The essence of change: An overview The government-Maoist negotiation exercise has provided a right platform for the meaningful debate, which may contribute immensely in the process of building a prosperous society and a strong nation. The debate certainly encompasses the need for several minor adjustments of short-term nature and enters into the structural areas of strategic significance. Appreciating this context, the government and the Maoists should agree to open a general debate to finalize the transformational agenda and leave the process to take a natural course for conclusion. It makes no sense to wasting time by talking on the issues of marginal significance. The important tasks for today are to identify the core issues, examine the importance they carry, develop new principles and values, and prepare an agenda for national debate. All sections of the society including the negotiating parties should share this responsibility. Based on such understanding, here, an attempt has been made to present an overview primarily focusing on the essence of change. The issues mentioned below affect the strategic course of national reconstruction and development. Rationalizing ownership as well as control over the means of production and establishing an equitable system of production relations among classes, Designing a new system of mixed economy by critically refining the role of the state, Maximizing contributions of individuals, groups and organizations with the promotion of plural socio-political and cultural values, behaviors and practices by designing and implementing a competitive political frame-work, Equitable sharing of power, resources and opportunities among nationalities. Correcting, both, social as well as geographical imbalances through affirmative actions, Providing an environment where the society guards against the external cultural invasion, and at the same time promotes cross-cultural learning through critical examination and creative application, and Protecting the national interests, strengthening the national capacities and enhancing visibility and dignified presence of the country among the nations. By addressing the issues of ownership and the production relations, a roadmap for an agrarian reform and fundamentals of a new mixed economy could be developed. The poverty and economic under development have two aspects – low production and unjust distribution. Therefore, the new vision, principles and the roadmap should address both aspects. The policies which will be developed and the programs follow afterwards would be guided by the thematic positioning of this historical period, when a new vision is being developed and the strategies are being crafted. Therefore, the principles and the inserted values should have clarity and operational worth. The question of designing a competitive political frame-work is something difficult to chew for the politicians and the thinkers of the parliamentary school of thought and the westernized intelligentsia. For them, this is an already resolved issue. Their prescription includes allowing to form political parties, organize elections on regular intervals, tolerate speaking and shouting, protect the 'lofty' civil liberties and the 'basic' human rights, ensure the division of power among different branches of the state system, put all these arrangements in a law book (constitution) and implement its provisions in any style – British, Bihari or Bolivian. The frame-work they advocate does not consider any proactive role for a state-system to ensure citizen's ability to participate in governance. At the same time, where a large majority of the citizens lack high degree of political awareness and freedom from hunger, their ability to influence the policy of the government and other political actors becomes marginal. The arrangements mentioned above, thus, serve just as cosmetics for them. A small section of people reaps all the harvest. Therefore, that section of the political elite, which includes professional politicians and amateur intellectual collaborators, try to prevent the debate related to designing a superstructure compatible to the existing reality of the society. Now, this has become a challenge for the leftist political forces in general and the Marxist intellectuals and the communist scholars in particular to develop a superstructure, which promotes the plural political, cultural and spiritual values, and at the same time, ensures a large majority of citizen's participation in governance. The core issue here is that the state-system should liberate itself from the net of the upper class interests. Also, the state-system should stop discharging the role it plays just for the upper class as their protector, care provider and prosperity manager. Therefore, designing a system that addresses correctly the issue of political substance and the competitive system of governance gets paramount importance. Regarding the issues of imbalances, they are seen in four areas – nationalities, gender, caste and geographical region. Several Nepalese political and social activists have proposed a surgical process. The surgical process includes end of Khasa domination, male chauvinism, Bahunbad and "Forget West and Neglect Tarai" syndrome. In reality, the centralized state-system has created a situation where only the Khasa nationality can benefit ( Newars are to some extent an exception). To correct this situation, a federal system of governance with full-fledged autonomous regions of different nationalities should be established. Similarly, the provision of affirmative actions should be instituted to correct the male chauvinism. Now, the reservation as well as reparation provisions for Dalits have become their rights to redress the worst effects of Bahunbad. The regional imbalances could be rectified by reversing the "Forget West and Neglect Tarai" policy of the state. The introduction of the federal system also will contribute to correct this imbalance. The cultural invasion, both, internal and external, also is a major issue of concern. The indigenous cultural riches, values and practices should be best preserved, fine-tuned and contextualized. Preventing the negative effect of an invading culture is essential, but cross-cultural learning, also, should be encouraged. There is not an easy way out. Therefore, the debate on the regional and socio-cultural imbalances should form an integral part of the exercise centered on the formation of a constituent assembly. The politicians, mostly the rightists and a section of the centrist block, use nationalism as a trump card to garner popular support by playing with people's sentiments. "Curse India by words and serve India by deeds" is the motto of these nationalist crooks. The new system has to create a platform where the sovereign right of the nation to make decisions is fully protected. These issues together, may contribute to create a sound foundation for the prosperity that promotes equity, social harmony, justice and peace, and will form the basis of a transformational socio-economic and political agenda. Therefore, just limiting the discussion at this moment, on sharing power among different political forces has no significance in regard to resolving the problems. The process of nationwide debate could be best governed by the election exercise of the constituent assembly. During the course of the general debate, different prescriptions will appear to influence the masses and some of them will be endorsed by the people. Finally, adopting a new constitution could institutionalize the General Will. Although, the process is difficult, agreeing on the agenda and the principles could be a frustrating exercise, and the election as well as drafting a new constitution could be full of obstacles; but