| noname |
Posted
on 26-Apr-04 05:46 PM
Talk of the town
1. RPP: Parties, many times in the past, have softened their stance, and in some cases they have even aborted their protest programs, as soon as the palace invited them for a MANTRANA. RPP, Rastriya PANCHAYAT Party, as it often goes by in order to show respect to its leaders who all are stalwarts of Rastriya Panchayat days, had different shot. The day following MANTRANA of its president with the king, RPP announced to join the street with the political parties against the 'regression'; however, their definition of regression is very much limited to the one spearheaded by SBT and his comrade in arms, not by the king. Interestingly, they have summoned an emergency meeting, too, of course not to discuss about joining the agitation, but to deny the reports. They are in the headlines for the tempest in a teacup.
2.Taranath Ranabhat : Taranath RAJABHAT, to use Bimal Niva's coinage in order to show some decent respect to the speaker's relentless shuttle sprint between the palace and 'his' house, never forgets to rhapsodize how, not resigning from the speaker of the parliament which was struck down very under his nose, he has fulfilled the constitutional obligation. However, this time he is not in the news for any of these achievements, but for his 'elevated status' as he is being given audience by the King in the same row as of the president of different parties: Samata, Janata, Ekata and so on! Way to go, sir.
3. Sher Bahadur Deuba: Deuba is in despair: He cannot last long in Deuda these days, picnics are too boring for him, and he is isolated politically. He was in the news last week. A two time PM of Nepal and president of a 4-star party, Deu-BA, however, was not in the news for his political program or for his (in)famous non-political dinners with the aristocrats, but for his wife who was running behind the vehicle, where he was kept under detention, for a lift! BIBI ho to AISI.
4. The king's audience: The king is known to be the one who works by taking majority into confidence. He has already consulted with 6 party presidents, which, coincidently, exceeds the number of political parties in the street. Okay okay, including other left parties the number of agitating parties may go up to 10 or 15. So what ? The king may continue his audience with Bharat Bahadur Bisural, Umesh Giri, and he may ask for list of the political parties and name of their presidents from election commissioners, too (what else was their nomination for ?). Your Majesty, I bow to your respect for the democracy and 'party' !!
5. Prakash Koirala: Those who know Prakash Koirala know that he is easily manipulable. He carefully listens to others, and is always looking for inside information. Although he gets the information very often, he fails to analyze them and uses them in wrong circumstances. He stood against the movement in 2046, he stood against the movement in 2060. He is in the news, and ironically, without his name appearing in the news. The news is Shashank has decided to leave his professional career, and join the active politics. With the news making rounds inside the Koiralas and GP fully backing the decision, it was not too much for Prakash to ask Manisha to put her weight behind him. That did not work. Injection of Shashank, who had always maintained the position that so far as his brother was in politics he would stay away, in to politics means Prakash is no more in the politics.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 26-Apr-04 06:12 PM
noname,
Interesting analysis. His majesty will probably continue his powwow with other people whom he always relied upon. The list may include Sharad Chandra Shah, Damodar Shamsher, Chiran Thapa, Mana Ranjan Josse, Radha Krishna Mainali , actor Ashok Sharma, Krishna Malla, former player Jagat Gauchan and so forth. Does it matter?
Talk? What for? There is no need to talk. He can listen to the demands of street protestors if he comes little bit closeer to the wall of palace rather than cowering inside the fortified Narayanhiti palace: protestors are somewhere near his palace everyday.
Frankly, the next talk should be tripartite: King, the Maoists and the parties. They should come to a point, whatever that is, and stop this bloodbath everywhere in Nepal. I think if the Maoists are ready to give up arm for constituent assembly, how long are we supposed to keep this rotten institute of monarchy and the corruption-in-chief king ?
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| noname |
Posted
on 27-Apr-04 04:47 AM
Biswo,
When SBT was handpicked by the king, I thought the king had something 'revolutionary' in his mind in order to downsize the political parties, and the political parties representing status quo would be left as mere spectators. However, looking at the picture in retrospect, departure of Chand raises few intriguing questions, in where injection of Thapa can be explained.
1.Why was not a single minister of Chanda's government were given a second chance in the cabinet of SBT ?
2.Interestingly, no one from the negotiation team of the government was included in the negotiation team formed by Thapa cabinet. Even N.S Pun, the architect of the negotiation, was not included. For the sake of continuity, or at least for the sake of communication, it seems logical that someone should have been continued in the team.
My conjecture would be that Chand had to go under the pressure of Army. Army didn't like the peace deal where they were supposed to be limited to the 5 km boundary. That is the reason why neither any member from the government, nor the negotiation team could continue. Doramba incident just before the last leg of negotiation has already raised many questions.
The famous speech of PSJ, the then CNC, flaying the political leadership is microcosm of the image the Army has about political parties. The fact is not hidden how the Army reacted when different governments before SBD worked out to operate it. Which may suggest the possible reason why SBT won the race. Deuba's out of the blue – may be not so out of the blue judging by Hari Roka's later revelation about similar plan forwarded by Keshar Jung Rayamajhi before that incident – dismissal of parliament, and his confidence in holding elections despite of the crumbling security situation might have had backing of the Army.
I am not saying that the king doesn't have control over the army. My only point is that the Army will have a major say in any future negotiation.
Is the next talk going to be tripartite or quadripartite ?
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 27-Apr-04 11:32 AM
Frankly, what is our army now, anyway?
How fair is its recruiting and promotion practices? Why is it that only Ranas/Shahs/Thapas reach to the top position? Are they the only smartest people around or the army got some serious question regarding respect of meritocracy within it?
There is nothing such as army's view. This is supposed to be an organ of the legitimate government. What PSJ said was the top brass's view, which also represented the view of the increasingly testy king who wanted to take the helm at his hand.
Whether one agrees with the Maoists or not, one of their demands is very important for longevity of our democracy: that top brass of army , numbering around 200, be fired, and a fair promotion system for junior army officers be established to replace the 200.
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