Sunday, March 18, 2007

Three Parties: Congress, Communist, Sadbhavana



Poudel hints of NC unity soon "There is a possibility of unification within two-four days"
I think it will be great if the two Congress factions will unite and become one political party. Looks like it is about to happen. That unified party will still have some major work to do in terms of inner party democracy and social inclusion.

Girija Koirala has a huge stature. He is the only head of state on the planet today who has met Mahatma Gandhi in person. I was once detained in Kentucky for 35 hours and there was a TV set inside the large room I shared with about a dozen inmates. I will never known what it means to have spent 10 years in jail. Good for me.

The April Revolution is the first I ever participated in. This was Girija's final.

This unification will make possible a smooth transition of leadership to the next generation inside the Congress.

Such a unification will put an enormous pressure on all the communist parties in the country to become one, and if they do, that will be great. I hope they do. Complete arms management and a total transformation of the Maoists from a parallel state to a political party - no militia, no extortions - will make such a unification possible. The ball is really in the Maoists' court.

The reasons for the two Congress factions to become one are largely national, but the reasons for all communist parties in Nepal to become one are global. Nepal is about to become a democracy of state funded parties. Lenin or Mao could not have thought of a more classless democracy. This will make Nepal the number one democracy on the planet. That is huge, and has immediate implications. The Maoists in India are going to shift from guns and violence to taking a stand that India also become a democracy of state funded parties. Becoming a democracy of state funded parties is the true cure to India's number one security threat: the Maoist insurgency. China is also going to come under a huge pressure to transform itself into a federal democracy of many state funded parties where the Chinese Communist Party is still overwhelmingly the largest. And you are going to see all the communist parties in India, including their Maoists, become one.

I am not a communist. The label I wear is that of a progressive. But when I do my math, I am looking at a possible scenario where the Nepal Communist Party is the largest party in Nepal, and the Chinese Communist Party is not only the largest party in China, it perhaps occupies 80% of the political space to start with, and the Communist Party Of India is the largest party in India.

This looks like a communist revival to me. And I am not worried. As long as multi-party democracy and the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights are kept sacrosanct, the idea of state funded parties and elections are what the progressives in America fantasize about.

So this communist transformation and resurgence is not going to be bad news for the anti-communists, the non-communists, except to the ideological kind, the inconsolable hawks, and they don't matter. The non-communists will always have the option to try and beat the communists at the polling booth. And that healthy competition will be good for the masses.

That leaves out the third camp in Nepal. Just like the Madhesi Kranti has been more complicated than the April Revolution, it is easier to unify the two Congress factions, and create a single communist party in Nepal, than it is to try and organize the third front, and that third front I would like to call the social justice front. That third front is my natural home, so I have to put in the work.

The first step would be to get all the people talking to each other. You show up without any preconditions. The only precondition is that you are willing to engage in dialogue.

The second step would be to decide to see there is space for a political party that will try to turn the playing field level for the traditionally marginalized, the Madhesi, the Janajati, the Mahila, the Dalit.

What do you call that party? I would propose we call it the Nepal Sadbhavana Party. That way you start with already having a name, the party is already registered and established, that will also give an excuse to unify the two Sadbhavana factions. Heck, Badri Mandal - the Mandale - got kicked out of the other Sadbhavana a long time ago. And if Badri Mandal was Gyanendra's Deputy Prime Minister, heck Deuba was Gyanendra's Prime Minister, but looks to me like Deuba is about to become the leader of the unified Congress. Let bygones be bygones.

So you decide to settle on the name Nepal Sadbhavana Party. The good thing for groups like the MPRF, NEFIN, and the Dalit Mahasangh will be that since you did not make a fuss about the name, you get to make a fuss about other things, like who will be the leaders, what will the central committee of the unfied party look like, things like that.

Who will be the leader? The Sadbhavana got the name. So it is only fair Upendra Yadav becomes the party president. General Secretary: Hridayesh Tripathy who gets to continue as Minister. Vice President: Om Gurung/Pasang Sherpa. Vice President: Dalit Mahasangh person. Vice President: Sarita Giri.

