The political process in Nepal is in shambles, even as the peace process holds. There is currently only a semblance of governance in place, while the activities of violent groups are on the rise. Rule of law has been all but abandoned: the police are unmotivated, and all political parties have set up violence-prone youth forces, to emulate the Young Communist League of the Maoists. The utility of the Maoist-led coalition government has been to give the former rebels a taste of the responsibility of holding power, no doubt. And though they are making a brave attempt at it, the challenges are enormous.
Internally, despite some sobriety in the presentation of the annual government budget, they are buffeted by the need to placate cadres (and relatives and henchmen) with jobs. Most importantly, the Maoists are being forced to be everything to everyone. While Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ('Prachanda') reassures the international community about his commitment to multiparty pluralism and 'capitalism', he and his colleagues reassure the party rank and file that the 'people's republic' remains the definitive goal. Of course, everyone has been giving the Maoists the benefit of the doubt, because they have a need to defend the 'people's war', even while abandoning it on the way to open politics. But the question is, how many misrepresentations can Prime Minister Dahal make without beginning to look ridiculous? The apt metaphor has the prime minister with his feet not in two boats, but on several.
The Maoists are stymied by the fact that they are not in total command. The present coalition government is an opportunistic coming-together of incongruous partners who do not see eye-to-eye on most important matters. The CPN (Maoist) and the CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) are vying for the same cadre base, while the Maoists and the Tarai-based Madhesi Janadhikar Forum have a history of unresolved clashes, as well as different visions of the proposed federal state and of the 'integration' of Maoist ex-combatants. The proposed all-party coalition, which would have been important for the minimal camaraderie required for constitution-writing, was stillborn when the Nepali Congress opted to sit in opposition.
Of the two-year time limit set for the writing of the new constitution, it has now taken six months just to finalise the rules of procedure for the Constituent Assembly. Moreover, the House will have to fight the tide of ethnic, communitarian and regional populism in every sphere if a fine constitution is ever to be written. And there is actually a nomenclatural flaw in what we call the Constituent Assembly, for its jobs are supposed to be divided between that of the 'Legislature-Parliament' and the 'Constituent Assembly'. This late, the legislators have hardly met in the latter capacity. Given the existing party rivalries, the populist posturing of the new parties, and the disgruntlement among the representatives of the marginalised communities, it will be a challenge to have the discussions needed to resolve the constitutional issues – the future federal state, affirmative action, the political economy, and even the nature of the state structure (presidential, as preferred by the Maoists, or Westminster-style, as preferred by most of the rest).