The following a rather long musing of mine is in part a response to a fellow poster's accusation that I have not presented convincing arguments in favor of republicanism in Nepal's specific context. I have basically compiled some of my views already posted in Sajha Kurakani during last two years of my stay, added some updates to accommodate recent political developments and posted below.

I do not claim these as 'convincing' arguments. Rather they are my confessions about why I am a staunch republican against displeasure and embarrassment of some of my friends I value very much.

I apologize for the unusual and offensive length (~7600 words !) of this article. However, looking at the war zone of Nepal, a lengthy jaw-jaw is always better than a lengthy war-war, No ?

*************************************


Why Republicanism in Nepal ?


For clarity's sake, let's divide it into two parts- 1. Is it necessary ? and, 2. Is it possible ? (This division is important, because almost all of the arguments against the republicanism in Nepal boils down to a confusion of 'the Monarchy is necessary because it can not be removed' to 'the Monarchy can not be removed because it is necessary' !).

Why republicanism is necessary for Nepal

The answer is pretty simple (although the path itself may not be that simple)- Because the active Monarchy in the past and very recently and the Constitutional Monarchy throughout the last decade undeniably failed and there is no reason to believe why they should suddenly start to work now.

Now, let us examine, in simple terms, who failed, exactly at what they failed and why they might have failed.

Active Monarchy of the Panchayat era failed because of the corruption of the regime (the palace and the panchas) and those close to the regime (bureaucracy), the lack of the freedom to protest that and an overall backwardness in every aspect of national life.

The constitutional Monarchy as a system (with supposedly passive king) of the past twelve years until last Oct 4 failed to break the continuity of the Panchayati era corruption and on top of that extended it to the party machinery. Another most important failure was to prevent the Maoist uprising (not out of the security system, but out of the political system). The list can be made longer by adding other failures too. However, I think these two are the fundamental one, everything else is a direct or indirect result of these two failures. As a matter of fact, even these two are two faces of the same coin. But let's talk about them separately for the sake of discussion.

Since the King was supposedly passive, it is natural to think that the political parties who ran the governments one after another must be solely responsible for these failures. But, is it true ?

Let us examine a little closely to see how much the political parties are responsible or, to be more specific, if they had all the resources to address these failures and how much far away from all this the Monarchy actually was.

Political parties and the Corruption: uninterested to prevent or unable to prevent ?

Is it not intriguing that despite a continuous and strong public mandate, support, voice and demand, a serious attempt to eradicate the corruption was never started since 2046 ? It was only as a response to tackle the Maoist uprising with some reforms by gaining some public sympathy that the parliament took steps, although half-hearted, to empower the CIAA and formed JICP ? These goodies although insignificant vis a vis the magnitude and area of the corruption the country is in is, hello, a gift of the Maoists !

People do recognize that.

Why the CIAA and JICP or any other tool made within the current system is insignificant and incapable of eradicating the corruption ?

Not because they do not have enough resources (manpower, logistics etc), because that can be arranged.

It is precisely and solely because it does not have the power to reach to the very deep, old and extended root, symbol and culture of the corruption- the palace, the old regime, the continuity of the old power. Until and unless the CIAA, JCIP or any other anti-corruption tool can mortally strike this quarter, the corruption in Nepal is there to stay. Remember it is not only about forcing the King to show his property and it's source, it's also about making all beneficiaries of the palace since Panchayat's time come forward to get a clean chit. It's about zero tolerance. It's about not letting the war against the corruption is get morally and physically defeated even before it is born. It's about establishing the 'rule of
law', not in the book but in the minds of Nepali people. It's about not letting anybody and any family to be above the law.

What's needed to fight the corruption in Nepal ?

An economist with very high credibility tells that all he needs is a full resource at his disposal and just three months' time to prepare all necessary infrastructure to launch to campaign to establish a clean administration.

3 months or 6 months is not important. What is important is that it is not the lack of manpower and ideas that has been preventing the massive reform of the country. It is something else.

And that something is, in my view, the lack of a starting point. Except for the status of the political parties, everything of the Panchayat era has continued, the status of all old corrupt players and the system has remained intact. We will talk about the new corrupt players later.