Central Committee: 40% Madhesi, 40% Janajati, 20% Dalit, 1/3rd women in each category. Or it could be 35% Madhesi, 35% Janajati, and 10% also Khas, if you can find any Khas. But don't try too hard.

Then you go for the agenda. The MPRF, NEFIN, the Dalit Mahasangh and the others have coalesced around a three point agenda: (1) Home Minister resign, (2) Form probe commission, and (3) Proportional elections to the constituent assembly. The Sadbhavana is not against any of this, but it is not standing by it. So how do you work things out and end up with a common agenda? There has to be some give and take.

Hridayesh Tripathy should work on Girija Koirala. Get the Home Minister to resign right away, get any other Congress person of your choice to become Home Minister, and if you like Krishna Sitaula so much make him Defense Minister in the next, interim government. Also form a probe commission. That is a no brainer, that has to be done. And if Hridayesh Tripathy can not get Girija Koirala to come around to this, the Sadbhavana would walk out of the eight party coalition.

As for the third agenda item, that is tricky. We can try and get parties like the UML and the RPP to come along with us. But we have to be open to a few different options. I don't want to get too specific. Let the leaders discuss, explore, and decide.

ANONYM: Association Of Nepali Organizations In New York Metro
Joint Movement
MPRF: A Few Scenarios
Further Compromise: Mixed Election With Reservations
5 Point Demand: Compromise Formula So Elections Can Be Held In June

But our goal has to be to go into the June elections full force. All agenda items that we can not get the Congress and the communists to agree to now, we use those against them when we go to the people. We turn them into election issues. That should be to our electoral advantage. To expect the Bahuns to do it all for us is mental slavery. We should go into power ourselves, and we have to do it ourselves.

One Communist Party, One Congress Party, Total Two Parties
The Idea Of One Communist Party In Nepal
Janata Dal Constitution
Party Unification, And One Person One Vote Principle

So basically the unified Sadbhavana will halt all protest programs, try and stay in power, try and get the other parties to come along on the three agenda items, but failing to do so, it turns them into election issues and goes to face the electorate full steam. In short, our total focus shifts to the Mahasangram of the elections to the constituent assembly.

YouTube: Trishul

TRISHUL - aap ki mehki hoowe 02:59
TRISHUL SCENE - amitabh tells all 03:36
Trishul Trailer 01:04
TRISHUL - thoo mere saath rahe ga 03:32
Mahobbat Bade Kaam 04:38
O Sanam 03:05
Janeman Tum Kamal 03:30

In The News

Eight party meet fails to reach agreement in Nepal Zee News, India
Nepal: Meeting fails to reach agreementNDTV.com
Nepal government, ex-rebels keep up talks on forming interim ... International Herald Tribune
Nepal Law and order situation... Telegraphnepal.com
King loses place in Nepal’s historic knights’ game Blogger News Network
King loses place in Nepal's historic knights' game Earthtimes.org
Nepal: Abdication talks and the provocative CD Global Voices Online
Another Marwari kidnapped in Nepal Daily News & Analysis, India
Tenure of UN Rights Body Extended in Nepal Nepal human Rights News, Nepal
OHCHR-Nepal for pluralistic representation in CA polls Kantipur Online
OHCHR says it has no mandate for mediation PeaceJournalism.com
Govt, parties urged to end crises Gorkhapatra
NEPAL:Over 30 injured in clash between Madhesi group and Nepali ...
PeaceJournalism.com, Nepal
Dozens Hurt in Clash between Rival Parties in Southern Nepal Nepal human Rights News
NEPAL:MJF activists injured in a clash PeaceJournalism.com
Over 70 injured in clash between Madhesi group, Nepali parties People's Daily Online
In Nepal, the man who won't be king
Toronto Star, Canada
Political attacks flare in Nepal BBC News, UK
Nepal PM Honored for Peace Role Nepal human Rights News, Nepal
PM: Country in need of full-fledged democracy Koirala honoured ... Gorkhapatra



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