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April First Government
On April 24, Nepal observed the first anniversary of the success of Jana Andolan-2. Upon retrospection of the past 12 months, people were elated that during this period Nepal underwent a number of historic changes. However, they were also chagrined that the major points of the agenda set by the three-week long April uprising of 2006 were still unaddressed. On Loktantra Diwas, King Gyanendra observed puja to Goddess Dakshinkali receiving military salute the same way as in the past. More interestingly, the government held an official function at the army pavilion at Tundikhel under the banner that read: "Long Live our King and Queen".
The formation of the interim government by inducting Maoists was not a joke though it was effected the April Fools's Day. With the new government in place, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala reached Delhi as confirmed, not a caretaker, Prime Minister to attend the SAARC summit.
However, the eight political parties made a big joke by fixing June 20 as the date for election to the Constituent Assembly. The election commission immediately came up with the declaration that it was impossible to hold polls on that day as it needs at least 110 days for the preparation after all the relevant laws and rules for the election are approved. The interim Parliament is still to approve a number of such laws - forget about the bylaws that are to be prepared thenafter. The Constituency Delineation Commission suggested the addition of 35 constituencies (28 in the Terai and seven in the hills), thus increasing the total number of seats in the Constituent Assembly to 497.
One important positive development after the formation of the interim government is that the police has now become more active in taking actions against illegal activities. Three days after the new government was formed, the police nabbed four persons allegedly belonging to the criminal gang called the Spider Group that is blamed for high level abduction, extortion and looting. Later, it also raided the dens of Young Communist League (YCL), the Maoist outfit that is still carrying out illegal activities like raiding houses of common people and meting out summary punishments. Though the police said it could not find any illegal weapon in the YCL centres, it later arrested some YCL activists charging them of illegally raiding houses of common people.
The Maoist response has been to stall the proceedings of the interim Parliament on the pretext of demanding immediate declaration of a Republic. Also the Madhesi members of the interim Parliament started stalling the house proceedings. As a result, the Speaker had to postpone the House Session till May 9.
Maoist ministers started showing their own tantrums. Minister for Public Works and Physical Planning Hisila Yami has declared that she would not privatise the management of drinking water distribution and prefers to conserve the Valley's traditional sources of drinking water rather than going ahead with the Melamchi project. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the leader of the Maoist team in the government and looking after the portfolio of Information and Communication, publicly said that he would stop the live telecast of Miss Nepal beauty pageant over the state-owned Nepal Television, though in reality NTV did telecast the show live. A more interesting episode was the one in which Maoist Minister for Forests Matrika Yadav had a spat with the Prime Minister during a meeting of the Council of Ministers. Clearly, the Maoists are going through a great learning exercise.
Another important development during the month was an advice from the PM to the journalists during his press conference in New Delhi to not use "King" while referring to King Gyanendra. The interpretation was that as Gyanendra has ceased to function as the King, the country is already a Republic in effect. That interpretation was reinforced when Koirala himself received the credentials from the new Chinese Ambassador breaking the tradition of presenting the credential to the King. However, speculations are also strong that Koirala, CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist leader Prachanda are committed to retaining the monarchy by enthroning Gyanendra's grandson Hridayendra. As Hridayendra is still a baby, there will be no fear from the new King and a culture of ceremonial monarchy will be already developed by the time he comes of age, it is hoped. This is believed to be the reason behind the dilly dallying with the Constituent Assembly elections. Also the activities to stall the House proceedings are meant for the same purpose, say some insiders.
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