A logical starting point would have been after 2046 when the first elected government took reign. Didn't we all expected that all old bhrastachari would be brought to justice and a new clean era will begin ?

Bhunteji,

Land of dragons or land of morden emperors?

Today is Saturday and therefore no classes. IF might be busy with Chinese guniang.

Bhunte and GP ji,

Thank you for your remarks.
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Garibjanata,

Thanks for your suggestion. I will certainly like it to reach to a greater audience. However, I do not want to wait for myself to do it. I mean it is fine with me if you or anybody distributes or publish it, as it is or a modified version, translated in Nepali or in English, with or without referring me, in your own name or anybody's name. I do not claim it as an intellectual property of mine. Everybody, feel free to use it. You have my consent.

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Gokul ji,

Your words are going to make my life more difficult rather than easier.

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Ashu,

Yes, the credit for this article goes to your provocation. Thank you. I will certainly love to hear your criticism and feedback. If you find it worth publishing in any paper in Kathmandu, I will be grateful for you suggestion.

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Akawi,

Haven't seen you before. Welcome to Sajha. Yes, indeed. One should not give his/her judgement without hearing the both or, more accurately, all sides.

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Satya,

I agree with you. Regarding CA, I am not insisting on it. I am saying CA or similar options. My personal choice would be a simple referendum of Yes or No to the Monarchy followed by Constitutional ammendments by the elected parliament. I think this will be less messier and to the point. My doubt was whether the King finds it less prestigious than CA for himself.

Try refuting me.

The very essence of Monarchy is that the King is the sole rightful owner of his kingom or estate. The King does not work for the people; he works for himself, and for PROFIT. This is in fact a good thing. Just look at America, for instance. Here we have the Democrats and the Republicans. And here we have Gray Davis. The guy vetoed bill that let illegal immigrants procure driver's license without breaking a sweat. That was of course the right thing to do. California has hundreds of thousands of legal Latinos, who are for the bill. Since Davis is now facing a political upheaval, he suddenly changes his position and now is for providing driver's license to the illegals. Ergo, he was moulded by the will of the people, even though the longterm value of the estate will diminish because of this outrageous bill, as the illegals invading the country are unskilled laborers who can only find jobs by flipping burgers at Burger King or cleaning churches. On the other hand, the Monarch, in order to maximize his profit will think of Eugenics and thus will selectively allow high IQ immigrants to come in. This is of course a boon in the long run.

A monarchy does not function to serve the will of the masses, but that of the ruler, whose major objective is to ascertain that the estate is a long-term political/economic profit making-machine that abets him in filling up his pocket as quickly as possible. Think of him as the big bad capitalist. Of course, in order to prevent developmentd of political revolutions, he will have to pay people living in his land to do his bidding. Total capitalism, I tell you. Since I have essentially proven that the Monarch is essentially a capitalist, you can surely understand now why this can create an environment for revolutionists like the Maoists to boil with anger. So basically we have Monarchy, which is capitalistic on the macro level, and then we have systems developed like in America, where capitalism is on the micro level. Either way, both forms can create the environment for Maoists to gain popularity.

But we all know which system has proved to be expedient. That aren't any communist countries that you can call developed. None. Nada. Zilch. But that are many capitalistic countries that are highly developed. And so goes for constitutional monarchy as well, although I might say that what I described is absolute monarchy. Constitutinal monarchy is an in-between state. Answer me, why are these countries on the top of the economic ladder. These are all monarchy:
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Belgium
Netherlands
Canada
Australia
Spain
Japan

If other countries can be successful, why can't we?

Dear all,

namaste and nin hao,

Well, I saw my name in this discussion--a fellow poster asking me to post my views regarding the topic being discussed. Before my carrying on, let me say one thing: There are 2000 trillion discussions on Sajha and elsewhere regarding this issue, and having followed many discussions, I don't think this long essay has in fact anything new to say, or has even a convincing argument for the republic of nepal. So, instead of wasting my time arguing with emotionally instable people whose last resort is to call names, label this and that to others who do not necessarily agree with them, is just not my cup of tea. Seriously, it doesn't make any sense at all. I always believe that its the content that matter, not the length. Dr. Rajendra Prashad became famous for redefining money in one sentence. So, its the argument, the depth of words and clarity that I look for when I read something, whether in Sajha or elsewhere. So, I don't think I will have neither toime nor intention to read what's being posted.


anyway, as far as I am concerned, I am a Monarchist and I believe that its the one and only institution that we can trust.

