Siddhi B. Ranjitkar: Prachanda And His Failed Deeds

Nepalis have been wondering why Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda that has garnered the highest seats in the parliament in the elections held on April 10, 2008 to the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament has been able to lead the government for the period less than former General Secretary of CPN-UML Madhav Nepal that has failed to get elected not only at one constituency but also at second constituency in the same elections. Prachanda has advantage over Madhav Nepal in every thing one can think of. For example, Prachanda is the commander of the People’s Liberation Army that have challenged the mighty Nepal Army, and the Chairman of the largest party whereas Madhav Nepal has been only the General Secretary of the second grade party. Still, Madhav Nepal has managed to stay on in power where as Prachanda has to face challenges from his colleagues in the party and has to run the race for the never-ending election to a Prime minister, and ultimately give up the hope for winning the race.

First of all, in the elections to the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament held on April 10, 2008, voters have not given a clear mandate to a single political party but spread their votes to a number of political parties. UCPN-Maoist has won the highest number of 238 seats, then, NC the second highest 114, CPN-UML the third highest 109 and UDMF the fourth highest 83. Obviously these four political parties have poised to play a major role in the parliament and in any political affairs in the two years to come, as the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament is elected for that period to complete the peace process and the writing of a new constitution.

After the elections to the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament, following the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, the first task at the first session, the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament has to undertake is to declare Nepal a Federal Democratic Republic. However, the NC leaders have been not only unwilling to do so but also their statute does not allow them to do so because the NC statute has the provision for the constitutional monarchy and the parliamentary democracy. They have to amend their statute to vote for a Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in the first session of the parliament.

It has taken more than a month for all the leaders of those four major political parties such as UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF to build a consensus on declaring Nepal a federal democratic republic but they did it at the cost of working on the consensus politics. They have agreed to make an amendment to the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 replacing the provision for working on the consensus politics with working on the majority rule. After the agreement on amending the Interim Constitution of Nepal, the NC removes the provision for the constitutional monarchy from its statute paving the way for its legislators to vote for making Nepal a federal democratic republic.

Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda has stated in public that he has to give in to the demand of the NC for a majority rule for declaring Nepal a federal democratic rule, thus, he has sacrificed the consensus politic for making Nepal a federal democratic republic.

On May 28, 2008, the first session of the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament chaired by the senior most member Kul Bahadur Gurung of NC has declared Nepal a federal democratic republic and gave the deadline for 15 days to the former king to leave Naryanhiti palace. It is not a small victory for the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF but it is really a capitulation to the wish of the Maoist for the NC and CPN-UML, as they have wanted to keep the monarchy in one form or another as an antidote to the growing influence of Maoists on the Nepalese politics.

Then comes the election to a President and Vice-president. The UCPN-Maoist has proposed the legendary republican Ram Raja Prasad Singh as the candidate for the first President of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal as he has advocated for declaring Nepal a republic abolishing the monarchy even in early 1970s when Nepalis have scared of even having a dream of it. He has lived in exile since then and has returned to Nepal only after the reinstatement of democracy in Nepal in 1990. The Maoists must have thought that the legendary republican at the very old age really deserves the ceremonial position of the first president of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal; so, they have made him their candidate for the President and they choose one of the lady candidates from among the party members for the Vice-president.

Most probably, the Maoists have been over confident in winning the election to the president and the vice-president. So, saying he cannot back track from its own candidate for Vice-president, Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda has ignored the call of the UDMF for the coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and the UDMF for winning the election to the president and vice-president asking only for the support for its candidate for vice-president in return for the support for the candidate of the UCPN-Maoist for the president. Perhaps, the Maoists have forgotten that they have agreed on the majority rule and they have made an amendment to the Interim Constitution of 2007 accordingly, and naturally, the four major parties such as UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF that have altogether more than 500 votes in the 601-memebr Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament, are going to play an equal role in shaping the political structure of Nepal. The UCPN-Maoist can make a majority in the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament with anyone of the remaining three parties such as NC, CPN-UML and UDMF whereas only all these three parties coming together can make a majority.

Failing in forming a coalition with the UDMF, Prachanda has pushed the UDMF to form a coalition with the NC and CPN-UML to make a majority in the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament for the support for its candidate for Vice-president. The NC, CPN-UML and UDMF have signed up an agreement on forming a coalition of the three parties for the election to a president, vice-president and a House Speaker. The NC has claimed for the president, the CPN-UML has received the position of House Speaker and the UDMF the position of vice-president.

