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Struggle for Democracy in Nepal

Introduction

• Countries that established democracy after 1974 are called ‘Third Wave’ countries. Nepal is one of the third wave country as it established democracy in 1990. (other countries Philippines South Korea, Taiwan)

Nepal Immediately after Independence

• King was formally remained as head of the state but the real power was given to elected representatives. King Birendra, had accepted this transition from Absolute Monarchy to Constitutional Monarchy but in 2001 he was killed in mysterious bloodshed of royal family.

Dismissal of Democracy

• The new king of Nepal, King Gyanendra was not ready to accept democratic rule so he in 2005 he took advantage of weakness and unpopularity of government and dismissed it.

Beginning of the Movement

• Against this in April 2006 people raised movement to regain the democracy.
• All major political parties came together and called for a four day strike in country’s capital Kathmandu.

Growth of the Movement

• Soon this protest turned into indefinite strike supported by Maoist and various other organisations.
• People openly resisted the curfew and took to the streets. Every day almost one lakh people add to the existing protest and demand the restoration of democracy.
• On 21 April 2006, three to five lakhs of protesters had given Ultimatum to the king. Frightened king offered half hearted concessions but it was rejected by leaders. They continued their demands for restoration of parliament, Power to an all-party government and a New constituent assembly.

Re-establishment of Democracy

• On the last day of ultimatum i.e. on 24 April 2006, king was forced to accept all the three demands.
• The Seven Party Alliance i.e. SPA chosen Girija Prasad Koirala as new Prime Minister of the interim government. The restored parliament take away most of the powers of the king. SPA and Maoist developed understanding about electing the Constituent Assembly.
• This struggle is known as Nepal’s Second Movement for Democracy. It became source of inspiration for the world.

Bolivia’s Water War 

• Bolivia’s Water War is a protest of people against privatisation of water in Bolivia. (people x gov + mnc(water))

Reason of the Protest

• Bolivia is a poor country belongs to Latin America. The World Bank pressurised the Bolivian government to leave it’s control over municipal water supply. So government sold the rights of Cochabamba city to a MNC.

The Protest

• The MNC company immediately raised the water prices to four times. Average monthly income of people was 5000 out of which they had to pay 1000 just for water. Which led to rising of protest.
• In January 2000, four-day general strike is arranged by Alliance of Labor, Human Rights and Community Leaders. as a result government assured to tackle this problem so the strike is stopped.
• In February 2000, seeing no change, again the strike is raised but now it was repressed by police.

Success of the Protest

• Followed to this again a strike raised in April and it continued even if government imposed martial law. As a result MNC left the city and government agreed (agree to accept) for all demands of people. Government cancelled the contract with MNC and water supply was made available at Old Rates.

Democracy and Popular Struggles

• The stories of Nepal and Bolivia are quite different. Even if both stories was based on Political Conflicts that led to Popular Struggles but in Nepal the struggle was for Establishing Democracy while in Bolivia the struggle was for Claiming the democracy.

Conclusions from Popular Struggles

• Democracy always evolves through popular struggles. In rare cases Decision can be made by involvement of Common People. Usually the result of the dispute is when there is conflict between those in power and those who need share in power, mostly during expansion of democracy.
• The democratic conflict is resolved through public movements. There are institutions like Parliament or the Judiciary for resolving but when it comes to deep disputes then these also get involved in the dispute so the resolution should come from common people.
• The Conflicts and Mobilisation i.e. act of assembling are based on New Political Organisations. People’s involvement requires Organised Politics including Political Parties, Pressure Groups and Movement groups.

Mobilisation and Organisations

Mobilisation

• Mobilisation suggests assembling people for struggle. Struggles of Nepal and Bolivia became successful by Mobilisation and Organisation.
• The struggles of Nepal and Bolivia included big Parties and some Members in the parliament.
• In Nepal, The SPA or the  Seven Party Alliance gave the call for indefinite strike followed by joining of some big parties and some members of parliament. The protest was also joined by Maoist, which did not believe in Parliamentary Democracy instead it always had armed struggles against the government.

Organisations:

• These are the groups of peoples gathered for a particular purpose.
• In Nepal, Other than political parties some other organisations joined the movement include Labor Unions and their federation, Common People, Teachers, Lawyers and Human Rights Groups.
• In Bolivia the protest was led by an organisation called FEDECOR. This organisation had local professionals including engineers and environmentalists. FEDECOR was supported by federation of Farmers, factory workers unions, middle class students from University of Cochabamba and the homeless street children. The Socialist Party also supported the movement as a result this party come in power in 2006.

