Egoism prevents alliance between Madhesi parties

KATHMANDU, Nov 10: As their efforts to forge electoral alliance and party unification could not yield any result, Madheshi parties are contesting the Constituent Assembly (CA) election separately.



Political analysts, leaders and Madhesi people are of the opinion that the egoism among senior Madhesi leaders was a major stumbling block that prevented pre-poll alliance between Madhesi political parties. [break]



However, most Madhesi leaders acknowledge that it was necessary to forge a united stand if their core agendas are to get proper attention in the next CA.



The analysts opine that the Madhesi leaders, who had a big say in power sharing during the last CA tenure, fail to advance Madhes agenda. “When they were in power, they forgot that their real strength lay in their constituencies.



 At the time, they didn´t notice that they were losing grounds in their own constituencies,” said Devesh Jha, a political analyst.

“Madhesi parties made a lot of compromises just to remain in power,” added Jha. He further said that the Madhesi parties had a faulty view regarding their hold in Madhes because they believed that Madhesi people had no alternatives but to vote for them.



“They thought that Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and other major parties would not pose a challenge to them as these parties have done least for the cause of Madhes.

The Madhesi parties with myopic vision failed to access the dynamics of politics and remained adamant to their narcissist attitude that aborted the effort of poll alliance among Madhesh based parties,” maintained Jha.



The General Secretary of Rajendra Mahato-led Sadbhwana Party (SP) Manish Suman said individual egos of the senior leaders of Madhesi parties could be one of the leading factors why attempts to establish alliance petered out. He further added that some of the Madhesi parties are making wrong assessments about themselves.



The leaders admit that the common people are in favor of an alliance between Madhesi parties. “Madhesi people are still in favor of an electoral alliance. Therefore, Madhesi parties contesting the polls separately is against the sentiments of the Madhesi people,” Amresh Narayan Jha, leader of MPRF-N told Republica. He further said that the Madhesi parties did not wish to hold second or third round of talks to materialize "widely expected" alliance.



When asked about the impact on the poll results if Madhesi parties contest the polls separately, Nasir Siddiqui, vice chairman of Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar-led MPRF-D, said, “They might not be able to retain their strength,” said.



In 2008, Madhesi parties had emerged as the fourth largest force with 83 seats in the 601-member CA. Meanwhile, the Madhesi parties are divided principally. These parties are clearly divided over the system of governance. While MPRF-N has stood in favor of presidential system, other three major Madhesi parties -- SP, Mahanth Thakur-led Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP), and MPRF-D -- firmly favor Indian federal system, where prime minister holds the executive power.



Similarly, MPRF-N has stuck to their previous stance of formation of ´one Madhes, one province´, while SP and MPRF-D have shown willingness to be flexible on the demand. The SP and MPRF-D are ready to back Tharuhat and Madhes province in the Tarai.



However, the leaders have claimed that the difference in principle did not pose any hurdle for forming an alliance. “Though we are principally divided, we are sensitive towards the issues of Madhes. We share common agenda,” said Siddiqui.



A few months ago there were talks of poll alliance between the TMDP and MPRF-D, but that did not happen. Similarly, there were talks of party unification between the SP and TMDP, but that too failed to materialize. Likewise, MPRF-N and SP held different rounds of talks aiming to jointly contest the polls, but that too did not happen. Earlier, these parties held different levels of secret meetings to forge seat adjustments between them, but that also could not produce any result.



Political Analyst Bijay Kant Karna claimed that the Madhesi parties are not yet mature enough to tackle political games. “The Madhesi parties lack ideological orientation, don´t have any clear organizational structure, are devoid of institutional attachment and leadership that can hold sway over the people. That is why they could not contest the polls together,” added Karna.



Karna went on to blame the establishment side for playing a key role behind the widening distance between Madhesi parties following the old methods of divide and rule. “The establishment and major political parties always took Madhesi parties as power instrument for maintaining power balance. But they never tried to address the concerns of Madhes and the problems faced by Nepali people living in the Tarai region. The establishment seems to have a deep rooted psychological fear that ensuring rights to Madhesi people may turn to be counterproductive in the long run,” claimed Karna.



He further said that different parties aren´t ready to work under the umbrella of any one senior Madhesi leader. Meanwhile, Madhesi leader JP Gupta, following his meeting with External Affairs Minister of India Salman Khursid on July 9, has written on his website www.jayprakashgupta.com: “India wanted to see all Madhesi parties united. Khursid had given priority to Madhesi leaders this time.”

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