Managing The Cycle Of Agitation

Nepal's political life now faces an anomic condition. Growing dissatisfaction, discontent and street agitations in the nation marks the restlessness of Nepalis. In this context, adopting strategies to manage obstreperous behaviour of various actors is a crucial policy challenge for leadership to cope with various types of agitations competing for the projection of their agenda in the sphere of public life. The excruciating problems, for example, intense poverty, widening inequality, joblessness, deprivation, injustice, corruption, emigration of youth, etc. and aspiration of opposition for power have greased the cycle of escalating agitation straining governance performance. One set of cycles of agitation is built on another thus gyrating its vicious turn.

Why is Nepal in an incurable cycle of agitation? The obvious answer is maintenance of anomic condition which has offered psychopaths and political aspirants a playground to flock around shouting crowds to make the constitutional order fluid and flexible. The unmet conditions of democracy, human rights, social justice; good governance and peace also fertilises rationale for giving stability to the old political culture of exchange of hard words and position taking stand by leaders, not mutual accountability to the people and mitigating the problems to the mutual satisfaction of all.

Alternative discourse 

Obviously, each side of the coalition government, led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and its myriad of opponents fears the other of subverting democratic processes through breeding chaos and anarchy in the nation. He has suggested the leader of the main opposition CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' for offering alternative discourse for changing government through the fresh mandate and the parliamentary procedures, not the street agitation as it foments communal passion, corrodes national culture and civilization, shuts down running industries, eases capital flight, cripples productive investments in the economy and finally hollows national unity and sovereignty.

The leaders of the ruling coalition, in a joint statement, stated that the government aims to create political stability through broad-based consensus seeking to initiate constitutional, legal and structural reforms. Obviously, Nepali leaders have built the structural part of the polity and necessary laws but could not make their functions impersonal to the benefits of all people and improve the political culture shared by all. Instead of engaging in dialogue and negotiation, political leaders are lured to organise posturing, demonstrations and agitations to highlight their problems which have limited the ability of the state and its institutions to properly function. The risk of breakdown of regulatory order and institutional erosion means their opening to politicisation and competition for influence. 

 Nepali polity can augment its effectiveness and efficiency by balancing both demands and supply sides. Ironically, the ability of opposition parties and civil society to raise demands is inordinately high relative to the capacity of state and polity to fulfil them. So long as Nepali state is not able to fulfil the promises of parties and realise all constitutional rights of people, the loss of credibility of public authorities will continue to smack their trust and image. This marks a tension between the actual state of party politics and public administration and what ordinary people can feel they are able to achieve to improve their and their children's lives without resorting to mass migration to the international labour market where they cannot exercise their popular sovereignty. 

Civic competence of Nepalis lurks on the state of their consciousness, skills, access to political agencies and ability to organise successful collective action. All the central institutions of the state are partisan recruited by the power-sharing arrangement of mainstream parties. Many of them lack meritocratic performance in matters of public security, rule of law and the delivery of public goods at reasonable costs. The compounding of many cycles of agitation makes the management of de-escalation less easy when the national problems are complex and interconnected and the government lacks political will to act. 

For example, the multi-phase agitation of ‘Nation, Nationality, Religion-Culture, and Citizen Rescue Campaign’ organised by Durga Prasain often brings crowds of the victims of loan shark, bank defaulters, manpower companies, etc. against the political classes for their mis-governance and demands a system change. The response of the government to treat it as law and order problems and not address some underlying legitimate demands has added an impulse to its agitation. He is demanding the government to restore national culture and Hindu monarchy and initiate an action against comprador classes controlling the reins of economic and political power. 

Some agitations are legitimate such as those of sugarcane farmers, cooperatives, dairy farms and victims of floods and earthquakes where the government can fulfil their essential needs within the constitutional bounds while others are radical which requires protracted negotiations and a certain level of system change. Such as Communist Party of Nepal (Revolutionary) and other radical left parties dubbing the regime bourgeoisie want to replace it with the People's Republic and organise protest activities to demonstrate their muscle demanding distributive justice.

Nepal hosts various layers of political parties each with their own identity, goals and means. An arc of instability rests on the incapacity of top leaders to manage a myriad of political forces aspiring for both greed for power and grievance articulation and their unsubstantiated reasons about the political change they desire. Nepali ruling parties-- Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) and a host of small parties in the government have said to amend the constitution in tune with changing times but they did not spell out the areas in the constitution to be amended except speculation about readjustment in proportional representation system and party laws. No party is against amending the constitution but each party has its own version of amendment. 

The Maoist Centre fears its consequences for the democratic achievements -- inclusive, secular federal democratic republic. It demands a fully proportional system, direct election of the executive and opposes the hegemony of two dominant parties. In its recent mass demonstration in Kathmandu, it warned the government of not rolling back the democratic achievements, anti-corruption drive and good governance moves it has initiated aiming to take into account the weaker part of the Nepali public. Its chairman 'Prachanda' vowed that his only interest now is to reconnect with the people and continue to fight for their liberation, not ascend to power. 

In case the government does not perform as per constitutional spirit and seeks the split of his party, he may organise a huge show of people's power. To increase the party's leverage he is seeking the unity of all former Maoist, socialist and patriotic parties.  Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) opts for a total replacement of the old political class by the new one by awakening the giant power of youth for political transformation. Now its cycle of mass agitation has escalated in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Butwal and other places aimed at releasing its leader Rabi Lamichhane arrested by police on alleged charge of cooperatives fraud. The ruling parties, however, blame him for the influencing decision of the court considering it against democracy and rule of law. 

Prasain and Maoist leaders have expressed sympathy to him considering his arrest a political revenge by the establishment while becoming oblivious of similar cases against NC and CPN-UML leaders. They, however, do not want to join the RSP agitation for they seem to fight for the justice of cooperative victims. Rastriya Jana Morcha Nepal prefers the abolition of the federal system for its inordinate costs that the nation can ill-afford. Rastriya Prajatantra Party is struggling for the restoration of constitutional monarchy and Hindu state which has a certain following in Nepali Congress and other non-left parties. It is also threatening to organise agitation against the government. 

All the Madhes-based parties are demanding recognition of their identity, resources and true representation but continue to enjoy the warmth of power and privileges in the government. Several rights-oriented groups, such as Dalits women, indigenous people and micro minorities are waiting for support from the people to enlarge their civic space and help realise their destiny through the promotion of their access to leadership. Beneath the concealed demands of political parties, one common theme is obvious-sadistic lust for power and holding elections while in the government. The elite basis of power in Nepal is concentrated in a small circle which leaves the people little opportunity to improve their standards of living other than to be lured by the stimuli of agitation, apathy or migration to international labour markets. 

Accountability 

In no way the confrontational politics between the government and the opposition augurs well for democratic stability and completes the task of transitional justice pending for almost two decades. The international legal and human rights community has suggested providing justice and human rights to the families of conflict victims of Nepal by improving the areas of accountability and abolishing the retention of the impunity system. It has warned the government of the growing frustration and the desperation of conflict victims can reignite another cycle of social division and invite political instability.

 Durable peace making process requires addressing causes of structural injustice, not only tinkering with their symptoms. It entails restoring the state's monopoly on power to perform basic state functions, not normlessness where people flock around tainted leaders and a high density of special interest groups reaping illegitimate opportunity by developing nexus to power and acting as spoilers of justice and peace. Only then the regime can shape decent constitutional behaviour of leaders and people by managing the growing cycles of agitations, anomie and distortions.

(Former Reader at the Department of Political Science, TU, Dahal writes on political and social issues.)