Your party seems to be rather inactive these days. Why so?
That’s not the case. Call it a coincidence, but today (May 22) marks six months of the formation of Federal Socialist Party. We have been working to expand the party base at village, district, regional and central levels. The media may not have prioritized our issues, but we have been conducting various activities every single day. So far we have formed city, village and ward level party committees in 45 districts. We have formed our sister organization, Progressive Students Union, which will take part in upcoming student union polls. Likewise, Federal Socialist Youth Association, Association of Intellectuals and Professionals, Federal Socialist Women’s Organization and Federal Socialist Cultural Federation are already in place. We will declare Federal Socialist Peasants and Worker Federation pretty soon.
Sounds like you are fully prepared for new polls. Why do you oppose election then?
The situation is not favorable for polls. We have never opposed election, nor have we ever said we would not participate. As a democratic force, we believe in bringing change through people’s mandate. The important question is not whether we should go into new CA polls. It is rather if the polls will be ever conducted, and how! The political climate is not election-friendly, not yet. Even the government seems to have realized this, and has not declared an election date yet. We believe that all political forces should come together for polls. Broader consensus is necessary. We cannot leave any party behind and move ahead, because this is the CA election. Otherwise, the polls won’t be able to achieve the desired outcome.
Keshab Thoker/Republica
How do you defend your demand of the revival of the old Constituent Assembly?
We still believe that CA revival is the best and easiest way to break the protracted deadlock and move towards an inclusive constitution. We said let us revive CA if it can ensure a constitution and move to the election option only if revival fails to work out. But CPN-UML and Nepali Congress were never ready for this. As a result, we are in a catch-22 situation today.
Why are you opposed to the Khil Raj Regmi election government?
We are opposed to the 11-point agreement among the four parties and the 25-point constitutional amendment. These agreements are unconstitutional and violate the fundamental principle of separation of powers. Yet we can move ahead with a new agreement. For this we need to summon an all-party meeting. We are against reducing CA size from 601. If we must reduce the size let us do away with 26 member nomination provision and bring the size to 575. But what the four parties did through the 25-point decree was to deprive people belonging to indigenous communities from being nominated to the new CA. The other factor is that there are more than two million Nepali adults living in foreign countries. This comprises a huge percentage of the electorate. We should make provision for those living abroad to cast their votes in an election which will be of paramount national importance. These are some of our differences.
Don’t you think addressing all your demands will take time? And won’t they contribute to deferral of polls yet again?
No, it won’t take long to address our issues. The Big Four leaders are wasting precious time because they are incapable of coming to a solution acceptable to all. If the election was the only alternative, why did not NC and UML go into polls that Baburam Bhattarai had announced? After all, he was a prime minister elected by the parliament. Election could not happen because NC and UML needlessly wasted one year. Even now, election related ordinance has not been issued simply because the Big Four leaders have not been able to come to any agreement on the issue. Unless we have election act in place, how can we start poll preparations? The four parties are responsible for delaying polls and for prolonging transition.
Whom do you hold primarily responsible for prolonging transition?
It would not be right to single out one party. Yet, looking back, NC and UML are clearly the most responsible for the protracted transition because they were neither ready to join Bhattarai government nor face polls under his leadership. This is the root cause of the current mess.
Your party is often blamed for exclusively focusing on the agendas of indigenous communities.
Let there be no doubt, our party is not only promoting the interests of indigenous nationalities. We are increasing our outreach to make our support base more inclusive ahead of the polls. We aim to establish ourselves as a strong alternative force in the national arena.
Are electoral alliances on the cards? Or will FSP face the polls alone?
Those parties who believe in the principle of “federalism with identity, constitution with federalism and constitution from CA” are our possible allies. Yet election alliance or talmel is not that simple. Question of seats, personalities and agendas play a vital role. If an alliance does not pan out, we will face the polls alone.
On principle, NC, UML and Maoists seem to be on the same platform. Why the differences then?
You are right. Even NC and UML have begun to raise the issue of federalism with identity. But why could they not do so during the tenure of the last CA? People must find out. I believe Nepali people have understood the matter clearly. You cannot fool all the people all the time. In time, it will be clear who are for and against federalism with identity. Both crow and nightingale are black in color. The distinction becomes clear only in the spring. Nightingale sings, the crow remains mum. Crows and nightingales were clearly divided in the last CA. While nightingales stood for identity based federalism, the crows opposed it. Those who are pretending to be nightingales now need not take the trouble. People have seen for themselves who stand for what.
The recent convention of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) has formally dropped the idea of single ethnic identity-based federalism. What is your take?
I don’t believe NEFIN has made any such decision. Even if it has, we are not bound by NEFIN’s decision. We are an independent political entity. There is no question of backtracking from agenda of federalism with identity.
Do you imply single ethnic-identity?
Yes, we are for single-ethnic identity. The provinces should be named so as to reflect single ethnic identity. This has been misinterpreted and misunderstood as ethnic state, jatiya rajya. The truth is that it is the existing state structure that is ethnic in nature in which high castes are dominant. We are opposed to this sort of ethnic state. We are demanding that all ethnicities, languages, cultures, colors, regions and historical legacies of all the people be respected and acknowledged in the new state structure. Only this can emotionally unify Nepalis. If we ignore culture and identity of one particular community, it cannot strengthen unity and harmony among people. Instead, it will lead to more conflicts and strife.
There is yet another misconception—that single ethnic identity state will only serve one particular ethnic community. They believe that Limbuwan will only serve Limbus and subordinate other communities. But even Lilmbuwan will be multi-ethnic in character. All the people of that state will have equal rights and privileges. Our goal is not to deprive people of other ethnicities their genuine rights and privileges. All political parties know this. But they feign ignorance and spread misconception.
How do you rate your party’s prospects in the upcoming polls?
The way we have received tremendous support from the people, we see bright prospect for our party. If the election had taken place in June/July, perhaps we would not have fared well. Now that election is likely to be held in November, our prospects are much brighter. We believe we will emerge as a strong force in the new CA.
Many of your former colleagues from CPN-UML are defecting to UCPN (Maoist). Any comments?
It would not be wise to make any comments on UML now. Anything I say can be misinterpreted as biased and prejudiced. But since you ask, let me tell you what I have heard: Many more are going to defect UML in the days ahead.
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