,R. Katawal,asking why he ignored governmental directives on the removal of eight generals and halting recruitment. The army chief gave a detailed reply; but it took protests from 17 parties including the opposition Nepali Congress and the CPN-Ms coalition partner,the CPN-United Marxist-Leninist as well as warnings from Nepals president,to deter Prachanda from sacking Katawal unilaterally. Prachanda saved his government recently by also promising to return confiscated state and individual property,hand over a murder-accused Maoist leader and respect the independence of the judiciary.

What Nepal needs is governance,not revolutionary utopias. The Maoists have to realise that their own good lies in Nepals good; and that cannot be secured by politicising or demolishing every institution. It would take little to put the country on the brink again.