Saturday, July 07, 2012

How To Build A Unified Madhesi Party



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The unified Madhesi party can not be the work of the Madhesi Front that is in power. It has to go beyond that. Upendra Yadav also has to be invited. Fringe parties like that of Sarita Giri also have to be brought in, as the Janata Dal. Sharad Singh Bhandari has to be brought in.

The best way to do it is to work towards a general convention. There would be an ad hoc organizing committee comprising of all Madhesi parties big and small. If there is an agreement on the name of the party that would be great. But there can be no agreement on the party president beforehand. That would be for the convention to decide. It would be perfectly okay to hold an election among several contestants.

I can see it being a three month process. From a massive membership drive to move to the village/town/city level conventions to the constituency level conventions, to the district level conventions to the national convention might take a few months.

The party has to be inclusive of the Pahadis in the Terai. It should be named such that it has the option to also expand into the hill districts.

Such a unified Madhesi party, if it were to be formed, would sweep the Terai in the elections to the next assembly. Between that Madhesi party, the yet to be formed Janajati party and the Maoist party of Baburam Bhattarai, they'd secure an easy two thirds majority in the next assembly to give this country the federal constitution it deserves. Which is the whole point. Those three forces should seek a pre-poll alliance and not contest against each other anywhere in the country.

The Idea Of One Madhesi Party

I seem to like names like Sadbhavana Party or Janata Dal. Panja would be a great election symbol. The party flag should have three colors for Himal, Pahad, Madhesh.

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Wednesday, July 04, 2012

The Idea Of One Madhesi Party

Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi)
Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The idea of one Madhesi party is a fundamentally good one, although there are many practical challenges. If it were to be done, the way to do it would be hold a general convention of such a unified party within two months in time for the impending elections.

January 2009: Unification Of Madhesi Parties

The unified party's name should be Sadbhavana Party, as that was the original Madhesi party. And that unified party has to go beyond the Madhesh. And so the name can not have the words Terai or Madhesh in it.

That party should aspire to also grow among the Janajatis in the hills. Such a party could emerge the largest in the country.

One unified Madhesi party would be a good idea. But if that does not happen, an electoral alliance of the Madhesi parties must be forged.

मधेशीहरू करदाता र मतदाता मात्रै होइनन् : हृदयेश त्रिपाठी
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Monday, July 02, 2012

The Federalist Alliance Should Be An Electoral Alliance

Republica: UCPN (Maoist), UDMF to form federalist alliance
they will soon start talks with the parties that favor identity-based federalism ..... "Once the political parties arrive at consensus on the new constitution, they should hold talks for promulgating new constitution," said Mahato, adding, "If political parties forged consensus on reviving the Constituent Assembly (CA) and the Supreme Court (SC) gave nod for this, then the CA could be revived." ...... if political parties could not arrive at consensus on the issue of reviving the CA, they should forge consensus on removing the legal and constitutional difficulties in order to hold new CA elections. ..... "If the political parties agreed on the CA election, the election date of November 22 could be changed," Mahato added.
The UCPN (M) and the Madhesi parties contesting elections together makes a lot of sense. There is little electoral overlap between the two. The UCPN (M) is strong where the Madhesi parties are not, and vice versa. The onus will be on the Madhesi parties to forge an electoral alliance among themselves. And they should. In doing so they will be able to pretty much wipe the NC out of the Terai. All Madhesi parties stand to grow bigger.

I don't think there is any option to revive the CA. And that is a Supreme Court thing. The only option is to go back to the people for a fresh mandate.

If the Janajatis and the Madhesis of the UML and the NC split away to form a separate party, as they are saying they will, or if they join other existing parties that will be the right answer to the bad role the UML and the NC leaders played when the constituent assembly was still around.

Baidya's Maoist party is a protest move, not a political move. I don't see them doing electorally well. It will be like when Bamdev tried by splitting the UML. The mother party suffered a little, but the break away party did not do at all well.

The political reality is that the CA will not be revived, the NC and the UML will not join the Baburam government, and hence an all party government will not be formed, and that the current government is the one that will hold elections to a new constituent assembly. In that new assembly the NC and the UML will be half as small as they were in the last assembly, if that. The Maoists, the Madhesi parties and the new Janajati party together will have the two thirds strength needed to give the country genuine federalism.

A pre poll electoral alliance of the Federalist Alliance will ensure this coalition will continue in power after the elections as well.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Does Federalism Lead To A Bigger Government?

The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 178...
The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. This was the format for the United States government until the Constitution. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Some anti federalist forces are arguing that Nepal is too poor a country to be able to afford federalism. To the current government expenditures in Kathmandu they add the expenditures of all future state governments and they throw their hands into the air.

That is not how federalism works. Federalism is a more efficient form of government. Which means government expenses will actually go down. How so? Many of the functions of the unitary government in Kathmandu will be handed over to the states. That will lead to the elimination of some ministries and the downsizing of others.

Federalism done right is supposed to lead to an overall smaller bureaucracy.
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Attacks On Federalism Mounting

English: PM Bhattarai during a live talk show.
English: PM Bhattarai during a live talk show. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An all party government would be better suited than the current government to hold elections to the constituent assembly, but that all party government has to be a political decision by the parties. That can not be an initiative by the president. 

It would make sense for that all party government to be led by the party that was the largest in the last parliament. As in, it would make great sense for Baburam Bhattarai to continue being Prime Minister. So the effort towards an all party government is merely an exercise in adding a few members of the NC and the UML to the current cabinet. I don't think the Bhattarai government is opposed to that. 

The NC and the UML misunderstand the concept of consensus. If due process had been allowed, the country today would already have had a constitution. More than two thirds of the last constituent assembly had lined up to give the country meaningful federalism. But the Bahun leaders of the NC and the UML who - let's face it - never willingly went for the idea of a constituent assembly, played roughshod with due process leading to the demise of the constituent assembly. 

To allow one of those Bahuns, be it Sushil Koirala or KP Oli, to lead an all party government at this juncture would be to reward those who need to be punished. You can't reward those who do not believe in due process. These are anti federalist forces who, given enough space, will get rid of the concept of federalism itself. 

The constitutional option is for Baburam Bhattarai to continue as Prime Minister and be open to bringing in some members of the NC and the UML into the cabinet which I believe he is. The political option is to take the country to fresh elections and before that help drive the Madhesis and Janajatis out of the NC and the UML and thus lead to an utter demise of these two anti federalist parties. 

Baburam Bhattarai proved skillful on the army integration issue. His challenge now has become bigger. If he caves into the illegal NC, UML demands for his ouster, he will have pushed the country into a constitutional vacuum out of which unintended consequences might arise. Right now some space has been taken by the anti federalism forces. A constitutional vacuum will give space to the anti republican forces. Next thing you know we are going back to the 1990 constitution, which is what the NC and the UML leaders have wanted all along. That can not be allowed. 

And if the NC and the UML will not join the current government to give it an all party face, the current caretaker government has to take the country into elections anyhow. I don't think the NC and the UML have the option to boycott the elections where they will be soundly defeated. They will emerge smaller than they were in the last constituent assembly. 
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