Opinion Demolishing the old state

“If I sink,all of you on the ship will sink with me. Rescue me,if you want to be safe,” Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said in a seminar commemorating the birth anniversary of the late Gandhian leader,Mahendra Narayan Nidhi. His prophecy of doom clearly had a message of terror for the public in general and for three major political parties — the Nepali Congress,the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Madhesi front — in particular. The choices he offered were clear: either keep him at the helm of power,and accept his conditions for timely completion of the peace and constitution-making,or prepare to “sink together”.

Nilambar Acharya,chairman of the constitutional committee of the constituent assembly,is the only person to say publicly that chances of the country getting a new constitution by May 28 are nil,but none including him has imagined what the consequences of missing the deadline — declared “unextendable” by the supreme court — will mean for the country,and its legitimacy in the world outside. But Maoists once again have taken the lead in challenging the supreme court. “There may be a court called supreme court in Nepal. But we only recognise the people’s court,and will do whatever that court asks us to do,” Prachanda told his supporters recently.

There were fears,right from May 28,2008 — the day the monarchy was abolished,without a proper debate or due parliamentary process,on the basis of a resolution moved by the government that had not even taken oath — that showed how desperate the Maoists were to destroy all state institutions,beginning with the monarchy,in the name of pursuing “progressive politics”. Naturally,their next targets were the Nepal army and the independent judiciary,as these two institutions have put up resistance when certain decisions affecting their morale and functioning were taken by the government. All this comes when politics based on the sharing of plum postings and key appointments is being monopolised by the four major parties. A weak or pliable judiciary and army,in the Maoists’ calculation,would create a scope for the capture of the state by the party.

Although the UCPN-M no more insists on having a judiciary answerable to the legislature,Prachanda’s statement is no less a threat to the judiciary’s independence. The present government,for the first time,appointed two members with active affiliation to political parties,in the five-member judicial council that recommends the appointments of judges. The council,with the chief justice as the head,has the law minister as ex-officio voting member,giving a clear majority to politicians who have indicated their preference for appointing judges with political background.

This move has not come alone. Exactly 27 months after the previous Maoist government led by Prachanda dislodged the army chief,Rookmangud Katawal,and appointed his deputy Kul Bahadur Khadka — a move vetoed by President Ram Baran Yadav — Bhattarai is trying to inject politics into the army in his own way. He is trying to take the help of the current army chief,Chhatraman Singh Gurung,and another ambitious officer,Daman Ghale,currently head of the Directorate General of Military Operations and a close relative of Gurung. A confidential proposal,allegedly prepared by the duo and submitted to the PM,sought to alter some past agreements on the integration of Maoist combatants in a way that served the Maoists more than the army as an institution. It offered fresh concessions to the combatants,like curtailing the training period for officers and jawans once they joined. Apparently,the new proposal was also favourable to combatants getting to senior positions,up to major general,against the earlier agreement that allowed them to rise up to major.

But the army chief backtracked after President Yadav,based on complaints from major political parties,asked him not to act alone bypassing institutional decisions taken earlier. At the same time,the meeting of the principal staff officers also said no concessions should be offered to Maoists that affected the army’s apolitical character and its loyal soldiers’ career growth.

Clearly,as the time remaining is not enough to settle the contentious issues of the future constitution,Maoists will manipulate more and inject terror into people’s minds by claiming the safety of the people and the stability of the country lie in “our continuing in power”. Neither the army nor the judiciary,nor the provisions of the peace accord,should come in their way. And that fits well within the framework of Maoist philosophy that the demolition of the old state is the essential condition for building a new one.