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Does US Seek To Establish Dictatorship in Nepal?

Bhuwan Thapaliya - 11/13/2005

The momentum that was rapidly building toward a republican set up after the initial media hoopla, is most likely to decease prematurely as the United States has officially yet again renewed its warning against possible “alliance” between Nepal’s major political parties and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists).

The statement has come amid reports that the seven party opposition alliance that is protesting the royal takeover of February 1 this year has made significant progress towards “ collaborating ” with the Maoist rebels.

This statement, which came at a crucial hour, however hinted some other serious developments.

It seems that America wants to establish “ A Democratic People’s Dictatorship,” in Nepal, as exemplified further by its sudden flip of the diplomatic coin. America believes that, what Nepal needs is neither democracy, nor autocracy. It thinks what Nepal really needs today; if it wants to propel ahead is ‘ Democratic People’s Dictatorship.’

If one scrutinizes the America’s latest statement regarding the Nepalese political impasse then it can be concluded on numerous legitimate basis that according to America, Nepal needs a guardian to control the democratic system and the American administration reckon by the god's grace that Nepal already have such an infrastructure in place.

The United States firmly believes the theory that tends to offer legitimacy to an autocratic administration on grounds that, if not anything; it at least shields Nepal from a totalitarian system of Maoists government, which is proved further by this statement of the American Ambassador to Nepal.

“ The people are terrified by the Maoists and don’t trust the political parties either. They are not quite ready to see the institution of monarchy eliminated in the short-run, ” said American Ambassador to Nepal, James Moriarty, as reported in the Himalayan Times.

This has swayed the Nepalese political dilemma further towards the corridor of uncertainty.

Now let us presume the ‘ Democratic People’s Dictatorship’ scenario.

America thinks that Nepal will be lucky if she can exploit such a system, where people choose their leaders and leaders work for the betterment of the people under a guardian 'the king’, who will have to make the strategic decision as to how to move forward for he probably amongst few others, is the only person in Nepal who actually has a vision for the future.

And People will have to live by the rules, which may at times curb even their fundamental rights for the betterment of the whole. The guardian will exercise his authority to discipline the political pundits and the people at large for this is the basic thing lacking in our present system.

Nevertheless, for the set up to bear fruits, everyone has to sacrifice. King has to sacrifice his ambition for absolute power and restrain himself from the defaulters and the thugs; the parties have to sacrifice their definition of democracy and their desire to push the king towards the constitutional monarchy.

Furthermore, the parties, meanwhile, will have to accept constructive monarchy and the monarchy on the other hand will have to reach out to parties and act within rules for the betterment of the Nation. And obviously, the general masses will have to learn to live by the rules and think positively and act in positive dimension.

In the interim, let us forget the America’s latest Nepal policy for a moment and ask ourselves, what we really want in Nepal. What could be the ultimate meeting point of the common people’s consensus?

As a Nepali, it is our right to demand a new 'constitution' with all the rules to balance the power, which defines rules at various stages for various players, and inevitably to strengthen a professional relationship between the political players and the common citizens of Nepal.

A new constitution in itself is not the solution but nevertheless we all have to vow to abide by them if it is drafted in the future.

The common Nepalese consensus is this. We read lots of articles about this political situation in Nepal. Everyone seems to only highlight problem, which everyone knows, but no one has offered any solutions as yet.

Take this scenario for instance. What if the Maoist-political party-king problem is solved tomorrow? What then, has anyone thought about what we are going to do in that situation?

The answer is no. What might happen? No one knows. How are we going to move forward? Still a hyper vogue.

To sum up: We cannot always live to solve the Maoist-king-political parties problem alone. We have to now write, live, eat and breathe solutions and even offer those solutions which may even sound very stupid at this stage but will be good for the future. ‘ Democratic People’s Dictatorship’ is only one example among many.

Finally, for the present it is a matter of indifference what form the State chooses for carrying on its statute. The essential matter is that it should develop the most suitable ways of the national reconciliation before it’s too late. And this is something, which every Nepali can help using all the means adapted to that very purpose.