What bloats his importance is the simple fact that the country is presently in the midst of the peace and constitution-writing processes, which can be greatly influenced by his decisions. Hence, it was no surprise when his sudden trip to the eastern part of the country Friday evening received unprecedented attention. The curiosity was not stoked by what the people knew but by what they did not such as where he left for after landing at Biratnagar airport—no one was sure whether he was on a personal or an official trip. But that is beside the point. What is worth noting here is the attention that his moves draw. As mentioned before, that is simply because people know that he has the important role in determining the future of Nepal.
Dahal is charismatic and articulate and is still seen as the only person who has the confidence and the ability to ensure the timely completion of the peace process and constitution writing. Though he took a lot of immature and rash decisions when he headed the Maoist government such as the attempted sacking of the then Army Chief Rookmangud Katawal, he is still the only man capable of negotiating with all the factions within his party, taking some tough decisions and seeing them through.
The position that his party sticks to or the flexibility it displays on crucial issues such as federalism and system of governance will be of paramount importance in ascertaining how easily and quickly we will get over the transitional phase. Without his support, even the present government headed by his own party colleague Dr Baburam Bhattarai will not be able to do much. When Bhattarai became the prime minister, while there was a massive surge of hope on the streets, skeptics feared that he was bound to fail.
They argued that Dahal would conspire to bring him down as he would not want a competitor to succeed for that would greatly compromise his own position. Thankfully, so far, he has proved them wrong by providing unflinching support to the prime minister despite stiff opposition from the hardliners inside his party. The bottom line is that the success or the failure of this country depends a lot on how Dahal conducts himself before the latest term of the constituent assembly expires in November. That implies it is only natural for him to get so much attention. We only hope that this attention gives him a sense of responsibility to steer the nation on the right course.
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