Political Upheavals In Nepal

-


Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s surprise move to recommend dissolution of Parliament, about two years ahead of completion of its five year-term has plunged the Himalayan nation into political instability. The dissident group led by party’s Executive Chairman and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the faction ridden ruling Nepal Communist Party was demanding Prime Minister’s resignation on charges of autocratic functioning, mis-governance, not being able to deal effectively with serious Covid-19 situation and shielding corruption. After an emergency meeting of his Cabinet, Mr. Oli recommended dissolution of the House of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha) to President Bidya Devi Bhandari and called for fresh elections to Parliament on 30th April and 10th May 2021, which the President promptly approved. Protesting against the Cabinet decision, seven Ministers belonging to dissident Dahal and Madhav Nepal factions resigned. Three petitions were filed in the country’s Supreme Court challenging the dissolution of Parliament.

The sudden move by Mr. Oli had come amidst fears that nearly 90 ruling party members led by Mr. Dahal were planning to bring a No Confidence Motion against him in the House of Representatives. They recommended Dahal as the new Prime Minister. The uling Nepal Communist Party has nearly two third majority in Parliament with 174 members in a House of 275 but Oli was feeling suffocating with repeated charges against his government. Reports indicate that he was reduced to minority in the apex party forums, the 9-member Secretariat, 44 member Standing Committee and the 445-member Central Committee. He absented himself from the Standing Committee meeting which decided to take disciplinary action against him for his arbitrary action to dissolve Parliament. Later in a televised address. Oli defended his action saying that as Prime Minster of the majority government, he was not allowed to function and, hence was seeking a fresh mandate, which was the best democratic option. He even declared the Standing Committee meeting as unconstitutional.

The ruling Nepal Communist Party, NCP which came into existence in May 2018 with the merger of erstwhile Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist, UML) led by Oli and the Maoist Party led by Dahal. Both factions are yet to fully harmonize at the ground or Village Development Committee level. They jointly fought the 2017 Federal and Provincial elections and came victorious in Parliamentary as well as in six out of seven provincial elections.

The peace and stability which the Communists had promised to the Nepalese people at the time of the general elections in 2017 after promulgation of the new Constitution in 2015 was however short lived. Despite a nearly two-thirds majority in Parliament, Oli’s government was in continuous trouble from intra party rift. At least on two earlier occasions also in April-May 2020 and again in August-September this year, the party was on the verge of a split but blatant interference by foreign powers saved the situation for Oli. Both Oli and Prachanda held separate conventions of their supporters on 22nd October in Kathmandu hinting at a virtual split in the NCP who’s Central Office has been closed.

All eyes are now set on country’s Supreme Court as to how it deals with the petitions challenging the legality and validity of the decision to dismiss Parliament. Constitution Experts in Nepal however view this move as unconstitutional saying that there is no provision in the Constitution for the majority party in power to recommend dissolution of the House which has a fixed term of five years unless dissolved in pursuant of the Constitution. In June 1994 minority CPN (UML) government led by Manmohan Adhikari dissolved Parliament. It was challenged and Parliament restored by the Supreme Court.

India is watching the situation in Nepal. New Delhi has always stood for peace, stability and economic prosperity of a geo-politically friendly neighbour. India wishes that democracy flourishes in the Himalayan nation and also in rest of South Asia.

Script: Rattan Saldi, Political Commentator

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Data Darbar Suicide Attack

-
The deadly attack on the famous Sufi shrine Data Darbar in Lahore on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan that killed 10 and injured more than 25 people is yet another ghastly reminder that Pakistan still shelters terrorist groups that have now come to haunt its own State. The suicide bombing was apparently targeted towards the elite security force that was assigned to guard the Shrine as the inflow of devotees increase during Ramadan. This is not the first time a Sufi Shrine was targeted by terrorists in Pakistan. Many Shrines like Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Baba Farid in Pakpattan and Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi were attacked in the past. The Sufi nature of these shrines has made them an easy target of the terrorist groups that consider Sufis to be heretics. The terror organisations within Pakistan such as the Pakistan Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Hizbul Ahrar (said to be a splinter faction of the local Taliban) that took responsibility for the latest bombings in...
Read more

Military Build-Up In The Persian Gulf

-
In response to the attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week; the US Department of Defence announced that it is sending an additional 1,000 troops to bolster security in the Persian Gulf. This comes amidst the escalating tensions in the region following US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPoA) in May 2018. The US also re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran and last month ended all waivers for Iranian oil imports. President Donald Trump further decided to impose new sanctions and warned of secondary sanctions on individuals or entities doing business with Iranian industries under sanctions. Iran too had responded with warning other signatories of the JCPoA, especially UK, France and Germany, to do more to ease the impact of sanctions on Iranian economy failing which Tehran will be forced to retract from the deal. This prompted the US to send additional troops including Arlington and a Patriot missile battery. At ...
Read more

Pakistan’s Crippling Financial Crisis

-
As if the turmoil due to terrorism was not enough for Pakistan, it is facing fresh spate of demonstrations against unprecedented inflation that is putting the already crippling economy out of gear. Inflation is expected to rise to double-digitssoon. The major reason for this has been the steep rise in food and energy prices that has had a cascading effect on the process of other commodities. Pakistan’s imports are increasing and Foreign Exchange reserves have fallen to just about $8 billion; this is just enough for meeting payment obligations for two months. The exchange value of the Pakistani Rupee has fallen to 150 to a US dollar.It has been devalued 20 times during the past three years by about 20%. Since Pakistan is importing major part of its fuel requirements and many other commodities of daily consumption; steep inflation has led to almost halving the incomes of the people. This has led to large-scale public unrest in the country. Street protests led by Jamaat-e-Islami in Pesha...
Read more