Dev Raj Dahal

Each democracy day in Nepal witnesses cheerful joy of people for their impulse to freedom. Nepali politicians, scholars and journalists speak, write, sermonise and organise endless commemoration recollecting the ethical preaching of martyrs, Sukra Raj, Dashrath Chand, Ganga Lal Shretha and Dharma Bhakta Mathema from the spirit of Bhagbad Gita to revolt against the petrified, unjust order of ancient regime. They do so with great enthusiasm, delight and promise of a better life than their ancestors. Its basic values, philosophy and principles are vaulted in the political sphere for intellectual debate and educate the ordinary public so that they can exercise free will, conscience and expression.

Celebration provides a moment for the reflection of democracy’s factual performance aiming to uplift the moral and material standard of society, hone the ability of people to exercise their rights and know democracy’s purpose and destination. It is also a public occasion for Nepali leaders to review the state of democracy and confess what did not work so that a fresh start can be made to improve its lustre, utility and resilience. The idea of democracy has spread into the nook and corner of Nepali nation and people of all walks of life including a tiny tribe Raute which claims access to resource, justice, due process and legal remedies of their unsettled condition of life. The democratic incarnation of human rights has plodded the identity of Nepalis to a global scale.

 Civic space
A flourishing democracy rests on vibrant civic space in which people can participate in the advocacy of their rights and hold the institutional actors of society accountable for their promise, policies and action. Nepal has embraced a set of democratic traits — civil liberties, rule of law, free and fair elections, freedom of expression and organisation, autonomy of watchdogs including the courts, press and civil society to step in the constitutional tradition of politics. Checks and balance of power in the polity has been settled for reasons of selfish human nature, control of government by popular will and inverting the possibility of any government’s drift to authoritarianism.

The success of democracy depends on the ability of three separate powers -- legislative, executive and judiciary - to work in a united frame avowing Nepalis’ ability to exercise national self-determination. They are the keystones of a healthy democracy. The institutionalisation of democratic social contract can increase Nepali state’s impersonality, ability to collect revenue, reduce shady dealings and channel resources to improve the indicators of sustainable progress. Nepal’s democracy has embraced a number of participatory features -- popular sovereignty, shared and self-rule, social inclusion, proportional representation and quota -- to quantitatively expand its social base and make each cluster of social classes its stakeholders and owners.

These features will likely broaden the concepts of equality, social mobility and welfare and enforce the accountability of leaders. Yet, each political party of Nepal has its own terms to express the meaning of democracy which sometimes confuse, not edify, its intrinsic values to the ordinary people while applied into action. It prompts fractious activities that hobble the capacity of people for a shared democratic journey, harnessing its social integration potential and political adaptation in the changing times influenced by the whirring hub of global geopolitics.

This means Nepal needs to define the fundamental concept of democracy, locate the definition to universal comparison and contextualise it to native tradition of enlightenment, cultural and cultic pluralism, social tolerance and roots of civility telling the people that the traits of democracy are embedded in its historical and philosophical roots. Any animated and reasoned conversation of Nepali leaders, intellectuals and people with the changing zeitgeist can provide the best way to resolve differences in a compromise — the perfect ideal of democracy.

It is important for the real life socialisation of Nepalis - both leaders and the mass - and reduce the scope of odious politics of “we” and “they” where “they as other cluster” often faces an awful choice of either complete conformity to the establishment or a sense of fear of rejection and alienation thus indulging them into spoiler tactics, not midway path, political renewal and self-governance. Nepalis struggle for democracy has widened the scale of their political consciousness, freedom, legitimate explosion of rights and demonstration of their moral authority.

As a result, the rule of democracy has been designed and several civic and state institutions have been created to sustain its aims to abolish hereditary privileges common in feudalism and cronyism, recognise people’s claim to legislative power to shape their democratic destiny and allow them to participate in the multi-level governance that affect their life, liberation and wellbeing. Robust and autonomous rules, institutions and services of the government help solve national problems and enhance internal and external cooperation with various actors of society without any sense of cultural cringe.

