This seems to be the attitude of Nepalis who otherwise cast their votes for everyone from the fundamentalist far right to the more moderate center right. If Republica’s Gennext Vox Pop and the Op-Ed pieces are any indication, this is the sentiment that seems to carry across class, age and gender.
It helps that our PM is not only beyond the bare minimum literate, but has attained the highest academic qualifications prior to assuming second in command and chief ideologue of the Maoist party. Dare I say he is truly a leader of all the people? The bourgeois of us can bank on his intellect (and his ability to comfortably deliver a speech in English at the likes of the forthcoming UN General Assembly and the LDCs annual meet, without having Nepal squirm). Meanwhile, the proletariat of us can raise our fists at having elected a comrade. It’s a win-win and everyone in Nepal knows it.
Well, maybe, except a good portion of those in the Constituent Assembly who get to decide the fate of Nepal. Oddly enough, polar ends unite in hoping to see Dr Bhattarai fail - those that ushered in democracy back in the day, the Nepali Congress, and oddly enough, his own party compadre, Mohan Vaidya, who is only looking for one more excuse to re-steer the Maoist ship and “complete” the revolution - Lenin style. Both of which would prove a major obstacle for Dr Bhattarai´s plan of peace and constitution, which also just happens to be the priority of the country.
Nepalis, on the other hand, are leaning on one man alone to fulfill their hopes, expectations and aspirations. It is somewhat reminiscent of the immediate aftermath of our “historic” CA elections. The jubilant air amidst Nepalis had gone rippling via blogs, Facebook statuses and gchats to the Nepali Diasporas overseas in 2008. T-shirts that declared “Naya Nepal sambhav chha” went on sale and an unusual air of optimism reigned.
Homraj Acharya at the Washington Nepal Forum cautioned us, “We have unreasonable expectations.” He said it as though we were setting ourselves up for disappointment. And I wonder if those words ring true for us today.
In October that same year Dr Bhattarai landed in Washington DC for the annual Finance Meet hosted by the World Bank. He was kind enough to accept an invitation to speak at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University. He may not have had the fist-banging emotive ways of public speaking as Prachanda, but he won the otherwise skeptical lot by his unwavering stance. Furthermore, he also proved he was not one to twist his words so as to appease whoever filled the room. He even defended the eyebrow raising and “ambitious” budget he’d meticulously crafted.
It’s actually quite ironic how as soon as we want Dr Bhattarai to be on the helm, we also claim how he is bound to fail and how he will disappoint us, as if that is nothing but the norm in Nepali politics.
As Nepali politics would have it, the country didn’t get to see if it indeed was ambitious or not. Prachanda less than gracefully exited the cushioned front-row seat at Singha Durbar and had his government collapse, with the budget and more.
Even then, however, in his less-than-nine-months tenure as finance minister, Dr Bhattarai was able to achieve what many others in the ministry, prior and since, had been unable to. Former Finance Secretary Rameshwore Khanal can vouch for that. Dr Bhattarai is known to have worked some 12 to 14 hours a day. And against all Nepali tradition, he did not take his beloved or his personal assistant to the DC Finance Meet. He had a Joint-Secretary accompany him instead as his PA. The Mustang request is only the most recent display of his admirable character.
Three years later we are back to seating the largest party in the CA the most sought after post in the country. It is then no surprise that the way the CA (NC and his own party cadres) are acting has us Nepalis cross our fingers, fully aware of how he may just be set up for failure. It’s actually quite ironic how as soon as we want him to be on the helm, we also claim how he is bound to fail and how he will disappoint us, as if that is nothing but the norm in Nepali politics.
While a few writers have already asked if a Phd-wallah turned comrade can prove himself at negotiating just how many ministries he hopes to cut ribbons for and who gets to hang on to the keys to cantonments and until when, it is perhaps safe to say that Dr Bhattarai isn’t just the ideal man we have from the short-listed lot. Unlike the 2004 US election for the “lesser of two evils” as friends joked regarding Bush and Kerry, Dr Bhattarai is the best bet we in Nepal have.
We need Maoists to lead the government to conclude the peace process because they can concede the most compromise if they are in the lead. But we also need NC to support the process and not just be a mere "constructive opposition" because the party brings in the moderation. Nepal will not be a communist state until NC is on board and many Nepalis need that assurance to support the process.
Let’s not lower our expectations as much as make them more reasonable - Dr Bhattarai’s political objective since stepping out of the woodwork has been the drafting of our constitution and bringing the peace process to a logical conclusion. Without denying him the credit of having played an instrumental role in bringing his party to sign the agreement, let’s practice the patience he has these past three years, and have his party and the CA understand that the success of Dr Bhattarai’s tenure as PM is that of his party, the CA and the people. As has said been numerous times now, we have no better man for the job.
A half-revolution need not equate to failure, and we the people who stand behind the myriad of party flags can pay tribute to that.
sradda.thapa@gmail.com
Related story
Former PM Bhattarai bereaved of father
