By Sunil KC

When the government and mainly the three big political parties were already bewildered by protests for the restoration of the monarchy and against the republic form of system, the KP Oli-led government made another unsavory decision that brought thousands of people on the streets on Tuesday.

The firing of Kulman Ghising as Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) could not have come at the worst time for Prime Minister KP Oli. The cabinet meeting on Monday decided to sack Ghising and appointed Hitendra Dev Shakya, a former MD who is also said to be a relative of Oli from his wife’s side. This prompted massive protests on the streets of Kathmandu. Thousands of people took to the streets of Kathmandu opposing the ouster and against Oli and Energy Minister Deepak Khadka.

The removal of Ghising has been in the offing since this government was formed eight months ago and when several attempts to coerce Ghising to bow down failed, the Oli government finally decided to kick him out. It is reported that the decision was a split one with some ministers such as Ramesh Lekhak against the decision who said the timing was not right. But when Arzu Deuba of Nepali Congress, who is also wife of NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba, sided with Oli the decision stood. But why now when Ghising has just four months before his term expires? Several members of the parliament dub it as a win for special interest groups and middlemen who look to benefit from massive hydropower projects planned or currently being undertaken by NEA. There are accusations against Energy Minister Deepak Khadka as well as Prime Minister Oli of bowing to the pressure of several industries that are refusing or reluctant to pay electricity tariffs amounting to more than a hundred billion rupees and also to other interest groups who are gearing up to weld control over the hydro industry.

The decision received wide condemnation and is criticized within the Nepali Congress with congressmen such as NC’s general secretary duo Gagan Thapa and Biswo Prakash Sharma. However, many political watchers take their verbal opposition as nothing more than lip service.

Maoist party president Prachanda was also a more vocal one. In a statement on his social media post, he said he condemned the decision. But one small incident a couple of days ago when Prachanda’s representative met with Prime Minister Oli and it was said that they talked about a bill related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) raised suspicion whether he was really against the decision. Gyanendra Shahi of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, in his social media post, said Prachanda’s opposition to Ghising’s ouster was nothing but hypocrisy. He accused Prachanda of two-facades for tacitly supporting Oli in removing Ghising in exchange for passing a bill to absolve him and other Maoist leaders on charges of killings of innocent people during their 10-year-long armed insurgency.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, formed after the end of the Maoist insurgency, had in its report cited several incidents of atrocities by both the state and the insurgents. A bill was introduced in the parliament when Prachanda became prime minister in the early 60s to nullify all charges of killings of innocent people, who were not party to any side in the conflict, by both the state and the Maoists. Among the cases cited in the report are the killing of Maina Sunar, a village woman in Gorkha district, killed by the security forces accusing her for being a Maoist or its supporter, and the torture and killing of a school teacher, Muktinath Adhikary of Lamjung district by the Maoist insurgents. Adhikary was tied to a tree and was killed in the most inhumane way by stabbing and cutting his limbs. Similarly, more than 40 passengers were blown to death and many others were injured or maimed for life when the Maoists planted a bomb on a public bus in Badarmude of Chitwan district. Under the existing law, all those killings are subjected to deliberate murder and even crimes against humanity. Based on the report of TRC, cases were filed in the Supreme Court against several officials of the state’s security forces as well as the Maoist leadership including Prachanda and Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai. These cases are still pending in the court.

Meanwhile, the people rising up against the republic system and for restoring monarchy has prompted the leaders of mainly the three big parties on the offensive and they said they would go to any extreme even taking the king into custody or put him under house arrest to thwart any challenge to the republic form of political system.

When the top three of the three parties – Nepali Congress, UML and Maoist Center - who never shied away from blaming, shaming and accusing each other suddenly joined hands and continued with their vitriolic and spiteful remarks and threatening statements against the King and the party supporting monarchy. This clearly indicates that the sudden upsurge of people in favour of monarchy has badly shaken the political parties and their three-party autocracy.

But the most foolhardy verbose was when Prime Minister KP Oli was reported to have said at his party’s secretariat meeting earlier this week, that the Indian government was scheming to oust him and that he will show India what he can do to thwart this. He was reported to have said the king could even be taken into custody for going against the republic system. When Oli ire became a hot talking point in the political circle and social media, general secretary of the party, Shanker Pokharel hurried to issue a clarification, in an attempt for alleviate the situation, calling the news baseless and misleading. But the damage was already done.

Distortions of the political system and gross economic mismanagement are proof enough that these three political parties who have been at the helm of power for two decades have remained totally oblivious that the appeal among the people of their vaunted Loktantrik Ganatantra has completely lost. How wrong are they when they still believe that people could still be taken for granted and could be played by scaring people about the threat to their Loktantrik Ganatantra. These parties who used to think that no matter what they do will not hurt them politically because they have been ruling their parties like their fiefdoms. However, with people rising up they clearly are scared of their political future or legacy. But it will not be an understatement that the top leaders of these parties have completely lost their relevance in taking on new challenges, both domestic and international.