Randhir Chaudhary
A few days after the new constitution was promulgated, former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattrai, quit the Unified CPN-Maoist party and began his Terai tour landing first in Janakpur, one of the locus cities of Madhes movements.
Although the prescheduled visit of Bhattarai was postponed to 27 of September after he reportedly agreed to burn the copies of constitution in Janakpur as demanded by protesting cadres. Although he was not welcomed wholeheartedly there, his visit to Janakpur in such scenario helped bridge the gulf between Kathmandu and Madhes.
Bouncing back
Baburam Bhattrai who had submitted list of 40 demands to Sher Bahadur Deuba led government on 4 February 1996 and had threatened an armed revolution if their demands were not met. In the charter of demands under the headline of “Demand Concerning Popel’s Democracy” Bhattarai wrote that regional discrimination between the hills and the Terai should end. He argued that regional autonomy should be given to backward areas and there should be a balance between rural and urban areas. Similarly, in the charter of demands under the headline of
“Demand concerning Nationality,” he wrote that open borders between Nepal and India should be regulated, controlled and systematized. Though it is not possible to put all the 40 demands here, I found the aforementioned two demands relevant to mention here.
The Terai region has been agitating for almost two months seeking the end of regional discrimination. In last two months, 40 people were killed in police firing during the protests. Terai agitation took a new turn after Madhesi forces imposed blockade on the border entry points choking the country of essential supplies and petroleum products.
Neither the Terai got autonomy till Bhattrai was in the Constituent Assembly nor the border issue got addressed.
Now, Bhattrai has designed his busiest calendar for public consultation basically with the Terai people on the issues of Terai. Last month I travelled Terai from 25 to 30 September where I met Prashant Jha, Associated Editor of the Hindustan Times, who interviewed locals in Morang, Saptari, Sirha, Dhanusha and Mahottrai about their grievances on the new constitution. People were very angry with the state. They said their grievances were not given addressed In the constitution. In similar vein the locals were saying that they had pinned a lot of hope on UCPN-M and more importantly on Bhattrai. Here Bhattrai needs to think, why the marginalized people will follow if he only championed the cause of economic revolution whereas and not the political autonomy of the marginalised sections.
One thing Bhattrai has done unique is, he did not leave the UCPN-M party to be the Prime Minister or any other high offices.
Naya Shakti a stunt?
After the humiliating defeat the UCPN-M faced in the second CA election, Bhattrai has been saying that new political force is what the country needs, which sounds good indeed. At the same time Bhattrai has to make the people clear what new ideas he has found? After the promulgation of new constitution 2015, all the parties and their leaders are also selling dreams of new Nepal. Even the top leaders of CPN-UML and NC are busy meeting Nepalese business tycoons, after Bhattrai initiated the process recently. People are not optimistic enough about the success of Bhattrai’s
mission of Naya Shakti (new power) on three grounds: First, the Nepalese society is deeply divided ethnically. The politics in Madhesi/Tharu population is switching towards federal politics and Bhattrai is trying to catapult on this politics. Casting vote in Madhesh is totally based on the caste. And in such deeply divided society how will Bhattrai succeed? Second, to make any political project successful in a country someone needs political grip in the
state apparatus. As we know, it is very hard or almost impossible to materialize the newest political doctrine in country like Nepal where politics guided by the parliamentary process. Political agendas are implemented by the support of majority in the parliament. I think Bhattrai is still fresh about the criticism which he had faced after
his bold and phenomenal decision regarding the road expansion in Kathmandu valley; a big group is still in Nepal who does not want empowerment of marginalized groups and Bhattrai is trying to stick to the marginalized issues. Third, Nepal which is sandwiched between Indian and China, needs to seek cooperation with both the neighbours
for its economic development. In this vein, on the one side, China is doing internal lobbying for the unification of all the communist parties but since Bhattarai quit the UCPN-M, China must have unhappy with him. International community always gives values to the parties in power or to the parties that have the potential to rule the country in future.
How Bhattari will persuade the Nepalese businessmen about guarantee of their investment at a time when they are afraid of merely the mention of the term ‘socialism’ in the constitution. Oli once had called all the businessmen and asked them not to scare of the word socialism mentioned in the preamble of the new constitution. Here Bhattrai remains big space for doubt on him because of aforementioned reasons.
Moreover, still the ordinary people are not clear of his further roadmap and its success. Bhatttrai needs to make the people clear about his forth vision by adopting the opinion of Ben Stein- “The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want”.
Best of luck
It seems the way Bhattrai has quit the party is his knee-jerk reaction. Now, Bhattrai would not be back to his erstwhile party which he has declared a house having tag of “red sticker”. Then, he needs to unite all the smaller parties throughout the nation. He can attract like minded youths of different big parties. Moreover, he needs to cement relations and motivate the Nepali diasporas who are committed to make their motherland prosperous from economic angling.