None of the serious NC leaders have been willing to be the candidate for the first president of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Even none of the second-tiered leaders has accepted the candidacy for the president, as none of them has been sure that all of the UDMF legislators will vote for him/her. Finally, the NC has the second-tiered leader Dr. Ram Baran Yadav accepting the candidacy for the first president of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.

In fact, all of the legislators belonging to the UDMF have not voted for the NC candidate for the president but they have voted for the candidate for the Vice-president in the first round of the elections to the President and Vice-president. So, in the first round of the election, only the candidate of UDMF for Vice-president got elected. None of the candidates of the UCPN-Maoist and NC for president could secure the required votes of 301 for getting elected in the first round of the election. Clearly, legislators belonging to the UCPN-Maoist, NC and CPN-UML except for UDMF have voted in the party line. However, the leader of the UDMF has pushed the legislators to vote for the NC candidate in the second round of the election and Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has come out victorious as the first president of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Failing to make a small compromise with the UDMF on the candidate for the vice-president, Prachanda has lost the elections to both the President and the Vice-president. With the compromise on the vice-president, he could have won the election for his candidate for the president, and have an upper hand in the administration.

Not forming a coalition with the UDMF, Prachanda has made a tactical error. The NC leaders have exploited his tactical error to get their candidate for president get elected and secured an upper hand in the Nepalese politics from then on. The NC leaders have expected that the UDMF leaders would stay on in the coalition of the NC, CPN-UML and UDMF but could not keep the coalition intact after the elections to the two highest elected positions of president and vice-president, as the UDMF is also a loose coalition of Madheshi political parties.

Prachanda has not clearly read the future course of the Nepalese politics. If he has formed a coalition of his party with the UDMF, his party would be always in the leading position. Leaders of UDMF have been willing to accept this reality believing only the UCPN-Maoist is willing to meet their political demands for autonomous Madheshi province, proportional representation of the Madheshi people in the civil service, police and Nepal Army whereas the NC and CPN-UML have been deadly against such demands. So, the coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and UDMF could have lasted long enough for resolving most of the political issues such as integrating the two armies, completing the peace process and certainly the writing of a new constitution smoothly working on the majority rule. NC and CPN-UML leaders will not be in a position to cash in the errors of Prachanda and certainly Madhav Nepal will not be in power at all if Prachanda has correctly used his political strategy. He will not only stay on in power without any challenges from his colleagues but also he will have earned the credit for integrating the two army into a single army, completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution even without extending the term of the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament. Thus, he has lost the opportunity of being the legendary leader of the new Nepal.

In fact, Prachanda has made another tactical error not accepting the proposal of the NC leaders for making Girija Prasad Koirala the first president of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Koirala has been heading the Interim Government of Nepal of that time. In view of how Koirala has behaved with the Maoist leaders after the success of the People’s Movement in 2006, they have been skeptical of him and have started believing that he will go back to the previous regime at any opportune moment. Koirala has given this impression to the Maoists saying he is for keeping the monarchy in one form or another for example as a baby king and so on, delaying the promulgation of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 as much as possible, and then withholding the election to a Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament for quite some time. Viewers of the live telecast of the session of the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament can see how Koirala with a great pain in his heart has presented the proposal in the parliament for declaring Nepal a Federal Democratic Republic and ending the monarchy once and for all. He has taken four months to turn over the power to the elected Prime Minister after the election to the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament. The Maoists have to put constant pressure on Girija Prasad Koirala to do these things. Koirala is supposed to expedite the integration of the People’s Liberation Army with the Nepali Army, complete the peace process and the writing of a new constitution ultimately consolidating and strengthening the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Unfortunately, Koirala has always wanted to move on in the reverse gear rather than accelerating to strengthening the achievements of the People’s Movement in 2006. Most probably for those reasons, the Maoists have categorically rejected Koirala as the first President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Perhaps, the Maoists could have a little problem of working on the consensus politics even if they might need to put constant pressure on Koirala if the Maoists have accepted him as the first President. However, even though he would be the ceremonial President he might be wielding a lot of power in his party and in the government, too, given his towering status at that time. Most probably, Koirala would have been eligible for the Noble Peace prize if he has also maintained the cordial relationship with the Maoists as he has tried in his latter days, and has worked in tandem with the Maoists for building a new Nepal following the aspirations of Nepalis and the martyrs and people injured during the people’s movements and the conflict.

