Shake ups for Sajha royalist - king g's chamchas....

The king's Last gambit
[ Saturday, April 15, 2006 11:27:24 pmTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

Rewind to April 8. Two days of a successful bandh called by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and Maoists cripple the hill kingdom of Nepal, and a brutal curfew is imposed to stymie what looks like a gathering storm of protest against the monarchy.

But a former Nepali diplomat, who has survived all regimes, is confident: "Kathmandu 2006 will never become a Saigon 1975."

His reference is to the year when the South Vietnam ruler abdicated power voluntarily — a step that led to the creation of unified, modern Vietnam. What the ex-diplomat ruled out was the possibility of Gyanendra abdicating. This and more.

After saying that democracy and civil rights were all very fine, he said none of this would have any meaning without the king. Why? "King is the religious and spiritual head of our country. Who would you look up to even with such rights?"

The long and short of his nervous rambling was he couldn't visualise Nepal minus the monarch. He couldn't visualise a system other than the monarchy either. And he isn't alone — courtiers, diplomats, king's ministers and traditionalists felt only two weeks ago that the king was ordained to be there.

Two weeks later, the moth-eaten monarchic paraphernelia looks shakier than ever before. Gyanendra's haughty defiance of the popular mood has led to a steely determination in the SPA and Maoists to overthrow the regime and bring in multi-party democracy.

Meantime, world opinion, too, has weighed in favour of democracy, leaving Gyanendra a very lonely man. It was hardly surprising that his offer of elections has been spurned by the opposition.

Both SPA and Maoists have said the offer is nothing but a desperate man's effort to clutch at straws. It came, after all, when on Thursday, one lakh anti-royalists congregated at Chitwan. In other words, Gyanendra was dealing from a position of extreme weakness.

Change, political analysts say, is a foregone conclusion in Nepal. Apart from the highly visible and voluble protest by ordinary citizens and professionals, what could be the death-knell for the present regime is that even the bureaucracy has slowly started turning against it.

On Thursday, junior bureaucrats of the home ministry struck work for two hours. The bureaucracy is always the last to switch sides and rarely is it wrong in figuring which way the wind is blowing.

How the future unfolds will depend on the games the two sides — the monarchy, on one hand, and SPA and Maoists, on the other — play.

Take the king first. He has already played the election card. Even when the King was away in Pokhra, his loyalists in Kathmandu were forcefully arguing that announcing elections would help restore order.

In fact, much of what King said in his speech has been articulated several times by former PM Surya Bahadur Thapa, considered close to the king.

When TOI met Thapa last week in Kathmandu, he had said: "I want the raja to first announce elections and talk of people power. He should remain a constitutional monarch which is beautifully delineated by our Constitution.

There is no need to have a new constitution." He felt "the present complication" has aggravated due to the understanding between the Maoists and SPA.

"I know SPA leaders cannot take an independent decision now. There is pressure from Maoists," he said. Admitting that Maoists cannot be shunned, Thapa wanted them to be disarmed before their demand for a constituent assembly was met.

"Otherwise, they will dominate the constituent assembly," he said. Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, former ambassador of Nepal in India as well as former foreign minister, is a votary of a liberal monarchy and wants the country to go back to pre-2002 position: a happy co-existence of multi-parties and the king.

He argues that of the two sides, one would have to stop acting tough. The king's poll announcement, he felt, was the way out.

What did he think of the Maoists? "First, let there be restoration of civil rights, followed by election. Only then should the combined constitutional force have a dialogue with Maoists," Bhekh Bahadur Thapa said.

He felt "there is room for everyone, including Maoists, in the political space" but efforts to salvage the situation should take place fast.

Bhekh Bahadur Thapa also thought that SPA'spoll boycott would be bad for the country. "We have already become an international outlaw," he said. His fear is that refusal would lead to more repression from the state

Contention of the two powerful Thapas is contested by Kanak Mani Dixit, editor of the pro-democracy fortnightly, Himal. "Parties with a highly radicalised cadre now cannot co-exist with the king.

Gyanendra has not only shunned parties but has a contempt for people," he told TOI. "The more he delays in agreeing to the demand of SPA and Maoists, the more difficult it will be for him to continue as king.

If he restores the government which he dismissed in 2002 and allows election, he still has hope of continuing as a ceremonial king with power to control palace affairs and rituals."

Many in Kathmandu claim the king was being egged on by the Royal NepalArmy (RNA) to resist democracy at all cost. Said an European diplomat: "Votaries of royalty are constantly telling him that he should not give away since he is in control at least of the kingdom of Kathmandu, RNA, bureaucracy and the business class."

Dixit differs. "The army has not covered itself in glory and fought a dirty war, complete with disappearances of civilians. It has been unable to engage the Maoists. Moreover, the top echelon of RNA is corrupt and arrogant.

Their role model is the Pakistan army, while the king's model is Burma: no matter how shrivelled your society, carry on regardless."

Cracks are appearing even among the king's support group. On Thursday, business chambers of 60 out of 75 districts declared support for the democratic movement and decided not to pay taxes to the government.

What about the relative strength of SPA and Maoists? SPA comprises a motley group of parties that have in the past flirted with the king and co-existed with him.

But since the 12-point agreement with Maoists, SPA has kept its distance from the monaachy and even the poll carrot has not helped in weaning it away.

SPA-Maoists are still fixed on their basic demand: restore the Sher Bahadur Deuba government which was sacked in 2002 and hold a free and fair election to the constituent assembly under the interim government.

Dixit maintains revival of parliament would be the most humane way since it could lead to 205 points (strength of parliament) of revival in the country.

On their part, the Maoists have largely lived up to the promise they made in the 12-point agreement that was followed by a four-month ceasefire which ended in January.

Top Maoist leaders like Baburam Bhattarai have not only termed the agreement with SPA "historic", but also indicated in an exclusive interview to TOI that the Maoists were prepared for a multi-party democracy and shunning violence.

Like them or not, Maoists are easily the most important political formation in Nepal today. And the fact that they are moving away from their hardline "revolutionary" position and willing to co-exist with other democractic parties shows that they sense the endgame in near — it's no longer useful now to keep up positions that will deter the world from dealing with them.

All in all, changes are taking place in Nepal at a truly bewildering pace. Something has to give — and right now it looks like that will be the monarchy.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1491744.cms