Global IssuesNEPAL: DEMOCRACY TO DEMAGOGUERY
The shaky amateur video shows the leader of Nepal's Maoist party, Prachanda, boasting how he tricked the UN into thinking his army was 35,000 strong when it had only 7,000 guerrillas and admitting he lied to everyone about his commitment to democracy and the peace process, and that his real goal is total control of the army and the state, writes Kunda Dixit, editor and publisher of the Nepali Times newspaper in Kathmandu.
In this article, Dixit writes that revelations about Prachanda's ulterior motives have widened the gap between the Maoists and the other political parties, making it difficult to form a new government. They failed to meet May 9 deadline to forge a coalition, and it looks like it will be a while before Nepal has a new government.
After coming to power through elections, there was no need for the Maoists to resort to the use of force, threats and intimidation. But they have become even greater bullies after coming to power. Instead of trying to govern, they have wasted valuable time in extending control. They have tried systematically to undermine the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the army, and the media.
Nepal's media and pro-democracy activists have a lot of experience in struggling against the absolute monarchy and dictatorships in the past. The problem arises when a democratically-elected leader proceeds to dismantle the very institutions that helped him get to power. Nepal's new challenge is to fight its elected demagogues.
(*) Kunda Dixit is the editor and publisher of the Nepali Times newspaper in Kathmandu.
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© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service