After the elections to the president and the vice-president, if Prachanda has acted with prudence, then he would not have so many problems of tackling the political affairs in the country and facing the challenges from his colleagues in his party rather he could have been an undisputed leader of not only of his party but also of the country. Today, he has lost both of these opportunities and has the problems of survival. Rather than bridging the gap between the Maoists and the NC leaders created by the Maoists’ refusal of accepting Girija Prasad Koirala as the first President, Prachanda has made wider and deeper gap between his party and the NC. He has refused to give any significant portfolios to the NC in a new cabinet he is going to preside over. He did not want to bring the NC under the umbrella of working on the consensus politics. A great and prudent leader will never commit such mistakes but Prachanda did. Giving the benefit of the doubt to the Girija Prasad Koirala and NC leaders whether they have deliberately worked or not on retarding the process of strengthening and consolidating the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in the immediate past, Prachanda should have worked with them giving them the ministerial portfolios due to them as the leaders of the second largest party in the parliament. However, Prachanda and his colleagues have monopolized the entire significant and major portfolios in the new cabinet. Naturally, the NC leaders have seen the Maoists as their foes and adversaries rather than coworkers in the politics of Nepal. They refused to join the Prachanda cabinet and have inflated even minor mistakes of his cabinet ministers to the scale unbelievably and significantly large ones. Without including the NC leaders in the cabinet, Prachanda cannot surely work on the consensus politics. Perhaps, he knows it but he has not cared about it.

Prachanda has been repeatedly and naïvely claming that India has been interfering in the Nepalese political affairs. He needs to sit coolly and then meditate to find out which country is immune from the external interference in the domestic politics. US President Barack Obama has complained that foreign money has been pouring in for political ads during the mid term elections held in the US in 2010. Even that mighty country has to accept the interference then whether the tiny country such as Nepal sandwiched between the two mammoth countries will be free from the outside interference is a question Prachanda needs to reflect and answer. Prachanda needs to say in public whether the Chinese Government putting pressure on the Nepalese Government not even to allow the Tibetan exiles in Nepal to hold the peaceful election to the Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in exile is an interference or not. Grossly abusing the basic human rights of Tibetans, the Nepalese Government has prevented the Tibetans in exiles to cast their votes in Nepal and even have stopped the Tibetans passing through Nepal to India under the heavy pressure of the Chinese authorities. Are these things not interferences in the internal affairs of the Tibetans by the Nepalese Government and the Chinese interference in the Nepalese internal affairs? Prachanda needs not only to yell but to shout at the Chinese authorities for putting pressure on the Government of Nepal for such acts that abuses the fundamental human rights if he is really for making Nepal free from the external influences on its domestic affairs. So, Prachanda’s India bashing is just his lack of acting with prudence. His cadres throwing shoes at the Indian envoy is unacceptable to any civilized persons by any standard. Prachanda needs to discipline his cadres and let not repeat such incident in the future for the benefits of himself, his cadres and the friendly relations between the two sovereign countries.

Another grave mistake Prachanda has committed as a Prime Minister is unilaterally taking actions against the then Chief of Army Staff giving the impression that the Maoists have been really for capturing the state power firing the Chief of Army Staff and promoting their man to the same position in preparation for taking over the power with support of the Nepal Army. It might be far from the truth but it has been the excuse for the leaders of the 18 political parties represented in the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament to go to the president and plead him for taking the counter actions means keeping the Chief of Army Staff in job and saving the country from going to the clutches of the Maoists. This single act of imprudence has made Prachanda to lose his job.

Instead of resigning and certainly showing his political fair play, Prachanda could have engaged in controlling the damage he has done acting unilaterally and firing the Chief of Army Staff and promoting the man supposed to be favorable to his party as the Chief of Army Staff, immediately talking to the partners in the coalition government and convincing them of his mistake, and in future not repeating such a grave mistake. Prachanda has failed to do so rather has gone on TV live to say the Presidential action of directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff a violation of Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, and in protest resigning from his office of Prime Minister.

Resigning from the office of Prime Minister after failing in firing the Chief of Army Staff, Prachanda has successfully projected him to the democratic minded leader and the player of a fair political game rather than a power hungry person. He has earned some credits from the members of the international community and has possibly successful to keep his colleagues of following hard line in the party happy, as he has left the cozy Prime Ministerial chair and has come back to the tough field of the political game to fight against the regressive forces in the coming round of the people’s movement. However, Prachanda has missed the opportunity of leading at least the CPN-UML and UDMF to complete the peace process and writing of a new constitution working on the majority strength rather than expecting to work on the almost impossible consensus politics.