Shri panch maharajadhiraj ko jai jai jai...

iFreak
Beida,
beijing

So, ladies and gentlemen,

Time has come for us to wait for individuals to defend monarchy! Wow, I thought we needed to wait for someone to come and speak against the monarchy. Have the republicans convinced all/most of the Sajhaities that monarchy is not necessary?

Nepe, as usual, does his best in puting forth his reasons why monarchy is not necessary. And, our monarchist pundit thinks this discussion does not make any sense at all. I had been wondering what difference was there between the monarchists and our commie brothers. More I see IF's posts, less reasons I have to see the difference between the two.

I wouldn't support the king even when I am fully drunk and about to puke (like now).

Long live the republicans!

M.P.

I meant IF's postings.

I wouldn't support the king even when I am fully drunk and about to puke (like now).


MP,

with such nonsense lines, you guys are turning more and more people monarchist.

namaste

Our monarchist-in-charge has nothing to say except Shri panch maharajadhiraj ko jai jai jai... in defence of his belief.

Please get out from this thread if you want to dismiss somebody without reading his post.

IFji,

nin hao.

This posting isn't really about the issue that is going on here.

I hope you are doing great in Beijing. I just remembered what I always suggested you: may be you will be a moderate after going to China.And unlike other Sajha folks, I think your denail to protect the king in this thread suggests you probably are experiencing something that is moderating your devotion about the monarch. Afterall, you are now living next to the Forbidden city where once the cruel kings of China lived, and I always compared deceptive grandeur of that city with the almost-similarly forbidden grandeur of Narayanhiti palace. Both of these forts were created for a group of isolated, self-aggrandizing maniacs to rule a vast land ,often in the name of the god, that would eventually get out of their control anyway. Whenever I went to(or near) that palace, whenever I went to other grand monuments of Beijing, I clearly felt something like :oh, my god, how much we know about our king and his family? is he worse or better than these Chinese maniac kings/queens? and are we stupid in keeping him?

When snow falls in the wide streets of Beijing, when Chrysanthemum blossoms, and cherry blooms, in the unforgettable beauty of the great city of Beijing which carries the torch of one of the greatest civilizations of the world, you will always find some minutes to introspect at your political thoughts which urgently needs some rectification:-)

IF is nothing but Jandya and Churote mora. All he does in drink and smoke. HE is darbariya Foo.

Nepeji,

It now behooves you, as Ghalib says:

"Jo baat kaho, Usay logon kaa tajurbaa bana do!"

Daku : Personal attacks can not substitute for cogent and coherent arguments. To direct such remarks against IF, or anyone else here, is an unacceptable dive into dishonesty. Add to the debate if you have something to say. If not, hold your peace, s'il vous plait ?

Nepe: an excellent expression of the republican argument and startling clarity of thought. Bravo. As always, your prose contains lyrical turns of phrases that animate and enrich the reader's mind. The rise of the fourth element as the only saviour of the country is a thought provoking concept. Might history see such a force rising ? Or will the innate apathy of our people yet overcome their sense of frustration and take things as fait accompli ?

Nepali angel: An accurate depiction of the instution of monarchy. Nepal was/is run like Shah Pvt. Unlimited. The citizens were merely there to do the bidding of and maximize returns for the Narayanhity occupants and their assorted hanger ons and bhardars. Extensive illegal and dishonest activities were conducted by both the royals and their minions. From financial skulldudgery to loot of natrual resources to fill private coffers, they've done it all. All they care for is to maintain the status quo so they can continue to enrich and engorge themselves in any manner they see fit. The common man does not figure anywhere in their scheme of things.

