Complete democracy for the people: Is it feasible? -newuser. (A mini series of political essays trying to explore the ways of establishing and institutionalizing a complete democracy in Nepal) The King?s administration is pushing ahead with its original plans of legitimising an authoritarian rule in Nepal despite unfavourable conditions both at home and abroad. The international community has reacted resentfully against the King?s undemocratic moves but that has not been robust enough to force him to reinstate the pre-coup political situation in the country. Stepping back to the condition of stalemate as it was before February 1 is in itself not a better alternative to the current quagmire. The political leadership that advocates for multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy in Nepal has become so fragmented and degenerated that their plea is hardly going to appeal the Nepali public to rally behind them in the foreseeable future. The other force that was supposed to have some power to restrict the King from moving forward to his autocratic ambitions, the Maoists, have also lost their grounds in recent months. Firstly, they have suffered heavy loss in battle fields and secondly, the vocative rumble between party heavy weights Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai that was kept nonetheless clandestine has now been exposed blatantly. The later must have been the cause for the former to take effect. The failure of the international community to take stern actions, the weakening of political leadership and the quake in Maoist?s fighting aptitude has all contributed to bolstering the King?s confidence to inch forward for absolute monarchy. Albeit unfavourable circumstances, the royalists are gaining momentum towards their goal day by day. In a long-term perspective, the monarchy might be digging it?s own grave but it is inappropriate to make prophecies on politics. Right now, the drive for authoritarianism is on the acceleration and the longer the opposing sides take to stop it, the bigger will be the challenge to confront absolutism in Nepal. The three sides mentioned above as well as the majority of the intelligentsia, which doesn?t want to see a full-fledged autocracy in Nepal should now explore a feasible scheme to counter the royal bands. The drive for dictatorship With all intentions and purposes, King Gyanendra and his aides had been insinuating the probability of retaining executive power to the monarchy ever since he was ascended to the throne. The political parties and the Maoists could have and should have understood their connotations very early and acted shrewdly to prevent the emergence of a perfect stage for plotting the coup. They failed but more than because of themselves, their fiasco was propelled by a systematic assault from the monarchists who were able to conjure split on the political parties in one hand and in the other hand helped Maoists to appear as a stronger military proposition by abstaining the army to fight to their capabilities. This grand design debilitated the parties while the Maoists overestimated their strength, which resulted in the failure of peace negotiations between the government and the rebels. The monarchists never wanted the rebellion to be ended through dialogue or appeased by an effective mobilisation of the Royal Nepal Army. Because their intent was to prove that the parties were inept and only an authoritarian regime like the one at present can handle the Maoists properly and control their violence. It is unfortunate for both the sides that they have still not been able to discern this strategy of the rightist hardliners. While King Gyanendra?s rhetorical commitment to constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy is hallucinating some Nepalese intellectuals, his actions since February 1 clearly manifest his aspirations to become a dictator. The drive for dictatorship began with the abrupt suspension of fundamental civil rights including press freedom and the appointment of notorious Panchayati stalwarts Tulsi Giri and Kirtinidhi Bista as co-chairmen of the royal cabinet. The creation of new anti-graft and human rights commission while the constitutionally formed bodies were still functioning well was another leap forward towards autocracy. The effort of institutionalising Panchayat style rule has got a kick-start after the reintroduction of regional and zonal administrators. The monarch is sprinting towards his despotic ambition and no national or international effort to restrain him has actually deterred him from driving his motives. The temporary suspension of military or financial aides from some of the donor countries and organisations as well as the pressure from the United Nations human rights commission has given some setback to the royal ambitions but the monarch has engineered a counterfeiting idea of municipal elections to put himself at bay. Now, he will try to lure some of the power hungry politicians in his camp and convince the international community that the parties have not been totally ignored and that they have their representation in the government. Once the international aid restarts funnelling, he will go hell bent to accomplish his objectives of strengthening a monarchy headed totalitarian regime in Nepal. The price to pay in the form of democracy and civil rights will be alarming if he is allowed to be successful. To be contd. later