Simple Majority: Enough
A national
consensus government with two thirds majority would have been nice. But that is not coming along. And so now an attempt has to be made to put together a simple
majority government. The three big parties stand like three poles. That makes the
Maoists the biggest bloc.
The four
Madhesi parties stand as one bloc. That Madhesi bloc does not make for a majority if it teams up with either the NC or the UML. But it forms a majority if it teams up with the Maoists.
And therefore putting together a Maoist-Madhesi coalition makes the most sense at this juncture. If we are going to keep having vote after vote for the PM's post,
Nepal is going to end up being a butt of jokes in the world.
Conditions
The Madhesi parties should put forth conditions.
- Baburam Bhattarai for Prime Minister.
- Hridayesh Tripathy for Deputy Prime Minister
- Ek Madhesh, Do Pradesh like in the original Maoist map. Chitwan has to be part of the Madhesh state.
- Work on a Nepal Army Act 2010 to shape the future of the Nepal Army, and the Maoist combatants, and to seek inclusion of the DaMaJaMa in the Nepal Army.
- Work on a Land Reform Act 2011 to deal with all the properties seized by the Maoists over a decade.
- Altering the paramilitary aspects of the YCL.
- One third of the berths in the cabinet.
Give And Take
There has to be a sense of give and take. Both sides sticking to all their demands will take us nowhere.
If the Maoists act reasonable on all the other issues, it would be okay to accept
Prachanda as the prime ministerial candidate.
Returning seized property: the property should be returned but not to the original owners. The properties should be returned to a neutral commission that will keep the property until a Land Reform Bill passed by the parliament makes a final decision as to who owns the properties, likely after the elections next year.
The same on the army integration issue. A Nepal Army Act passed on by the current parliament would shape the Nepal Army. Every element of that bill would get decided by a simple majority in the parliament. No point in asking the Maoists to decide now as to how many of their combatants will join the Nepal Army.
The paramilitary aspects of the YCL have to seize right away, but it is perhaps unrealistic to think the organization itself has to be dissolved. Maybe it can be reorganized in a new name as a completely non violent organization.
The Madhesi parties have to be willing to make a shift from Ek Madhesh, Ek Pradesh to Ek Madhesh, Do Pradesh, one where Chitwan is part of the Madhesh state. The middle ground would be to go to the original Maoist map that said east of Rapti river would be Madhesh, west would be Tharuwan.
And stop talking about the right to self-determination. That scares people. Nepal will stay one country, now and 10 years from now. In this day and age when we should be talking about a South Asian economic union, the idea of breaking up the country, even in thought, is to go back in time.
Golden Opportunity
It has not been easy for the four Madhesi parties to come back together in a bloc. Their votes are decisive. The Maoists and the Madhesi parties are sufficient to form a new government. But there has to be a spirit of give and take.
Hridayesh Tripathy
Upendra Yadav had his stint. Bijay Gachhedar had his. Now I believe it is Hridayesh Tripathy's turn to take the lead. He should be the Madhesi candidate for Deputy Prime Minister.
NepalNews.com
Prime ministerial run-off ends in fiasco; next voting on August 2 The voting could not produce any results with the CPN (UML), four Madhesi parties and some fringe parties staying neutral.
Maoist-Madhesi Front talks inconclusive; Front to stay neutral in today's voting Maoist leader Dev Gurung said his party was positive about most of the conditions set by the Front, but some issues needed to be further discussed. .....The Maoist leaders left after submitting their written response to the conditions put forward by the Front. .... The meeting was held soon after the Front publicised a three-point document entailing the conditions for support in the prime ministerial election.
Re-election for PM post gets delayed as parties busy themselves in flurry of meetings Madhes based parties have put forward difficult pre-conditions for their support.
Sujata says NC should clear the path for Maoist led govt if it fails to forge consensus for national govt she would not object to a Maoist led government if the former rebel party fulfills three conditions. ..... if the Maoists agrees to fix the number of combatants to be integrated into the state security forces, dismantles the para-military structure of its youth wing (Youth Communist League) and agrees to return the private property the party seized during the conflict period by forming a commission
Madhesi parties set conditions for support as House prepares for prime ministerial run-off guarantee of 'Madhes autonomous province' with right to self-determination, withdrawal of the decision of the big three parties to constitute the State Restructuring Commission and reservation for Madhesis in the state bodies in an inclusive manner..... ensure proportional representative system ..... conclude the integration of Maoist combatants within four months starting from the formation of the new government, carry out integration based on the standards adopted by the concerned security agencies, complete the 'decamping' of YCL within two weeks, return of properties seized during insurgency within a month and start process to democratise the Nepal Army and ensure 'group entry' of Madhesis in the army as per the norms of inclusiveness.
NC's Poudel seeks pro-monarchist RPP-N's support for his PM bid Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is also the leading contender for the PM post, met Thapa and sought his support during the election to the post of Prime Minister.
'UML won't partake in Prime Ministerial run-off until consensus govt ensured'
Re-election for the post of Prime Minister today; outcome unlikely
Image by paramendra via FlickrThe first ever ANTA - Association of the Nepali Teraian in America - Convention slated for September 25, 2010 is an important milestone for the Madhesi cause in the Madhesi diaspora. Madhesis from as far as England and Texas are showing up. But much as we might want to socialize and hobnob, the true measure of what we manage to do is directly tied to the Madhesi cause in Nepal itself, because that is where the vast majority of Madhesis live. Thanks to the internet those of us who choose to do maintain near daily contact with the Madhesi cause in Nepal. 
