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With that disarming smile of his, Rabin­dra Adhikari always appeared calm, sometimes preternaturally so. His comrades and opponents alike would find themselves sucked in by his easy charm. Adhikari, who most recently served as the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, had oodles of substance, too. The 49-year-old Nepal Communist Party leader was a development visionary, as reflected in his count­less newspaper articles and two best-selling books. His party rightly saw him as a rising political star and entrusted him with the most important responsibili­ties, both in the party and in the government.

The life of this once-in-a-generation politician was cut brutally short when he died in a chopper crash in Taplejung district on Feb 27. Having joined student pol­itics on the eve of the 1990 movement for democracy, Adhikari quickly established himself as a fearless and articulate student leader. He was not afraid to take prin­cipled stands, even at personal cost. It was Adhikari who led the signature campaign for the punishment of then Prince Paras Shah who had run over singer Pra­bin Gurung in 2000. Adhikari was also at the forefront of protests against India’s occupation of Kalapani.

Having proven his mettle as a student leader, the then CPN-UML gave him a ticket in the first Constitu­ent Assembly election in 2008 from Kaski district. He won. He triumphed again in the second CA elections in 2013, from the same constituency. Having cast a seem­ingly unbreakable spell over his Kaski constituency, he was sent to the national parliament again in the 2017 general elections. While in the two Constituent Assem­blies, Adhikari played important roles in parliamenta­ry bodies like the Public Accounts Committee and the Development Committee, for which he is still praised.

Later, as a tourism minister, his focus was on enhanc­ing air connectivity, both within Nepal and with other countries. He largely succeeded. But his stint as a min­ister also earned him perhaps the biggest blot on his otherwise stellar political career after he was linked to the misappropriation of funds in the purchase of two Airbus aircraft.

Yet the sincerity with which he carried out his role as the tourism minister is hard to doubt. His zeal in mak­ing Visit Nepal 2020 a grand success was exemplary too. More than that, his records speak for themselves. Rabindra Adhikari will be sorely missed.

If there is one overarching message of our five-part APEX Series ‘Women in politics’, it is that good legislation alone does not ensure gender balance in key state organs and political decision-making bodies. Perhaps it’s a matter of time. The sea-change brought about by the 2006 movement for democracy was rather abrupt. For one, it was difficult for Nepalis to get used to a country without the monarchy, which had been around for nearly 250 years. Nor did our politicians and legislators know what to do with their newfound powers after the transfer of complete sovereignty to the people.

Post-2006, women’s representation in state organs shot up dramatically. First the interim constitution (2007) and then the new constitution (2015) guaranteed at least 33 percent representation of women in state legislatures and in political parties’ key decision-making bodies. Nepal’s legislature suddenly became among the most inclusive in the world. Perhaps women’s lead role in the Maoist rebellion had a big hand in changing the perception that women should be confined to their homes. Yet after the Maoists were brought into the political mainstream, the male political leaders who controlled the national polity were still reluctant to see women in leadership roles.

As a result, whether in political parties’ decision-making bodies, or in state institutions, or in local elected bodies, women got secondary roles as deputies to men. Or they were excluded outright: all four of our national parties are illegitimate as they don’t have the mandatory 33 percent women’s participation in party organs. Time may change this imbalance. But given the entrenched patriarchy, it may not.  

What will work better is sustained pressure on our politicians and legislators to continue to make the country more inclusive and fairer. Women’s participation has been shown to contribute to better institutional decision-making, and even to peace and social harmony. If we are to thrive as a country, and to attain the double-digit growth the prime minister likes to dream about, women’s greater participation is mandatory. The most prosperous countries like Norway and Switzerland are also the most gender-inclusive, while poor and unstable ones like Afghanistan and South Sudan are among the most hostile to women. That gender equality brings peace and prosperity is no wild theory. It is now solid science.

