Gopal Khanal

On May 21, President Bidya Devi Bhandari announced mid-term elections for November 12 and 19 by dissolving the House of Representatives (HoR) after the rejection of the claims of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba to the premiership post as per article 76 (5).
The other day Prime Minister Oli asked the election commissioners to begin necessary homework to hold elections on the given date. No doubt, it is only the fresh polls that can end the current political crisis. As the parties fail to sort out the political deadlock, they should go to the people to find a credible way out.
Of course, it is a challenge to hold election during this hardest time of COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Oli has made a commitment that all the people would be vaccinated the till the time of election. If this materialises, election can be held in the stipulated time. For this, all other parties and citizens should support the government abiding by the health protocol.
Here this writer seeks to assess the role of current political leadership based on their activities in the last three years.

Nepal’s shrunken space
Let's start with Madhav Kumar Nepal. He had been raising the issues of party's statute, system and ideologies for the last three years, but at the end of the day he dumped all these. After the formation of Nepal Communist Party (NCP), Nepal teamed with Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and strived to isolate Oli. But all the efforts came to naught.
What Nepal did is not normally expected in a parliamentary practice. He directed the Karnali Provincial Assembly members to cross the floor against the party's whip, he remained absent while his party chair was taking vote of trust in HoR and he instructed his supporters to vote against the party's official candidate in the election of the National Assembly (NA).
This brings Nepal’s commitment and contribution to parliamentary system into question. It seems he is merely paying lip service to the system we are practicing today. In the last three years, senior leader of UML Madhav Kumar Nepal has shrunken to Madhav Nepal. We can now call him former Prime Minister, but not the UML leader. Now he has no party, no organisation, nothing. A bunch of people, who previously used to identify themselves as the leaders of the UML, are following him. Of course, he can form another party or he can join any other party.
Apparently, he had lost all his political capital he had earned during his 50 years of political career. While in the NCP, he played second fiddle to Prachanda. When UML was revived by the verdict of Supreme Court, he became the front campaigner of Sher Bahadur Deuba for making the latter Prime Minister. It denotes the political tragedy of Nepal.
Look at the politics of Upendra Yadav and Baburam Bhattarai. Bhattarai had left the CPN- Maoist Centre as he could not resist Prachanda's despotism. Thereafter, he donned different political hats proving him the most inconsistent leader of Nepali politics. During the people's war, he was called ideologue, now he is called the spoiler of politics and breaker of social fabric. Bhattarai joined the Madhesi party not to make it, but to break it. Now he seems to have succeeded.
Yadav and Bhattarai are the senior leaders of Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), but they are now in minority. Yes, Yadav has historic contribution for incorporating the Madhesi issues in the mainstream politics. The day Bhattarai joined Yadav’s party, the Federal Socialist Party (FSP), it headed towards downward path. Now, he has abandoned his agenda, running after the vested interest of some failed leaders. He just became a loyal aide of Prachanda and Nepal.
Yadav made an alliance with Deuba, Prachanda and Nepal, not for fulfilling the demands of the Madhesi people, but to remove Oli from power. But, Mahantha Thakur and Rajendra Mahato of JSP have moved one right course, raising the long pending agenda of Madhesi people. Mahantha and Mahato succeeded to get some of their key demands addressed by the ruling party and Prime Minister Oli.
The citizenship ordinance has been issued as per the provision enshrined in the constitution to ensure that all citizens obtain the citizenship certificates. Similarly, the JSP activists, who were jailed during the Madhes movement, have been released. Both the sides are ready to form a task force to study and recommend the contents of the amendment in the constitution.
In this whole episode, Upendra Yadav played the role of antagonist, he was nowhere in the scene. Now his party is on the verge of split. It can be argued that Thakur has proved him as protagonist of Madhesi people.

Deuba, accidental candidate
Let's examine Deuba's politics. It is quite normal that the leader of the main opposition party can opt for premiership. Moreover, all other oppositions have been requesting him to be the Prime Minister on their behalf. First, he reluctantly accepted, and then he moved consciously. But Deuba must have understood that he should deal with the parties, not with the disgruntled leaders of parties. Nepal and Yadav could not represent their respective parties, but he was ready to be the candidate of PM upon their request. If Deuba doesn't believe in parliamentary democracy, if he tries to rob the MPs of other parties to become Prime Minister, how can he be democrat? It is futile to expect Deuba to promote democracy. In fact, he brought many aberrations and anomalies in the parliamentary politics.
People have been minutely observing all the parties and their leaders. They know who are right and who are wrong. They have seen the premiership of Oli, Deuba, Prachanda, Nepal and Bhattarai. Oli has made history by signing landmark agreements, which have changed the Nepal's image. Nepal is now being heard and seen in the international arena.
Let's control the second wave of COVID-19, vaccinate people and go for elections. This is good for everybody's health as well as the health of the nation.

(Khanal is consulting editor at Gorkhapatra Corporation. khanalbro@gmail.com)