Dahal for India comfortable government!
As expected the Supreme Court decision has served the Indian interests as well as the interests of the EU. The inner wish of India is to create political instability and fishing in muddy water. First of all, the Indians want to create a permanent split in the communist party in the government enjoying an almost two-thirds majority. The Indians had thus reached out to both the factions in the Nepal Communist Party and they had assured for the Indian support to both the factions. After the Oli led government published the new political map of Nepal by including Kalapani-Limpiyuadhara-Lippulekh Nepali territory, we saw cold-relations between Delhi and Kathmandu. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli tried his best to improve his relations with Delhi. In this process, the RAW chief, Indian Army chief and the Indian foreign secretary had visited Kathmandu and Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali had visited Delhi. Oli believed that he had been able to please the Indians and he had also expressed the views with his close colleagues that India would not trouble the government further.
Quaternary to such an impression, the Indians are said to have used the Supreme Court against the prime minister’s prerogative on the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR).
Meanwhile, it is said that ex-chief justice Kalyan Shrestha was able to use two justices to whom he had rewarded to the post of the SC justice. Shrestha and three other his colleagues, under the instruction of the EU, had issued a statement in an attempt to influence the court verdict. Independent advocates opine that the constitutional bench abruptly gave the verdict even without completing all the necessary formalities. The bench had to compile the hearing notes and also call both the parties -- writ petitioner and opponent -- for their final opinion before giving the verdict. These formalities were not been completed. It is said that the three justices in the constitutional bench had warned the chief justice for boycotting the bench and tendering resignation if the bench would not reinstate HoR. Whether the above arguments were the baseless rumours spread by the Oli faction or they are based on fact, we don’t know. However, we only know reactions in the social networking sites and whispers around the Supreme Court.
The EU had felt that the constitution may fail and the achievements – federalism, secularism, and republicanism – would be ended if the HoR is not reinstated. Therefore, it also attempted to mobilize its paid civil-society activists in the street agitation.
Welcoming foreigners for interference:
NCP’s Dahal-Nepal faction’s chairman Pushpakamal Dahal had called a press conference urging foreign correspondents and foreign actors to intervene in the Nepali politics against the “unconstitutional act” of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli.
Again talking to a local television network Friday, Dahal remarked that he is initiating a government comfortable for India. The coalition government among the NCP DahalNepal faction, Nepali Congress and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) would be an India comfortable government, Dahal has explained. The message is clear that he wants to serve the Indian interests by constituting an India comfortable government but he is not concerned on forming a government comfortable for Nepal and the Nepalis! Question on Oli’s morale:
Immediately after the constitutional bench made public its verdict, Dahal and Madhav Nepal expressed their joy by exchanging sweets. It was highly expected that PM Oli would immediately tender resignation on moral ground. Instead, PM Oli decided to face the House. There is a strong pressure from other political parties also for Oli’s resignation to pave the way for a new government. Giving an example of the United Kingdom, they are predicting that Oli should tender resignation on moral ground. They are even saying that how Oli could face the very House which he had dissolved earlier!
Oli faction, on the other hand, is predicting that when the Court denied accepting the PM’s prerogative of dissolution of HoR based on the Westminster model, now, it is his right to face the House.
Subhas Nembang, deputy leader of the NCP’s parliamentarian party, said that the Oli led government has become stronger since the court reinstated the House. He explained that once if the no-confidence motion is failed in the House, then opponents have to wait for one year to file another no-confidence motion against the government. The fact is that until now, the Dahal-Nepal faction has not been able to manage the necessary numbers to endorse a noconfidence motion against Oli. Also, this faction is unable to mention the name of the proposed PM, which is necessary while filing a no-confidence motion against a sitting PM. It is said that the following weeks will be full of the games played by foreign actors.
To conclude, we can experience all kinds of dirty games, including a massive horse trading and rampant foreign interference in Nepali politics in the coming weeks. Will the House be able to give a new government; will the new government be for a prosperous Nepal; will the government be able to address burning issues of the country, these are the serious concerns of the Nepalis! The reality is that the upcoming government is going to be formed in India’s greater interests and that is going to add further different kinds of anomalies! Look, this is the beauty of “loktantra”!