While there is no doubt that at present no other Nepali politician is as popular as the newly elected 35th Prime Minister of Nepal, Dr Baburam Bhattarai from the UCPN-Maoist, his personality, aura, intellect, honesty, commitment and intention to work for the good of Nepal, alone may not be enough to take us out of the mess we are in.

Known for his academic excellence, his stubbornly constant adherenceto his beliefs, his clean and honest image, and his relative success during his short term as Finance Minister, Bhattarai is at present the one Nepali leader on whom the people, regardless of whether they are Maoist party sympathizers or card carrying members of other so called democratic parties, or apolitical, have put their hope and faith to take Nepal further.

Spelling out his priorities he has categorically stated his major agendas as: a) complete the peace process within 45days, b) draft a forward looking constitution, c) ensure good governance and     provide economic relief to the people.

Bhattarai, who is also the vice chairman of the UCPN-M, has already taken a positive step when it was certain that he would indeed become the PM. Breaking the tradition of importing ultra expensive vehicles for the use of the PM,  Bhattarai has instead directed government officials to prepare the Nepal made general purpose vehicle Mustang that costs Rs 2 million at the max instead of importing highly expensive foreign made gas guzzlers like his predecessors.

This demonstrates the man’s practical example of his commitment to his ideals at a time when every individual who has risen to post of Prime Minister of Nepal has demanded expensive imported foreign made vehicles at the cost of the exchequer but without fulfilling their responsibility.

However the road ahead for this Gorkha born, die hard republican,whose ancestors helped set up the very monarchy he worked on bringing down, is not going to be easy for more reasons than one.

Bhattarai’s number one task is to bring the peace process to a logical conclusion. The Comprehensive Peace Accord signed on 21 November 2006 stated that peace process would ambitiously be completed within six months. It will be almost five years to the day if Bhattarai manages to do that within his time frame of 45 days. But will the peace process be complete by merely integrating whatever number of Maoist combatants into the state army?

Baburam was the one who pushed the agenda of peace within his party, but there are still radical elements there who want to opt for another “people’s revolt” and establish a one party rule. Further more the party has a history of personality clashes and it will not be surprising if there are internal attemptsto call him back.

He will have to convince his party and the main opposition that the peace process cannot be termed complete until and unless historical wrongs, especially those that took place during the years of the insurgency, even if it means some heads are going to have to roll. The Nepali people may forgive but will not forget if Baburam fails to follow through on the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Disappearance Commission as prescribed by the Comprehensive Peace Accord.

What is important here is that this model of conflict transformation has taken place on the model of compromising justice for peace, which cannot guarantee that the transition will give way to normal life.

The movement of the combatants disqualified by UNMIN after disgracefully labeling them as“unqualified” is merely an example. Only the formation of an independent and autonomous Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Disappearance Commission can help pave the path towards the establishment of a more just society, provided a progressive constitution is written on time.

This naturally leads one to his next commitment of leading the formulation of the new constitution of the envisaged Federal Republic of Nepal, christened too early, and that too without adopting the proper procedures. The republic part was easier done than thought of.

The last monarch gave away to the decree peacefully. The issue of federalism is however a much more complicated one to resolve. If federalism is a means to achieving prosperous Nepal for all Nepalis regardless of caste, gender, ethnicity, region, religion, political or personal faith, and not merely a tool to gain populist support from indigenous people’s fronts, it must be dealt with scientifically which calls for arguments based on logic more than mere sentiments.

Even within the present laws there are no hurdles for the decentralization and devolution of power to local bodies. The Local Self Governance Act2052 allows for the creation of powerful local bodies through local elections. Important local development work is today being delayed precisely because of the absence of locally elected officials. The problem for the Maoists is that they used identity politics for popularity but now realize that identity politics does not unburdened.

Federalism, especially one that is based mostly on ethnicity,language, culture and geography will only put the progress of Nepal to peril. Nepalis have to come above their communal identity and realize that a united Nepali identity is much more beneficial in the long term. This however does not mean that one’s communal identity should be forsaken. On the contrary it is precisely because a forest has many different species of flora and fauna that it is able to live a healthier life. A natural garden with its flowers flowering at nature sown pace is much more beautiful and strong instead of an artificially created one that has specific flowers in specific sections.

Our garland of flowers too is beautiful because it has many flowers. How the good doctor who did his PhD on regional planning does that is anyone’s guess.

Nepal will not be able to enjoy a sustained period of growth without becoming political stable and acquiring a fundamental directive principle of the state. The longer this state of transition lasts the more informal the economy will become as the state machinery starts to show signs of wear and tear and is unable to bear the burden of fulfilling its responsibility.

The people will seek alternatives if the state is unable to provide the services it should. The only way out is to end this transition as smoothly as possible but without compromising on fundamental issues like justice, equality, and universally accepted human rights. Nepal has immense opportunities of growth as many have pointed out, but unless we ourselves change, all the aid in the world will not suffice to take Nepalis out of the darkness.

Bhattarai has often been accused of being pro-western. The onus now lies on him to prove he is not so. He can only do all of this by taking the current main opposition the UML, and the NC into confidence. What kind of a carrot he offers them will totally depend on how he handles the fringe parties who will now be forming a major part of the government.

 www.parakhi.com/blogs