Narayan Upadhyay

The Nepali people's struggle for democracy is a well-known act of valour and sacrifice. From the dark ages of the Rana Regime up to the tortuous time of the Shah Kings, the people had fought tooth and nail to taste civil liberties and freedom. The founding fathers of two key political parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) played a crucial role in realising the people's long-awaited wish to attain freedom, justice and equality.

The charismatic leadership of the late BP Koirala, Ganeshman Singh, Subarna Shumsher and many other Congressmen, and Pushpa Lal Shrestha, NCP founding leader, led a democratic movement that ultimately threw the Rana rulers out of power on Falgun 7, 2007 BS or in February 1950.

 New era
This historic establishment of democracy ushered in a new era of openness, enabling the common Nepalis to enjoy all forms of civil liberties. The successful democratic struggle culminated in the first elected government of the Nepali Congress that won the first and free elections of 1958 that ensured all democratic rights of the people. However, the BP Koirala government was short-lived as King Mahendra usurped power through a coup in 1960 to herald a new period of autocratic rule that also trampled over the people’s democratic rights. He soon disbanded the political parties and imprisoned or sent in exile many political leaders, including many NC and communist leaders.

Later, he set up a party-less Panchayat system in place of the multiparty competitive democratic system. The iron-fist rule of the Shah Kings came to an end in the 1990s when a people's movement, led by the NC and communist leaders, forced the then king to restore multiparty democracy. The Constitution of 2047 BS ensured that the people would have all liberties as envisaged in the universally acknowledged form of democracy. However, the arrival of democracy could not address the issues of development and prosperity of the people as political parties started engaging in power struggles and quarrelling over petty partisan or individual interests. As a result, democratic values and principles were pushed to the backburner.

Citing their dissatisfaction, the Maoists soon launched a bloody insurgency that killed around 17,000 innocent Nepalis, threatening all kinds of freedoms enjoyed by the common citizens by sending the nation on edge. To make matters worse, King Gyanendra centralised power by curtailing the rights of people and political parties even when the insurgency was at its height in the country. King Gyanendra ascended the throne after a palace massacre that wiped out all family members of his elder brother King Birendra. Soon after, he turned to autocrats compelling the parties, including the then insurgents, the Maoists, to make an important decision heralding republicanism. Before dethroning the King, the parties launched a huge popular movement to reinstate Loktantra (democracy) through the revival of the dissolved parliament.

The new constitution was prepared and promulgated by the Constituent Assembly. It fulfilled the long-held dream of having a national charter through people's representatives. The decade-plus of the federal democratic federal republic system has been marked by inclusivity and proportional representation at the sovereign parliament. The new political system has largely addressed the representation issues of people hailing from several classes, castes, regions and genders.

In recent times, the political parties and their leaders are found more inclined to serve their purposes instead of looking after the needs of citizens. Despite raising rhetoric and slogans for the country's rapid development and people's prosperity, parties lacked the performance to achieve these goals. Partisan interests and petty politics have taken root here. The dissolution of parliament twice in six months by a Prime Minister who enjoyed a two-thirds majority is a glaring example of this fact. It was the same PM who once raised the slogan of 'Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali.' The five-party alliance saved the nation from plunging into another round of political instability. The alliance cobbled up a new government, which also protected the constitution from getting derailed and democratic values from getting trampled.

But trouble started brewing in the country's judiciary. The sitting Chief Justice was alleged of crossing his jurisdiction. He sought shares in government and constitutional appointments and tried to hold legal proceedings and politics, hostage, from the premises of the Supreme Court, forcing the country's lawyers to launch a protest against what they termed a corrupt CJ. Later, the ruling parties moved an impeachment proposal at the parliament to send the CJ into an automatic suspension. Still, the parties are divided over the impeachment of CJ, who brought the judiciary into disrepute. The place that must be delivering justice impartially to the needy ones was engaged in a game of power, which undermined the grand role of the judiciary in a democracy - acting as a stellar organ of maintaining checks and balances.

All the above incidents tell us the people, civil society and media require being vigilant for protecting civil rights. They should perpetually monitor the acts and performances of stakeholders of the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislative.

 People’s awareness
The hopes of the people have gone high in recent years with the arrival of the Internet, online media and social networks. Though some of the traditional media such as newspapers, television channels and radio networks are found taking sides, social media and new media are quite active in exposing the ill designs and nefarious acts of political leaders, ministers, bureaucrats, chiefs of the constitutional bodies, tycoons and businessmen, social leaders and celebrities. All these new phenomena have guided people to form opinions against their acts. They have also kept the masses aware of the events taking place and made their decisions accordingly to foil any design aimed at undermining people's rights.

(Upadhyay is Managing Editor of The Rising Nepal. nara.upadhyay@gmail.com)