Political revolution done,time for prosperity

Nepal completed its democratic revolution quite late, at the fag end of the 20th century or the early 21st century. Such demo­cratic revolution was completed in Europe in the 19th century and in most other countries in the early 20th century. Because of this delay, we lagged behind the rest of the world by almost 250 years. Fortunately, we managed to more or less complete the revolution at the start of the 21st century. After the promulgation of the democratic republican constitution through the Constituent Assembly (CA), a new era has dawned in Nepal—an era of peace and prosperity.

Political parties are the articu­lators of people’s socio-economic needs and their aspirations. When the political agenda changes, the parties should either change their agenda and strategy as well, or reform themselves. Or they will lose their legitimacy. With this in mind, we founded the Naya Shakti Party. In my understanding, the Nepali Congress and the Nepal Communist Party were born out of the demo­cratic revolutionary needs of the mid-20th century. To that extent, they played a positive role in the country’s democratic process.

But now the agenda has shifted to socio-economic transformation. The question is whether the parties which played a lead role in the his­torical phase of political revolution can also play the same role in the course of the country’s socio-eco­nomic transformation. History has mixed examples. In some European countries where the democratic rev­olution has been completed or has deepened roots, the parties leading the post-revolutionary phase played a positive role in their country’s socio-economic transformation.

But in most third-world countries, the parties that led the political or democratic revolution have failed to deliver economic development. In Nepal’s case, the reason is that our political revolution dragged on for seven decades. It started in the 1950s but it compromised with the old establishment. Again, when there was political regression under the monarchy for 30 years, demo­cratic processes, values and institu­tions were destroyed.

 This is the time for our political leadership to wake up and deliver. I hope they do.

When multi-party democracy was restored in 1990, the parties again compromised with the monarchy in the making of the 1990 constitution. Then the Maoist revolution did away with the monarchy and ushered in a republic and a constituent assembly. But even the Maoist movement did not end in complete victory as it had to compromise with the old political parties (minus the monarchy now). So that way, Nepal’s democratic pro­cess was never deep-rooted. When revolutionary forces compromise with old establishment forces, they tend to be co-opted. This resulted in a hodgepodge of a transition system, which was a major hurdle for rapid economic development.

This is one reason why Nepal’s political parties have not been able to produce rapid socio-economic transformation. Another reason is geopolitical: our over-dependence on India and its non-cooperation on our development. Mismanagement of institutions, bad governance and rampant corruption are other rea­sons. Because of these factors, the political forces that took the lead in political revolution have not been able to deliver on the socio-eco­nomic front.

This has given rise to frustration among the youth, millions of whom have little choice but to go abroad for employment, and the country virtually runs on the remittance they send. Resentment is again rising in the society. So the political parties should remake themselves—trans­form themselves by learning from past and international experiences, and lead the country to peace and prosperity. Or new political forces will come forward and fill the vac­uum. We are now at the crossroads. Legally and formally, we have a two-third majority government and the country’s two biggest commu­nist parties are united. The unity appears strong and people have high expectations of them. But one year has passed, and they have not delivered. At the very least, they could have controlled corruption and strengthened law and order, even if they could not make radical economic progress.

As a result, resentment is grow­ing. I hope the ruling parties will introspect on their activities of the past one year and mend ways. If that does not happen, I see a seri­ous problem ahead, which will be exacerbated by the fast-changing geopolitical situation in the neigh­borhood. Both China and India are developing rapidly.

As they develop and get stronger economically, they will display a ten­dency to expand their market and encroach upon other territories. So Nepal is likely to be dragged by these two rising powers into their com­peting spheres of influence. Also, with rising contention between the US and China, Nepal is in danger of sliding into a vortex of a new conflict. There already are signs of a new cold war.

This is the time for our political leadership to wake up and deliver. I hope they do. But even if that does not happen, I am optimistic in that this is the era of democracy, of enlightenment, and of information technology, and that we cannot go backward. As such, I do not see any danger of political regression.

Again, if the political leader­ship fails to make a fundamental socio-economic transformation, the frustrated youth might again resort to another revolt. Before that happens, people like us who have played a role in this political change have to see the coming danger and reorganize politics in an alternative way, so that we can deliver on the socio-economic front.

The author is a former prime minister