Nepalis have been engaged in the universal aspiration of ecological ethics, human rights, justice and peace and contributing to the web of ties that would bind them to the spirit of the age. Democracy, however, stimulates the rich flow of inner life. It keeps alive the conscience, opens Nepalis to experience and transforms them into active citizenship so that they know the costs and benefits of running governance based on democratic constitutionalism. The super structural reforms of the nation have satisfied the leaders of mainstream political parties while a distributive solution to structural injustice is expected to increase democratic dividends and enhance the grassroots commitment to it.

Yet, continuous democratic dysfunction at the central level caused by inter- and intra-party spar needs to be addressed so that Nepal does not face any challenge in political acculturation, administrative efficiency and social energy of people for cooperative action. Similarly, the nation has yet to institutionalise political power for the smooth and fair functioning of judiciary, parliament, bureaucracy and the rule of law for improving governance and infuse democracy in the internal life of political party so that they can adapt to the cusp of 21st century and keep the forbearance of great powers for the nation’s stable democratic future. It is important because the tides of modernisation flow to Nepal from many sides — neo-liberal, liberal, social democratic and meritocratic ones, some with rival incentives.

The gush of social malaises must be trimmed down and the power of Nepali state for surveillance increased. The flawed monopoly of the power of the state weakens the order of democracy and its ability to impersonally organise and fulfil basic governance goals. The downturn in remittance, the lifeblood of Nepali economy, and other vital development indicators may cause democratic contraction. Economic rebound requires a smart government capable of working for the broad welfare of people and explores the possibility of production revolution so that Nepalis get optimal opportunities at home and twirl around the nation building process. It liberates them from the crippling nature of shadow economy and avails public good to each Nepali.

Yet, the gap between the public, public servants and politicians must be expunged in politics to musters democratic orientations of the institutions of democracy such as political parties, cultural industries, civil society and the business beyond political, institutional and ideological monopoly and control of people away from democratic restraints, checks and separation of powers. The ability of Nepali leaders to listen–to situate oneself in the position of others can infuse in them strong democratic virtue and helps mollify the ruffled emotion of dejected people and generates their hope in the polity. Common democratic orientations of Nepali elites and the mass can fashion common background condition for a shared future and settle various issues that are less conducive to build civic culture.

It helps to overcome selfish craze and temperate the excessive individual passion devoid of public policy, public good and public morality that civic culture espouses for the fulfilling lives of every Nepali. Nepal has to overcome muscular sensation in politics, non-deliberative mode of policy making and unsocialised appetite of many politicians often defying the normative rules of democratic game set by the order of the Constitution. The signs of diverse forms of protests are not going to end soon as the right to rebel makes the life of democracy vibrant and provide an occasion for recollection of democratic struggle and reflection.

 National unity
Nepal has yet to overcome tribal passion of some groups, authoritarian challenge of others, baffling populism, extremism and post-modern inclinations in favour of national unity and consolidation. It requires civic education on enlightenment to promote the virtues of social, economic and political actors and mobilisation of the connecting forces of society for a great political stride, full of forward democratic momentum in the nation. It is essential for the self-development of Nepalis, a development that spurs strength to conquer fear of uncertainty of politics and attain material needs for survival, progress and dignity. The failure of excessively materialistic ideologies to satisfy Nepalis’ search for good life has fixed the constitution in the middle path.

Yet, the virus of democracy in Nepal spreads not from the constitutionality but from the institutions of enlightenment, aspirations of people and the agility and legitimacy of institutions to respond to them. Self-corrective nature of democracy thwarts the prospect of inflammable politics. Democracy retains many safety valves to mitigate the stockpiling of rightful grievances, cultivate peaceful conduct and free Nepali for sensation, reflection and self-discovery as free-spirited beings.

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