The so called proponents of democracy went demo-crazy. As Nepe accurately portrayed it, that left the field wide open for other forces to gain a hold, using the legitimate grievances of the people as a prop to launch their bid for power. In the past century, the communist ideology was perfectly suited to exploit such situations with a poor and uneducated populace.

It had to be communism, and the it makes perfect sense that it was the extreme flavor that took root so fast. For it is only the promise of revolution and action that provides succour to the dreams of the downtrodden. Fine words and concepts don't cut it in such situations. A violent uprising against the entrenched fedual overlords is the most satisfying means to provide an immediate release of pent up frustrations. This has been proven over and over again, from the French revolution to the Sendoro Luminoso in Peru that our Maoists admire.

Take the example of the victim of extortionate money lenders in the rural hinterland. Try speeches about banking law reformation and prosecution of rapacious lending practices etc. and you have an audience of zero. Talk about burning down the tormentor's roof and you have half the village reaching for matches. The initial seductive appeal of the Maoists is that they made and kept some of these promises. The rest, as they say, is history.

You have failed to impress me with your argument here Nepeji. I dont even know what you are trying to say? King Birendra was the most placid among the Shah kings we have had and if you see major manipulation in his actions when he gave the power the people, I dont know whether to call you blind or just crazy.
To be honest with you, your article doesnt even make sense. At the end of your discussion you said how you were ok with the King being there and doing his social duties of "khadga...", "tika..." etc. etc. What is he doing right now? Does he make any major decisions on national or international policies? I am not seeing may be you are with your X ray visions. The same way you "saw" and hinted the participation in the royal massacre. From what I know and dont know it could be any one of you who is reading this post who did it. The reason??? lets say you did it Just for the reason that no one would suspect anything on you.

Then your Xray starts working few more miracles. Namely, when you stated that "...so you know that he (the King) is gonna accept the CA eventually too?" Really you can read it so clearly??? what is he waiting for then? the end of the month so that can at least leave with his last pay check? Stop amusing yourself.

Another point you made was the King had given an initial ok for the republican state to the maoists and thats the reason they were in Kathmandu for the talks and then earlier in the article you clearly said that the maoists were in kathmandu to buy some time as even they knew that they were getting their ass kicked by the RNAs. Remember this and tattoo it if you have to. I was not the King who called for the ceasefire then for the talks. Depite the repeated attempts of the army general, then PM made the executive decision. Is the King to blame for this too? If this is the case then I think I failed a couple of classes when I was in school, heck let me blame the King for that too.

This is the scum of your writings. "Maoists are great revolutionaries, for God's sake. Sacrifice is their dharma. They don't do 'compromise'. That's a revisionism, that's a bourgeoisie ploy." There was a thread that went around with a picture of a headmaster who was beheaded in front of his wife. His daughter waiting for her dad to return home. Go tell this to that girl. Go tell this to the daughters of the supretendent of police who was shot dead. You talk about revolution, I see murder. If you relate to what they are doing as God and dharma then God better get his acts straightened out, because this is not right. I know this and I not even God.
Dont waste your time in quoting the works of great revolutionaries from the past telling me some number of people they killed. I dont care about them. What I care is their actions bestow fear in my and my loved ones life.

"A king is a king. He does not compromise. Got that ? He can sacrifice for the good of his subjects. But compromise ? What's that ?" You are generalizing here. Do you know all the kings here? You are making a statement and you dont have any proof to support it.
Likewise "(this is just my gut feeling and limited study of reports by AI . If you have data to prove otherwise, I shall stand corrected). In any case, what RNA has done is at the level of a disgrace to a democratic regime and a need for a war tribunal." If your gut feelings are as pathetic as this then keep them to yourself unless you have proof and No dont stand correct, its the other way around - " innocent until proven guilty."

"A side note on the brutality of RNA. I believe a lot of cases of abuses is yet to be reported. Nevertheless, if you read what has already been reported by independent agencies, you will be shocked by the war crime committed by the RNA."
Seems like the big diplomatic words of the western civilization has really influenced you. War crimes??? who are we fighting here? Are there any set group of people with distinct trait, regime? They are mere stray dogs and cats to me. You cant make a point of war crimes when you are fighting people who are willing to wear the opponents uniform to trick and kill them. The only crime I see is that the maoists are still there. Thats the biggest crime.