The best possible option left for Prachanda has been to go along with the fellow leaders of the CPN-UML and UDMF. Certainly, Prachanda will need to face the wrath of the leaders of the NC and some of the CPN-UML leaders, too. They will constantly demand the resignation of Prachanda in the efforts on tearing down the government. Prachanda might have even needed to face the non-confidence vote in the parliament but he could surely survive all these political maneuvers against him if he has made tactical move for keeping the coalition of his party with the CPN-UML and UDMF intact. Even if the CPN-UML has split away from the coalition, Prachanda could still hang on the partnership with the UDMF and do a lot of positive things in strengthening the new political gains the People’s Movement has achieved in 2006.

Staying on in power, Prachanda can take the issue of the President directly writing a letter to the Chief of Army Staff certainly abusing the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 to the Supreme Court of Nepal. He has taken it to the Supreme Court of Nepal but belatedly after quitting the office of Prime Minister. The Supreme Court has not acted on it for long that has made the President possible to enjoy the benefits of the doubt of abusing the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Prachanda could have taken the issue to the parliament, too staying in power but he has not chosen that option, too. He has attempted to do so when he has been out of power only to get rejected by the House Speaker favoring the unscrupulous politicians to play a dirty political game. Thus, Prachanda has committed numerous mistakes but he has managed to stay on in the leading position of his party showing Prachanda is a politician capable of making mistakes but still staying in power.

Leaders of the CPN-UML and UDMF are not for immediately leaving the offices rather wishing to continue the offices cooperating with the leaders of the UCPN-Maoist but the reasons better known for Prachanda and his colleagues, Prachanda has not seized this opportunity of continuing his administration but has open the political floodgate to the unscrupulous politicians to act immediately and seized the power. This has been possible due to the tactical failure of Prachanda in the political game.

After quitting the office, Prachanda and his colleagues have indulged in demonstrating their power of closing the country and staging the rally of hundreds of thousands of people in Kathmandu and in other major towns wasting resources and energy of the party and cadres and causing inconvenience and even sufferings to the people. The UCPN-Maoist leaders have gained nothing from such street demonstration but the curses of the people for causing them inconveniences in their regular lives. These leaders have wasted the most valuable resources and energy in doing not only unproductive activates but even counter productive to their party.

Instead of engaging in such wasteful activities of street demonstrates and rallies that cost to any organizers a lot; an estimate of staging a rally goes as high as about Rs 25 million, Prachanda and his colleagues could have engaged in something useful to the people. The Prachanda Government has launched a number of projects and programs they have said useful to the people. So, they need to follow up what the current government has been doing to those projects and programs. They need to bring the results of such things to the public attention through media or through the rallies. For example, people in the Kathmandu Valley would have appreciated them if the Maoists have been instrumental to expedite the construction of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project for resolving the water scarcity. Unfortunately, the Madhav government has put it on the back burner giving in to the lobby of the private water supply companies and individuals. Similarly, the Maoists could put pressure on building a thermal plant for immediately easing the power shortage or expedite the power plants in near completion either in the private or in the public sector. However, Prachanda has failed in doing anything of that sorts but only saying no one can break the bond of his party with the people. The bond of the party with the people will be strengthened only when the party can do some tangible things useful to the people.

Prachanda has wasted time and energy contesting the race for a new Prime Minister after Madhav Nepal has resigned from the office on June 30, 2010 under the pressure of the members of his party and of his partner parties. Prachanda has run for seven rounds of the elections to a new Prime Minister without a success, and then withdrew his candidacy for the office of Prime Minister. He has never received more than 256 votes out of the 601 votes available in the parliament. With what motive he has run for so many rounds of elections to a Prime Minister without success, we don’t know but the leader of his caliber has done such thing is unbelievable. Any leader will dare to run for any elected office only after making sure that s/he has sufficient votes to be sure that s/he can get elected.

So, Prachanda has been a successful revolutionary leader and the commander of the People’s Liberation Army but as a peacetime leader he has terribly failed. He has made one mistake after another but has not learned the lessons from the past mistakes and has not even made any damage-control efforts rather he has continued to deteriorate his position in his party and in the national politics, too. Forgetting the past mistakes and the losses he has incurred due to the mistakes, he needs to work hard on completing the peace process and the constitution writing the two things all Nepalis want to see done as early as possible certainly not later than May 28, 2011 when the extended term of the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament elected for these two main tasks ends.

© Scoop Media