Monthly Archives: April 2006

Whether Constituent Assembly with or without a Condition

By Surendra Bhandari
Lawyer, in Japan

The country is still undergoing through a volatile political situation. The political changes induced by the people’s movement followed by King’s declaration for the restoration of the House of Representatives on April 24th 2006 has unfurled immense opportunities to move ahead but the path is still full of challenges and risks. The issue of whether a constituent assembly should be with or without condition has become a center of the political dynamics in the country.
Maoist has declared cease fire with a hope that the Parliament shall declare constituent assembly without any precondition. Many civil society leaders have also asked the same thing. All the political leaders of the SPA have confirmed that constituent assembly will be the single most priority agenda item of the (to be restored) Parliament. But they have not yet declared whether it will be with or without a precondition. Indeed, the leaders are at altar now. If they succeed, they come off with a light and become able to enlighten the society otherwise there is a risk that they will burn out the fire of the altar. If they fail that will be a big boomerang both for the democratic process in the country as well as to the leaders. Continue reading →

Though this article was written immediately after king’s first address, UWB has published it in order to bring the issue of monarchy for public debate.

By Mahesh Poudyal

The politics of monarchy

You must be thinking I must have made some mistakes with the heading “politics of monarchy,” you must be thinking “monarchs don’t get involved in politics.” Oh, yes they do, they do in Nepal if you didn’t know already! Of course, in this 21st century it is hard to find monarchy in any form – constitutional or ceremonial, let alone active monarchs. However, by the grace of god or his curse, we Nepalese have got an active monarch, so much active that he had for the past 15 months suspended political and press freedoms, and had tried to “rule” over his “subjects” – we Nepalese people – by any means he could. Okay, enough for the sarcasm – now back to the serious business. The question here is – does Nepalese politics need a monarch(monarchy)? Continue reading →

Though this article was written immediately after king’s first address, UWB has published it in order to bring the issue of monarchy for public debate.

By Mahesh Poudyal

Friday night’s talk – after the royal proclamation – was mainly about king Gyanendra trying to split the SPA-Maoist alliance by offering the post of PM to the SPA. However, people seemed to have realised his ploy as soon as his speech ended. We heard about the overnight demonstrations in Kathmandu and in a number of districts and cities outside Kathmandu – most notably those in Butwal area – rejecting palace’s offer. SPA leaders, after meeting on Saturday morning, had no choice but to follow the will of the public and they finally rejected palace’s offer officially late on Saturday morning. So it seems we’ll be seeing more demonstrations in days to come and it also seems Nepal is heading towards being a republic and not stay as a kingdom. The hot topic today in most of the online discussions, as well as in radio forums, has been whether or not we Nepalese will be better off keeping the white elephant in the form of monarchy – especially the current incarnation. So is this white elephant worth keeping? As a layman in my own country’s politics, I think this question should consider three main aspects of our society, namely economic, political, and cultural. Considering the pros and cons of keeping monarchy with regards to these aspects of our society should help us answer this question. Continue reading →