"Today 2/3 of Nepal is theirs Maoists). They have confined the government inside the Ring Road of Kathmandu valley ! And our educated folks have no idea how could that happen !

where did you pull this out of??? is that the reason His Majesty was given a HUGE welcome in the easter/western region?

It will take me all week to pull out each and every statement you have made or tried to make against the King here. I think its a pretty weak attempt on your part as again theres no logic. Its more one of your own fictions.

To end this I would Like to make you read one of your own paragraphs. I think this is the only point you have made that really made sense.

"How do you explain that ? I mean, besides the brutality and abuses of the Maoists, what could have prompted RNA to be so brutal and abusive ? No doubt, it is due to lack of sense of accountability, lack of fear that they will have to bear the responsibility in future. My theory on this is that it comes from their belief in the mutual loyalty of the King and them and their surety in that the King is here to stay for good to protect them. They could not have done that if they have thought they are responsible to a democratically elected government which changes every five years. One more time, the brutality of RNA is not due to random and isolated weakness of some individual officers. It comes from the system. It comes from the Monarchy."

What you call brulatily is what I refer to as Nationalism and Patriotism. You are right, what RNA is doing is not for any officer, its for the monarch and the country. May be its high time we walk the paths shown by the RNA. After all "... the King is here to stay to protect..."

-- BV

Nin Hao Lao Peng,

Well, my views are the same, nothing has changed except that I am finding it a waste of time to post my views on the same topic again and again in Sajha. Anyway, republicans' unwillingenss to accept that there are other educated (and smart) people who do not necessarily agree with their views and that they (republicans) are always right always amuse me. They talk about democracy and this and that, but deep down they don't allow dissent. Its if you don't agree with me, you are an ultra right winger with no brains and you are an agent and undemocratic and what not. So, Biswo, why should I spend my time in which I could be either studying or doing something interesting than reading and replying to something that's just a sheer waste of time?

"Afterall, you are now living next to the Forbidden city where once the cruel kings of China lived, and I always compared deceptive grandeur of that city with the almost-similarly forbidden grandeur of Narayanhiti palace"

Come on, not all Kings who lived in the Forbidden City (or now Gu Gong) were cruel. Some bright, intelligent and benevolent Kings also lived here. Kangxi wasn't a cruel emperor, nor were many Ming and Qing rulers.

"and cherry blooms, in the unforgettable beauty of the great city of Beijing which carries the torch of one of the greatest civilizations of the world, you will always find some minutes to introspect at your political thoughts which urgently needs some rectification:-) "

Come on dude, I am thinking of spending the winter in a jiu ba with Han Guo de Nu Pengyou! Hen piaoliang aa! :-) Hmm and when you are with a pialoliang duixiang, wei shenme xiang bie de dongxi, dui bu dui aa? And I don't think my views need some urgent or not so urgent rectification.

Anyway, thanks for your to-do-suggestions in Beijing. Its getting cold now. Any plan to come to China soon?

Friends,

Let's respect what IF has to say. I am not going to refute all those hilarious things. However, I will certainly acknowledge he has a point when he says 'The Monarchy is the only institution we can trust'. This is true. It was only a different way of looking, however, the whole purpose of my article was to demonstrate that it is the monarchy that holds the supreme authority, not the political parties. Please refer to the analogy I made of the Monarchy and the political parties to a jailer and a bhai-naike/Dai-naike of a jail. Who would you trust more for the authority ? Certainly the jailer.

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Nepali_Angel,

Good question. If UK, Japan, Thailand and other countries are fine with the Constitutional Monarchy, why can't we be ?

This is a theoretical question and it made a perfect sense in 2046. And to go with it, we embraced the CM with more or less a consensus (let's ignore the reluctance and skepticism of all left parties which at that time appeared somehow subdued).

However, now, when we have results from 12 years of experiment, the time for theorization is gone. We should explain the things from the real life we lived. My article was a small attempt on this. My conclusions may be right, imperfect or totally wrong. But the point is there is no point of talking about a hypothetical monarchy when we have a real one. It's not the Buckingham Palace but the Narayanhity we should be looking at to answer why or why not the Monarchy in Nepal. Czar has an excellent summary of the Narayanhity demystified.