The then CPN (Maoist) had launched the ‘people’s war’ on Feb 13, 1996, which formally ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on Nov 21, 2006. National politics has come a long way since. The monarchy was abolished, and a federal republic established. The former Maoist leaders see the uprooting of the feudal monarchy as the biggest achievement of the war, coupled with laying the foundation for a more fair and inclusive ‘New Nepal’. Thanks in large part to the war, they believe sovereignty is now completely vested on the people and power devolved to the lowest rungs of government.

But as former Maoist leaders observed the 23^rd ‘people’s war day’ on Feb 13 this year, that narrative is being increasingly contested. Critics see the 10 years of conflict as a ‘lost decade’ when Nepal’s development process not only halted but was pushed back by years. Was the loss of 17,000 lives and forced disappearance of nearly 2,000 people worth it? And aren’t the Maoists being disingenuous when they credit their war for recent changes when in reality it was the ‘peaceful movement’ of 2006 that did the trick?

Interestingly, former Maoists under Pushpa Kamal Dahal have now merged with their once bitter enemies, KP Oli-led CPN-UML, to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Dahal’s UML colleagues refuse to celebrate the anniversary of the ‘people’s war’. PM Oli was notably absent from the ceremony this year, as were most of the erstwhile senior UML leaders. Whether to recognize the war was among the biggest sticking points as the merger was being discussed, and most UML leaders continue to believe it was a big mistake.

But leaders of the traditionally marginalized communities like Madhesis, Dalits and Janajatis have a different take. They give more credit to the Maoist war for at least trying to demolish the erstwhile near-complete monopoly of select caste groups in the state machinery. Likewise, with women commanders at the forefront of the war, Nepali women’s traditionally subservient image got a complete makeover.

Whether one subscribes to the first or the second narrative, one thing is certain: even if fought with the best of intent, war has all kinds of unforeseeable consequences. Conflict victims continue to wait for justice, 12 long years after the start of the peace process. Nor has the legitimization of the use of violence by non-state actors been healthy for Nepal’s nascent democracy. Yes, there should be a nuanced understanding of the Maoist war. But as Benjamin Franklin put it: there never was a good war or a bad peace.

Ever since the powerful communist govern­ment of KP Sharma Oli took office nearly a year ago, there have been fears that the gov­ernment could abuse its powers to curtail free speech and stifle press freedom. The communist coalition, which later morphed into the Nepal Commu­nist Party, had come to power on the twin promises of ‘stability’ and ‘prosperity’. While the NCP seems to have ensured the former with its thumping two-thirds majority in the federal parliament, as well as effective control of six of the seven provincial assemblies, it is a long way from achieving the latter.

The Oli government’s performance thus far has been disappointing. The economy is in a shambles. Even as Nepal’s exports dwindle, imports continue to pile up, leading to a whopping Rs 82.32 billion balance of pay­ment deficit in the first five months of the ongoing fis­cal. None of the big-ticket infrastructure projects has come through. Melamchi has been left high and dry. Progress on two international airports at Bhairahawa and Pokhara is patchy, while controversy rages over the proposed international air-hub in Nijgadh. Mean­while, corruption is increasing and impunity is at an all-time high.

But instead of getting its act together, the Oli govern­ment seems intent on silencing its critics. The latest manifestation of this is a new bill on advertisement regulation recently tabled in the federal upper house. If it passes, for the first time in Nepal’s democratic his­tory, any deviation from the official advertisement pol­icy will be a criminal offense, punished with up to Rs 500,000 in fines and up to five years in jail, or both. A producer of advertisements that promote gambling or Ponzi schemes will get the maximum sentence. So will the makers of ads deemed a threat to national sovereignty, territorial integrity, nationalism, relations between provinces and to a whole host of other real or imagined national interests. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information has introduced measures to restrict jour­nalists’ access to inside dope in government agencies.

The government’s intent seems clear enough. While the cheerers of the Oli government in the media will get lucrative ads and every other kind of government support, critical outlets will be endlessly hounded and be deprived of their chief income source. This attempt to kill the messenger smacks of an authoritarian streak. The press fraternity and the civil society should speak as one against this mission creep—before it is too late.