By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Nepal Friday celebrated the 59th anniversary of the attaining of democracy after more than a century of oppressive rule by the Rana dynasty of hereditary prime ministers, but there appeared to be little cheer among the people due to the continued political stalemate.
On this day in 1951, following a long struggle against the Rana rule that also saw Nepal’s then king Tribhuban flee to India to seek asylum with his son and heir Mahendra and grandson Birendra, the last Rana ruler stepped down and the Shah dynasty of kings took over.
The ban on political parties was lifted and the day was marked as Democracy Day.
While the coalition government went through the usual motions of celebrating the event by garlanding the statues of the four pro-democracy activists who were hanged, people interviewed by Nepal’s television stations lamented that the current leaders had failed to uphold the goals of the martyrs.
As if to underscore the public grievance, Nepal’s major parties failed Friday to reach an understanding to end the political impasse that developed last year after the fall of the Maoist government.
The committee made up of the top leaders of the ruling parties as well as the Maoists has been trying since May 2009 to reach an understanding without making any headway.
The Maoists want a debate in parliament on the role of President Ram Baran Yadav, who triggered the collapse of their eight-month-old government by reinstating the army chief they had sacked.
However, the coalition government that succeeded the Maoists has refused to allow the debate, leading to continuous anti-government protests by the radicals. The protests have paralysed Nepal repeatedly.
The Maoists and the ruling parties also remain locked on the fate of the over 19,000 combatants in the former’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
When both sides signed a peace pact in 2006 to end a decade of violent insurgency, they agreed to merge the PLA with the national army.
However, four years later, the process is yet to start. Meanwhile, the ruling parties are now trying to wriggle out of the bargain, saying the politically indoctrinated PLA is unsuitable for serving in the national army.
On Friday, Maoist deputy chief Baburam Bhattarai met the UN official overseeing the PLA after remarks by leading political leaders that the state allowance given to the PLA should be slashed since many of them were not bona fide soldiers.
Bhattarai has expressed his objection to Karin Landgren, chief of the UN Mission in Nepal, saying such a move would violate the peace pact.
With the Maoists and the ruling parties at loggerheads, there is growing doubt about the fate of the new constitution that is to be promulgated by May 28.
There is additional doubt about the new statute due to monarchists who want Nepal to be a Hindu kingdom again.
Nepal’s only openly royalist party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, has called a shutdown of the Kathmandu Valley Monday to press for its demands.
It wants a referendum before the new constitution comes into effect to decide if Nepal should have a king and if Hinduism should be the state religion.