Czar,

You highlighted two really central points. The socio-political inevitability of the emergence of a rebellion force as a context of the Maoist rebellion. And a need for a fourth power to emerge now.

Some people like to compares the Maoists to the emergence of Taliban in Afganistan. I think there is an analogy, at least at the beginning. Now, I don't think Afganistan is going to be reenacted in Nepal. But we certainly have a thing or two to learn from them to determine our future course. Basically we should note that the solution was not to bring back what Taliban had replaced or reinstate the primitive institution of the Monarchy back, but to embrace modern democracy.

Some skeptic claim if we remove Monarchy we will become Afaganistan. I say we already are Afganistan. There is no going back. There is no staying where we are. We can only move forward. And boldly embrace modern democracy.

If we failed to be a modern and vibrant democracy, our fate is sealed to be a second Sikkim. Frankly my dear, the monarchy can not be a justification for the state of Nepal in our time. This institution, from now on, is always going to be challenged, if not by 'Maoists' then by next 'French revolutionaries'. As it will go on, one fine day, people tired of asking the same primitive questions continuously and shedding blood for Nepali Chogyal will look at our Sikkimeli brothers and say 'after all, it does not look that bad'.

Only a vibrant and modern democracy can justify the existence of the state of Nepal. Nothing else can. Have full democracy, save Nepal. Keep trying save the Monarchy, lose the country.

It is quite interesting to see some educated folks buy a quite opposite pro-monarchy alarm, that absence of the monarchy might lead to our Sikkimization !

They fail to see that from now on, no matter who supports, the Monarchy never can have the old power back. From now on, no matter how the Maoists war ends, the Monarchy will always remain a controversial institution. From now on, even if the Monarchy succeeds to remain, there will be always some people plotting to oust it. And they fail to see that the Sikkim happened FOR republicanism. It did not happen DUE to republicanism !

It is exactly for this reason why a fourth power got to emerge now. It's not that it's not happening. It's happening. But there is an urgent need for it to be heard louder, to be more visible, to be pro-active, to be organized and to look reliable.

While I think social scientists should have better and more comprehensive ideas than an ordinary guy like me can suggest, but I think there are two major hurdles this force should overcome first.

First, it has to let people know that it exists. The problem is that at least at the level of communication and at a superficial level, it appears that people have been 'brain-washed' by repeated use of the phrase 'three powers'. This brain-washing is so severe that a lot of people simply can not think there is even a possibility of a fourth element to exist. The king, the political parties and the Maoists. That's all we have, that's all there can be and that's all you can choose one from. Funny thing, they even don't know they exist themselves. I mean, shouldn't those who do not agree with any of these three powers but also do not see any alternatives (I think the majority, if not an overwhelming majority of Nepali people belong to this class) realize that they themselves constitute an alternative, a power, no matter how insignificant it may be ? But, No. They don't. That's why I call it being brain-washed.

It's time to remove that cloud. It's time to come out of that three-slot ghetto of thinking. It's time to use the phrase 'Fourth Power' !

The second hurdle is a small class of those educated folks who is knowingly or unknowingly breeding pessimism and readying the ground for a compromise with one of the powesr in the name pragmatism. The challenge for the Fourth Power is to expose that these guys are not pragmatist. Their pragmatism is a hysteria. The vision of their pragmatism does not go beyond one more night of survival. These guys do not have a clue how we're gonna survive the day after tomorrow. I would call theirs a 'quasi-pragmatism' or perhaps better a 'short-sighted pragmatism'.

I think these two are major and immediate challenge for the Forth Power to be. Once these are overcome, we can leave the rest to the natural laws. The fittest will survive. And that is right too. Because that is the natural justice of life. If it has to be the Maoists, no matter how we fail to understand it, it's gonna happen. If it has to be the King, no matter how I despise him, it's gonna happen. If it could be the Fourth Power, no matter how late it joined, it's gonna happen. The point is we have to be there. And we are coming.

