Nepal Monitor: The National Online Journal

We Nepalis are standing at a glorious but challenging moment. Rarely come such moments in a country's history. Following the great decade-long People's War and its complementary joint Jana Andolan, as well as the Madhesh movement, we successfully held the elections to the Constituent Assembly (CA) for the first time in Nepal's history and turned the country into a federal democratic republic by putting an end to the centuries-old feudal monarchy. The achievement is something to be proud of for all of us. We should pay high respect to -- and remember for centuries -- those tens of thousands of people who were martyred, made to disappear, and wounded during the struggle. However, various national and international regressive and status quo elements are hatching a conspiracy against the fledging republic, national independence and rapid socio-economic transformation and development as aspired by the masses. This is a great challenge for all of us. In the context of these issues, I am addressing you in my capacity as the first elected prime minister of republic Nepal.

With the deep love and support from the common people, our party Unified CPN (Maoist) gained a clear majority on the First Past the Post side and emerged as the largest party on the Proportional Representation side of the CA elections. This was a clear popular ratification of the slogan "New thought and new leadership for the sake of New Nepal" that we had put forward before the elections. But, under various pretexts, we were not allowed to form a government under our leadership for four months. In the end, it was only because of shame that our opponents were forced to allow the formation of the first popularly elected government of republican Nepal under my leadership. After that, it was perhaps also due to our inexperience that we were unable to do all of the work expected by you. We are not in favour of hiding any of the mistakes committed knowingly or unknowingly by us. It is our declared commitment to learn from the people and take their healthy criticisms seriously. But major obstacles were raised in our attempts to work in favour of the country and the people, from those both within and outside the government. For example, the programmes and policies and annual budget that we brought immediately after entering government were obstructed on various pretexts. Due to obstruction in the formation of local bodies, the vast sums sent to villages across the country could not be spent. Weeklong protests were held and the legislature was obstructed on the smallest pretexts. As a result, many laws of national importance could not be passed, the development budget could not be spent, and the people could not receive the relief that they deserved. But we were patient, as we recognized that this is a special transitional phase and that we have to work within a coalition government. But the attempts by reactionaries and status quoists to lock in a popularly elected government, to obstruct the implementation of the progressive agenda and to make it fail continued.

We have always given high priority to take the peace process to its logical conclusion, create a popular constitution in time, ensure socio-economic transformation and protect national sovereignty. Similarly, we have embraced and are committed to multiparty competitive democracy, federalism, the rule of law, human rights, press freedom and other such norms. According to the conditions and norms of the special transitional phase, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the Interim Constitution we have always focused on the politics of national consensus. While attempting to seek consensus from parties within and outside the government, it has taken us months to take even the most common of decisions. That is why we have quietly borne accusations that claim in a single breath that we are authoritarian and unable to take decisions. However, our belief and commitment to the peace process, democratic principles and national unity and sovereignty have never diminished and I will again vow that no provocation will make us waver from this.

The question of civilian supremacy over the Army has emerged as a serious one ever since the establishment of a republic. Civilian supremacy means that the Army remain under the unconditional control of the democratically elected government. Prolonged conflict between the elected government and the army occurs in many nations that have recently become democratic. The events that happened in our country on Poush 1, 2017 and Magh 19, 2062 attest to this fact. With this in mind, the elected government gave the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rookmangud Katawal the opportunity to clarify his position and, according to the law, took the decision to remove him from office after the Nepal Army repeatedly disobeyed the policies and orders of the government. We also made attempts to seek consensus regarding this with parties and forces both within and outside the government. But grave political crisis has emerged after the respected president, under provocation and pressure from various political parties and forces, took a blatantly unconstitutional and undemocratic move. The Interim Constitution has not given the president the independent authority to take any decision regarding the Army or any other institution without authorization by the council of ministers. Nowhere in the world does a constitutional president in a democracy have the right to become active as a parallel power centre. Those who have made the first president of republican Nepal take such unconstitutional steps against an elected government, and that too on the extremely sensitive issue of seeking civilian supremacy over the Army, have caused grievous injury to this country's fledging democratic republic. It is today the duty of all democratic and patriotic forces to raise voices against this move and take the necessary steps to make the president correct his unconstitutional step and ensure civilian supremacy over the Army.

It is a serious concern for the fledgling republic and the peace process that some political parties and power centers have become active in attacking the republic, constitution and peace process by bringing the president to the forefront on the issue of the Army chief. It is essential for all democratic political parties to understand that they prepared the ground for the unconstitutional step of the president by spreading rumours about the so-called capture of state power by the Maoist party. It is a great concern that despite our best effort to seek consensus on the issue, various vested interests have succeeded in bringing cracks to the unity among the political parties by spreading rumors and doubts. It is a dangerous indicator against democratic norms and values and cultural development that some political parties and their leaders who approved the action in the beginning retreated for unknown reasons and treated such a sensitive issue with frivolity. I urge all democratic and patriotic political powers to take the issue of civilian supremacy over the army seriously.

I would also like to draw attention of all the patriotic Nepali sisters and brothers towards the visible or invisible activities of some international power centers on the Army chief issue. We are committed to maintaining amicable diplomatic relations with all of our neighbouring and other friendly countries. But we absolutely reject any intervention in our internal affairs. There can be no compromise against the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the country. We are not ready to bow our head in front of foreign masters by ignoring the blood of tens of thousands of patriotic individuals. We want to give a clear message that the culture of seeking out foreigners to gain power has come to an end. We urge all patriotic forces to be ready for any kind of sacrifice for the sake of national self-esteem and freedom.

In this situation, I have reached the conclusion that even if I have to leave my position in government to struggle for the peace process, democracy, civilian supremacy and national sovereignty I should not hesitate to do so. It is necessary at all costs to bring an end to this situation where two power centres have been established through unconstitutional means. The need of the moment is for the entire country to unite against this. In order to resolve this difficult situation, and to move towards a direction of creating a positive environment to save democracy, nationalism and the peace process, I announce that I resign from the council of ministers that I have been leading.

In the end, I once again express my commitment to the ongoing peace process, democracy and the protection of nationalism. And I appeal to the entire public, civil society and political forces to demonstrate even greater determination in moving ahead towards the struggle for the creation of a democratic, prosperous Nepal and to ensure civilian supremacy.

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'’s resignation speech, addressed to the nation, May 4, 2009. The text begins with the address “Honorable Nepali sisters and brothers” ands with “Thank you!”

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