Inference from Popular Struggles:

• These two examples suggests that any big struggle has involvement of different Organisations. Organisations involve directly in a movement so as to gain political advantage such as gaining votes of people in election.

Pressure Groups and Movements

Pressure Groups:

• Many times common people having common interests such as Religion, come together and form an Organisation so as to force government to listen to their demands. Such organisations did not aim to gain political power but attempt to Influence government policies. These organisations are called Interest Groups or Pressure Groups.

Movements:

• When different people come together and perform collective action then it is called a movement.   for example Movement for Democracy in Nepal, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Movement for Right to Information, Anti-liquor Movement, Environmental Movement.

Comparison of Movement with Pressure Groups:

• Like Pressure Groups, Movements also influence political power without taking part in election
• Movement involves mass participation. Since the groups participating in the movement may not be related hence movements have loose organisation. Because of involvement of huge population decisions can be variable.

Sectional Interest Groups:

• Sectional Interest groups are those which represent a particular section of the society e.g. Traders, workers, Business Persons, Teachers or Doctors or Lawyers, etc. Some Sectional Interest groups are Trade Unions, Labor Union, Business Associations, Professional Bodies.
• Sectional interest groups concerned about Well-being of its Members and not for the whole society.

 

• Public Interest Groups:

 

• Public interest groups are those which represent public interests such as education, Poverty, Corruption. These interests may or may not be beneficial for them. e.g. FEDECOR in Bolivia, Human Rights Organisation in Nepal are such public interest groups.
• Sometimes public interest groups perform activities that benefit to their members as well as public too. e.g. Organisation BAMCEF( Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation) consists of Government Employees. These were fighting against Caste Discrimination of its members. But at the same time they were also concerned about Social Justice and social equality for the entire society.

Movement Groups

• When different people come together and perform collective action then it is called a Movement.   
• Movements with single objective: Most movements are issue-specific and tend to achieve a single objective within Finite Time. e.g. Narmada Bachao Andolan was raised by people against the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river.
• Movements with Multiple objectives:
• Some other movements are more popular which involve more than one issue and continue for longer time. The impact of such movements is very Broad. e.g. The Environmental movement and the Women’s movement.
• Same end Objective: It may happen that different organisations participating in movement have different views on policies but the end objective of all is same.
• Umbrella Organisations: Association of organisations that work together and coordinate their activities called umbrella organisations. e.g. National Alliance for people’s Movements (NAPM) is such an organisation of organisations.

How pressure groups and Movement Influence Politics:

• Public Support: These groups try to get public support by carrying out Information campaigns, organising meetings, filing petitions i.e. a Documented complaint to authority signed by many individuals, these also try to gain attention of media on the respective issue.
• Pressurise the government: Sometimes organisations such as Worker’s organisations, Employees’ organisation use protest activities to force government to accept their demands.
• Professional Lobbyists: Lobbyists are the professionals that can Advise the government. Business groups Employ professional lobbyists to convince government to take decision for their benefit.
• Extended arms of Parties: Many times the pressure groups are either formed or led by leaders of Political parties. e.g. most trade unions and students’
• Formation of new Party: Sometimes new political parties emerge out of movements. e.g. when ‘The Assam Movement’ led by students against the ‘foreigners’ was ended it led to formation of Asom Gana Parishad. Similarly DMK and AIADMK is also formed in Tamil Nadu because of social reform movement in 1930-40.
• Interaction is Must: Many times the interest or movement groups are in opposition to political parties but there is always Conversations and Negotiations between them.

Is their influence Healthy?

• Negative Side:
• Initially it may appear that the pressure groups that promote interests of any one section of society are not beneficial for all other sections.
• Unlike political parties these groups did not have to Answer the people.
• if group have huge fund then these can grab more Attention on a small issue too.
• Positive Side:
• Only because of such groups the democracy is evolved. In democracy everyone has right to Pressurise the government for the Benefit of all. Sometimes government may come under pressure of rich and powerful people but at this time pressure groups perform useful role in opposition to such situations. These are the groups those reminds the government about the needs and concerns of ordinary people.
• There may be number of different sectional groups each trying to dominate over other and pressurise the government for their demands but there are other groups which brings Counter pressure on government to not listen to these groups. Under such situation, government will understand what different sections of population wants and hence take a right decisions.