Opinion Pointing fingers

The German delegation was in Nepal to assess the political situation and decide about its assistance to Nepal. There have been many other high-level visits in the post-May 28 situation of gloom and uncertainty. The UK’s permanent under-secretary,Norway’s international development minister and the UN Secretary General’s high-ranking representative came to express their “disappointment” about the failure to deliver the constitution by the May 28 deadline. They advised: “You must pick up the thread… and deliver the constitution.”

In fact,the UN,Norway and the UK,and other Western donors,are being blamed by a large section in Nepal for funding the caste- and ethnicity-based politics. On May 25,a delegation of “Hindu upper caste” people complained to a group of diplomats representing the UNDP,Switzerland and the Department for International Development (DFID) that “Your support to certain groups in Nepal is being used against us.” That was in reference to these donors’ open support to the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) that is not only demanding “ethnicity-based federalism” but also openly accusing the Hindu castes — Bahuns,Chhetris,etc — of being outsiders.

The donors and UN representatives clarified with “regret” that their support to the NEFIN was meant for “poverty alleviation”. They “regret” if that support has been used for promoting caste and ethnic hatred. The donors’ open involvement in politics is now under the scanner,and they are now bracketed with Nepal’s political actors as a “failure”,along with the collapse of the constitution-writing process.

Inside Nepal,anger is building up against the international community. India and China,Nepal’s two big neighbours,are now quietly gauging the frustration and are believed to be in “limited consultation” over how to inject some degree of order and stability into the strategically important neighbourhood.

Where does Nepal go from here? Altogether,16 political parties have ganged up to seek the ouster of Bhattarai to pave the way for the “politics of consensus” to return. Prachanda,chief of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M),is at the forefront of a demand to revive the Constituent Assembly for a few days or weeks so that the constitution-writing can be completed. Prachanda has realised that in the death of the CA,which was also a legislative body,he ceases to be the leader of the largest political party.

However,during its existence (May 28,2008 to May 27,2012) the CA met only 122 times,and otherwise only to amend the scheduled timeframe for constitution-delivery and extend its own life. Prachanda headed the most powerful body — the dispute resolution sub-committee — that had promised to forge consensus on all the 117 outstanding subjects and place them before the constitutional committee assigned to prepare a draft of the constitution to be adopted by the CA. Prachanda and top leaders of the four biggest parties kept assuring,even as late as May 26,that a miracle would happen and the constitution delivered.

The failure has left not only the Nepalese people but also the international community feeling misled. The four major parties that collectively undertook to deliver the constitution have fallen out. Worse,each party faces internal revolt. While the UCPN-M is on the verge of a split,with the group led by Mohan Baidya Kiran calling for a “national convention” on June 15,the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Nepali Congress (NC) face the prospect of their members from the “indigenous groups” deserting them with the declaration that “by not agreeing to ethnic federalism,they betrayed us.”

In the midst of all this,16 parties have decided to step up their campaign to seek Bhattarai’s ouster. But he seems to be in no mood to concede. “I ask political parties not to take the law into their hands,as the others might do the same,” Bhattarai retaliated,implying he may mobilise his Maoist cadres to counter such moves. Ram Babu Prasaid,a veteran NC leader earlier,now heads a group of activists demanding the revival of the 1990 constitution and constitutional monarchy.

At the moment,Nepal’s politics stands at a crossroads,with all options open but no sign that the political actors who failed the nation feel accountable in any way.