A New Prime Minister
An all party government that commands at least two thirds majority in the parliament would be the best for giving the country a new constitution. When the three big parties and all the Madhesi parties get together, I think they reach that mark, although I will have to crunch the numbers.
I think it would be fair that such a government be led by a Maoist since they are the largest party in the parliament. Accepting a Maoist at the head of an all party government will also help build trust that is essential to taking the peace process to the next level.
That person I believe is Baburam Bhattarai. If the Maoists manage to secure a simple majority on their own after the next parliamentary elections, it will be entirely upto the Maoist party to decide as to who their prime ministerial candidate will be. But right now they don't have that simple majority. And so they have to be okay with letting Baburam Bhattarai be Prime Minister. He did an excellent job when he was Finance Minister. He has a clean image. His smarts are second to none. A Baburam Bhattarai as Prime Minister will give Nepal a head of state who will match the smarts of any head of state on the planet. I have my ideological differences with him, but I like the fact that he is not a dogmatic communist, but rather a thinking one. Communism is supposed to be science. You have to be willing to face facts. You have to be willing to change your thinking when new ground realities emerge. Whereas too many communists have this don't-confuse-me-with-the-facts attitude.
Army Integration
Allowing for a full debate in the parliament on the issue is the way to go. So far the issue of army integration has failed because the party leaders have tried to discuss it among themselves outside the parliament. Unless the parliament is given its due respect the army integration issue will continue to confound the leaders of the country.
A New Kind Of Democracy
Unless Nepal is turned into a new kind of democracy, one that is a multi-party democracy of state funded parties, truly a one person one vote democracy where the poorest of the poor have that same one vote as the richest people in the country, genuine peace is not possible. Parties like the Nepali Congress want to turn Nepal into a democracy like India, Britain and the United States and that is why the Maoists want to keep their army for as long as possible so they can dream of yet another revolution, armed if necessary. I don't blame them.
The kind of democracy I am talking about is a fusion of the two major ideologies of the past century. It would be a first in Nepal. Unless this political move is made, we will keep having problems with army integration.
A multi-party democracy of state funded parties means political parties in the country will have no other source of funding besides the state, and the state funds will be directly proportional to how many votes the parties earn in an election. That would be a step towards classlessness.
An all party government that commands at least two thirds majority in the parliament would be the best for giving the country a new constitution. When the three big parties and all the Madhesi parties get together, I think they reach that mark, although I will have to crunch the numbers.
I think it would be fair that such a government be led by a Maoist since they are the largest party in the parliament. Accepting a Maoist at the head of an all party government will also help build trust that is essential to taking the peace process to the next level.
That person I believe is Baburam Bhattarai. If the Maoists manage to secure a simple majority on their own after the next parliamentary elections, it will be entirely upto the Maoist party to decide as to who their prime ministerial candidate will be. But right now they don't have that simple majority. And so they have to be okay with letting Baburam Bhattarai be Prime Minister. He did an excellent job when he was Finance Minister. He has a clean image. His smarts are second to none. A Baburam Bhattarai as Prime Minister will give Nepal a head of state who will match the smarts of any head of state on the planet. I have my ideological differences with him, but I like the fact that he is not a dogmatic communist, but rather a thinking one. Communism is supposed to be science. You have to be willing to face facts. You have to be willing to change your thinking when new ground realities emerge. Whereas too many communists have this don't-confuse-me-with-the-facts attitude.
Army Integration
Allowing for a full debate in the parliament on the issue is the way to go. So far the issue of army integration has failed because the party leaders have tried to discuss it among themselves outside the parliament. Unless the parliament is given its due respect the army integration issue will continue to confound the leaders of the country.
A New Kind Of Democracy
Unless Nepal is turned into a new kind of democracy, one that is a multi-party democracy of state funded parties, truly a one person one vote democracy where the poorest of the poor have that same one vote as the richest people in the country, genuine peace is not possible. Parties like the Nepali Congress want to turn Nepal into a democracy like India, Britain and the United States and that is why the Maoists want to keep their army for as long as possible so they can dream of yet another revolution, armed if necessary. I don't blame them.
The kind of democracy I am talking about is a fusion of the two major ideologies of the past century. It would be a first in Nepal. Unless this political move is made, we will keep having problems with army integration.
A multi-party democracy of state funded parties means political parties in the country will have no other source of funding besides the state, and the state funds will be directly proportional to how many votes the parties earn in an election. That would be a step towards classlessness.