only this course may lead to lasting peace, prosperity and justice through a political process. It should be noted that the essence of fundamental change is transformation of the society. If the political process fails to address this reality, the process of confrontational path of armed transformation will get acceleration. Pluralism with difference: A prerequisite for peace and prosperity In any society, politics is one of the most important topics which should generate debate. Unfortunately, in Nepal , politics is considered as a well understood and already concluded issue and the debate centers around political rituals. In essence, politics is the collective act of one or more non-antagonistic economic class or classes to protect and promote their class interests by blending, programming and packaging their interests in a certain ideology, theory and a pattern of behaviors. Therefore, one has to understand the class-base and the orientation of the ideology, theory and behaviors that their collective act represents. The collective act necessarily relates itself with the existing reality of the society and interacts, influences and interferes by antagonistic or non-antagonistic manner with all other types of collective acts prevailing in that particular time. Since its beginning, the class society is pluralistic politically, economically, socio-culturally, psychologically and organizationally. The plural values, beliefs and practices are not limited to the collective behavior of antagonistic classes; it has been seen within the same type of classes too. In reality, they differ and behave differently within a broad periphery of class interests. To promote and safeguard the class interests collectively, and to represent those interests more effectively, the antagonistic classes fight head-to-head, sometimes in the battlefield when the class contradiction reaches to the boiling point. This is what the Nepalese society is experiencing today. In the Nepalese society, one can see the fiercest fight. The fight is multidimensional and complex. It has covered ideologies, politics, cultures, values and many more. The fight, primarily, is between the upper class ruling coalition and the working classes. The ruling classes are trying their level best to continue the political, economic and cultural dominance whereas the working classes want to radically reorganize the society including the change of the superstructure. At this moment, the palace has become the leader of the ruling upper class and the Maoists lead the working class majority. In strategic sense, the centrists are the extension of the ruling coalition, but today, in tactical sense, they are humiliated section of the upper class political coalition and use to cry sometimes when a 'friendly-fire' hits them or extreme hunger for power, prestige, wealth and opportunity compels them. This is what the parliamentary opposition's protest movement is all about. Although, they cry to regain their lost glory, this process also may have positive political impact. Retaining and even strengthening the existing behavioral, programmatic and operational supremacy in all spheres of socio-economic and political governance is the goal of the upper class ruling coalition whereas the leftists led by the Maoists are striving for radical socio-economic and political change. In this way, Nepalese political scene is witnessing a grand fight of unprecedented nature. The contradictions between the antagonistic classes have broadened the scope of struggle, which has entered into the superior level of class war. Now, there are two governing mechanisms. Although, two types of mechanism have been in practice, but that does not necessarily reflect the presence of two systems. The upper class ruling coalition has been operating under the multiparty system whereas the Maoists are going through an experiential course by making several experiments in the area they govern. During the period of war, any experiment may work, but in a broader political canvas, a comprehensive system alone can provide the appropriate operating mechanism. The communists all over the world successfully campaigned for a new nature of state power. They were successful in capturing the power in several countries. Once, they were not only a dominant ideology in the world but also the counter-balancing military power. They failed to retain that place. The easy answer is – the revisionists and the capitalists recaptured the power. But why they recaptured the state power so successfully? Was it a policy failure or the failure of implementation? Or, it happened due to more fundamental structural reasons? It is not in one or a few countries the experiment failed. Therefore, the logic of policy or implementation failure doesn't reflect the reality. This is structural failure of fundamental nature. In the beginning, one of the reasons for the failure of the Paris commune was stated as not effective implementation of dictatorship of the proletariat. This conclusion offered uncompromising stand in favor of dictatorship, which in later years was extended to people with differing views including the communist party leaders and cadres. In the process, most of the communist parties lost their vision, side-lined the values and degenerated as monolithic state bureaucracies. The failure was the outcome of the extension of dictatorship of the party exercised by its leadership. Indeed, the failure was the result of the negation of pluralistic socio-economic and political composition of the society and absence of a superstructure appropriate to address that reality. Certainly, that lesson should get importance, more particularly, during the phase of democratic revolution and reconstruction. Therefore, to address the need of an appropriate superstructure that ensures politico-economic and cultural pluralism with difference, the following provisions may provide the basis. Constitutionally mandated nature of state that overtly favors working classes, minorities and weaker sections, Multiparty, Federal state, Autonomous regions of nationalities, New mixed economy, Multiculturalism, and State completely free from religious affiliation. This is not the "Bahudaliya Janabad" as some centrists are busy selling their product under the communist banner. The important factors are the class orientation of the state power and the choice of a mechanism by which the power is exercised. When working class interests, values and visions occupy primacy, rest will fall accordingly. It is important to institutionalize those primacies in the form of constitutional provisions, and for this purpose there is the need of a duly elected constituent assembly. When there are such provisions in the constitution drafted and adopted by the constituent assembly, the armed forces and the bureaucracy need overhaul. A surgical process can insert the new state values within a new operational framework. The amalgamation of two armies into one could provide the opportunity for such surgical process. If this process gets obstructed, the course may turn again into a violent one and the mass uprising or protracted war will insure the insertion of the new vision and values. Finally, if the society has to move forward, there should be a progressive state which operates with dynamic political processes. Obviously, pluralism with difference provides the dynamic environment to all political parties, social and economic institutes and mass organizations to function as centers of excellence and also it makes them accountable as the people judge them continuously. Therefore, the consensus for the pluralism that has equity and justice as its core values, could be a turning point to ensure true democracy, lasting peace and ever flourishing prosperity in Nepal.