BMD

Nepal has, once again, plunged into political instability, with the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) on January 20. The new situation has emerged as a result of a growing bickering within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). As internal feuds roiled the party and hit the government's functioning, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli moved to dissolve the HoR and announced dates for mid-term polls.
The NCP's Prachanda-Nepal faction and opposition forces, including the main opposition Nepali Congress and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), have stood against the PM's move terming it as unconstitutional and undemocratic. Over a dozen writ petitions have been filed at the Supreme Court, challenging the legality of his step. Hearings on them have been underway for some weeks. It is likely that the ongoing chaos will come to an end following the apex court's verdict.
Amid this scenario, the country has witnessed a spate of street rallies both for and against the dissolution of HoR. The agitating faction, led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Madhav Kumar Nepal, even organised general strike last Thursday. It resorted to unpopular tactic at the eleventh hour to protest the decision to appoint office-bearers in various constitutional bodies.
As anticipated, the strike hit our fragile economy hard as most of the businesses remained closed. Despite the deployment of many security personnel across the country, especially in more sensitive areas, protesters even went on to the extent of setting private and public vehicles on fire. Such violent acts caused loss to the vehicle owners and created a sense of fear among general people. Office-goers, students and common people had to face a lot of inconveniences during the whole day. Daily wage earners were among the hardest-hit lot as they failed to make any earnings on the day.
The general strike really reminded one and all of the numerous bandhs and blockades that Nepalis had experienced frequently in the past. The political parties, especially the opposition ones, used to organise such strikes for getting their demands met. What was ironic was that they would organise bandhs in the name of people. With the passage of time, people have got fed up with those untoward activities and started defying the calls gradually. There was a time when Nepal bandhs would have no any substantial effect on general life as vehicles and businesses used to continue to operate in a normal way.
However, the business sector had hard times to convince the political parties and their sister wings that general strikes were detrimental to the entire national economy. Bandhs are a setback for sensitive sectors like tourism. At the inaugural ceremony of Nepal Tourism Year 2011, major political forces expressed their commitment that they would not go for any strike. Since then, the mainstream political forces seemed to have kept their promises. However, some outlawed outfits have kept on organising such events.
It is worrying that even the responsible parties and their leaders have now revived the bandh culture. Everyone has right to protest. But such protests should be peaceful and civilised.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already paralysed the national economy, with many people losing their jobs and other sources of livelihood. So, this is the time for everyone to contribute to reviving the economy as well as the social sectors like education. The responsible parties and leaders must not even think of adopting such a harmful practice of bandh. They must discard the dictum 'all is fair in love and war' and seek peaceful alternative to the general strikes.