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Vincent Bodega,

Alrite, I fail to impress you. But did your own views got stronger after reading me ? If yes, I will still think that I succeeded to impress you.

Your remarks are interesting. I just want to make a fact straight. The king Birendra did not give power to the people voluntarily. He was forced to do so. Let's say by a mob of a hundred thousand people that tried to surround his palace.

Nepeji,

You are right on the fact that your writings brought out the little love I thought I had for the King and the Crown.

You are right that King Birendra was made to give the power to the people. My point was if he is to be blamed for what happenned when he had the power, how can he possibly be blamed again after he GAVE the power the people? Thats a little hard to comprehend. Thats all. Thanks

-- BV

<<>>

You hit the bull's eyes. Yes, it is hard to comprehend. Did you not realize the whole article I wrote was to try to understand this puzzle ?

View/Share this post only

Nepeji,
No I did not "realize the whole article" you "wrote was to try to understand this puzzle."

What I dont understand more is that you pretty clearly state that "The Constituent Assembly is our chance." HOW? WHY? WHEN? WHERE?

Seems like Nepalese tend to get bored with one thing pretty easily. They want to try something else. Constituent Assembly. Heck if not anything, it at least sounds cool. I feel educated just typing it out. Or may be all this bogus practise might just be "old wine in a new bottle." Its high time the wine is changed here not the bottle - wine being you and me.

--BV

Even a republic, a democratic one at that, does not seem to differ from our Kingdom when it comes to the actual nuts and bolts of governance and application of rule. So the lesson is: rather than the ideology of 'republic', 'monarchy', 'socialist', what actually matters is what actually happens on the ground...to the everyday life of the people.

Savor an story from The Times of India:

Prime accused in murder case, but still a VVIP
PERVEZ IQBAL SIDDIQUI

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2003 02:29:12 AM ]

LUCKNOW: When chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav assured all support to Amarmani Tripathi on Monday, attention was drawn to the political connotations of the statement.



It was only when this prime accused in the Madhumita murder case reached Lucknow district jail after his arrest on Sunday that the real implications of the CMs statement surfaced. For Amarmani, his stay in jail was more of a political confinement with all the comforts and luxuries of home and even more.



Things had been no different even at CSSMU where Amarmani was taken after his arrest for a medical check-up on Sunday. That all this VVIP treatment was being extended to an accused in a murder case only speaks volumes about the influence these white collared wield.



More than unhappy with the experience, the CBI had not only shot a missive to the state government routed through their head office in Delhi, but also recommended action against those involved in providing alleged illegal help to Amarmani to circumvent the course of law. If sources are to believed, some influential CSMMU and Lucknow district jail authorities may land in the CBI dragnet for their bold display of loyalty to an alleged outlaw much against the ethics, code of conduct and service manuals of their respective professions.



On Sunday evening when Amarmani complained of chest pain he was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital from where doctors referred him to CSMMU. Sources said that a former CSMMU principal, at the behest of another MLA lodged in jail under Pota, made arrangements to ensure that Amarmani was admitted to hospital. No wonder then, despite his blood pressure reading 80/124 (normal limits 80/120), doctors suggested that Amarmani be admitted to hospital. Even the blood pressure reading was tampered with to show it as 80/140. It was only after the CBI team threatened to seek a medical board to be flown in from All-India Institute of Medical Sciences for cross-examination that the doctors reluctantly allowed him to be taken back.



On Monday evening, when Amarmani reached Lucknow district jail, he was followed by a team of slogan-raising supporters who accompanied him to the Quarantine barrack. Not a single person was searched at the gates. At the barrack, Amarmani was accorded a warm welcome by a close aide of another convicted MLA supporting the government, who had even arranged for mattresses, mineral water, fruits, sweets.



When Amarmani tried to use his cellphone from the barracks in the presence of the jail superintendent and the jailer, the CBI team objected. However, the jail officials promised that once the supporters left manniya vidhdyak alone his cellphone would be taken away. But even well past midnight, after the CBI team had left the jail premises, Amarmani was seen using his cellphone.



The jail authorities confirmed that even before Amarmani reached the prison, a top official of the department called them up to ensure that the MLA was comfortable during his stay there.