Buddha, Jung Bahadur and Prachanda - Yubaraj Ghimire

http://www.newsfront.com.np/#

It seems Prachanda is quite fascinated by Lord Buddha. He has invoked Buddha's name several times publicly. The first was when he surfaced at Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar on June 2006 signaling the end of his more than two-decade long underground political life.

Recently, he predicted the birth of either Buddha or Jung Bahadur to steer the country out of the current crisis. And on December 29, a day after parliament finally succumbed to his party's diktat to declare Nepal a 'Republic state' leaving it to the future constituent assembly to implement it, Prachanda dwelt on the matter in further details.

In an interview given to Shuvshankar Kandel of Sagarmatha Television, the Maoist supremo just stopped short of admitting that he indeed was Jung Bahadur in the offing. Surprisingly, his dream to be the 21st century Jung Bahadur came less than a week after he signed a fresh 23-point pact with the government, with renewed pledge to go to the polls for the constituent assembly by Mid April. But the latest Prachanda utterances go against both the spirit of peace agreement and democracy. Prachanda appears to be conditioning the public that the Maoists prefer to seize power 'peacefully.' But should that option fail, Prachanda will be compelled to exercise plan B --that is to follow what Jung Bahadur did in 1846. But no matter how the Maoists seize power – through peace or violence - democracy and the democratic process will be the casualty.

A parliament led by G P Koirala and chaired by Subhash Nembwang has already proved that Prachanda's bandwagon is gaining momentum by the day. But Prachanda's understanding of Buddha' way and philosophy is not only limited, but distorted as well. For Buddha, his journey and mission began with detachment from everything he had – kingdom, power and privileges. He stood for truth, respect for human life and dignity, love, compassion and crusade against injustice and inequality—all through non-violence. Kindness and forgiveness together constituted his philosophy and way of life.

Prachanda path is just the reverse. He is driven by the lust for everything that does not belong to him legitimately. He has neither forgiven any one, nor even dared to repent for heinous crimes like Madi massacre that his party committed. It seems his understanding of Buddhism only means a convenient way of capturing state powers without bloodshed, and of course, without facing the electorate. Unfortunately, G P Koirala has already lost the moral high ground to question Prachanda's interpretation of Buddhism in the current context. In the past 18 months of the controversial peace process and government, Prachanda has skillfully undercut G P Koirala of his historical standing and political stature which he had attained immediately after janaandolan II. Things have now come to such a sorry pass that how long Koirala hangs on to his position depends on the terms set by Prachanda.

G P dumped his visionary brother B P Koirala's policy of national reconciliation to appease Prachanda and continue in power. He has assumed the power of a dictator with no accountability to parliament--a role that Prachanda hopes to snatch any time now. Koirala has given a mortal blow to the independence of judiciary and reduced the parliament to a rubber stamp. Like any communist state apparatus, the Speaker of the House Subash Nembwang presides over a parliament without an opposition to the government. Worse, Koirala has been (mis)ruling the country on behest of the Maoist masters without facing the polls for the past 18 months.

Prachanda's present calculation is simple. If G P Koirala can rule in this fashion, why can't he ? In fact, he has been successful in creating condition for the birth of Jung Bahadur. Koirala is just a 'dummy' in that exercise. Jung Bahadur massacred all his potential rivals in a coup in 1846—recorded as Kotparva— and established the Rana dynasty that ruled the country for 104 years. Pracahnda is now trying to convince and cajole the other left parties, especially UML's Madhav Kumar Nepal, that it is possible for the communists to rule this country for the next 150 years once all pro-democracy forces are annihilated. The clear message here being that the left should not care much for the election to get into power, there are other more efficient methods available.

Then what is the 23-point agreement all about? The 23-point agreement was authored for two main purposes in mind. First, it dilutes the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Secondly, it establishes the centrality and indispensability of the Maoists in interim constitution and the current political system. Once the Maoists have become the core part of the new state, it will be much easier for the party to choose the timing of Kotparva, or the revolution from within as in the classic Bolshevik October insurrection. History appears all set to repeat itself in Nepal.

In that historical reenactment, Koirala can only imitate hapless Mathbar Singh Thapa who was a necessary stepping stone to Jung Bahadur's rise. What will happen to Nepal's peace process if things move in the direction that Prachanda has predicted? Nepali citizens have more or less abdicated their democratic duties in allowing a regime of questionable legitimacy to play havoc with the judicial independence, parliamentary supremacy, and constitutional rule.

Such an authoritarian trend is still fraught with other dangerous consequences: a possible revolt and defiance by the organs of the state, and a total non-recognition of the regime by the international community which is already annoyed at the government's failure to hold elections, twice on deadline. These are grave challenges which the current dispensation does not seem to have appreciated.