Watch out for Sujata

Aditya Man Shrestha

A black flag was shown to Sujata Koirala, our newly appointed foreign minister, in Pokhara when she was on a visit there after assuming office. Those who don't like her, and, in fact, many don't like her, must be delighted to see her being publicly so derided. But, on the contrary, she should feel overjoyed by this act of open derision because a black flag is not all that bad. It is recognition of her personae in politics and power. No longer is she merely the daughter of Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala. She is now leader of the NC representing her party in the coalition cabinet. She has now crossed the kinship boundary and opened up a new vista of her own. Sujata is fast coming up leaving many of her party stalwarts behind.
She overcame the first hurdle to this coveted position by sidelining senior leaders of her party like vice president Sushil Koirala and general secretary Ram Chandra Paudel, who fumed in fury at her and her invincible father, but ended in habitual nothingness.

Technically, they lost their point as Girija Prasad Koirala, exercising the newly vested decision-making power on the choice of the leader of the party to join the Madhav Nepal government by none other than the central committee, selected his daughter to do so. He was asked to use his discretion, and he used it. Was it morally wrong? Who cares for morals in politics, that too in our lokatantric Nepal?
We know that even Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had asked NC president Girija Prasad Koirala to rethink his choice of Sujata for the cabinet berth she has now occupied. He has, of course, no choice but to accept her as his redoubtable colleague, whether he likes it or not. Everyone is aware how helpless he is in the picking of his cabinet members from different coalition partners. The jumbo cabinet is not his option, but a compulsion. There will indeed be more and more compulsions forthcoming to keep the team intact. He can, at least, depend upon Sujata's full support till he can survive in his position of premiership. The day his position starts dwindling, earlier than later, he will be obliged to lend his full support to her in her bid for the premiership. The only hurdle left in this process is to get her ushered into the Constituent Assembly (CA), and she can and will follow none other but Madhav Kumar Nepal's footsteps getting an entry into that legislative body.
As far as the Maoists are concerned, Sujata has already curried favour with them on the Katawal controversy. She was hobnobbing with them during the peak of the heat generated by that issue when her party was vehemently attacking the Maoists, who were then in power, for hatching a conspiracy to seize power. Her plan to join the Prachanda cabinet was confirmed when there was a call for disciplinary action against her within her own party. The plan did not fructify, nor did the penalty come forth. What the whole exercise did was to establish her as a force to reckon with in her party, which she subsequently demonstrated by joining yet another leftist government of the CPN-UML, if not the UCPN-Maoist. When she seeks the support of the Maoists in forming a new government under her leadership, they will have to oblige her irrespective of their like or dislike for the person. They might even justify it for want of an opportunity to form a government under their own leadership and for want of a better acceptable alternative to lead the next government. Moreover, supporting Sujata will fulfil the great Maoist agenda of installing a woman in the seat of the prime minister.
India, on its part, will be more than pleased to see her rise to this highest executive position. It was evident from her undiplomatic statement on the Dang border incident to the Nepalese press in front of the Indian diplomat, Rakesh Sood. It appeared as if she took the words from the mouth of Sood in denying in clear terms any untoward happening across the border. She spoke in public before she had actually time to inquire and learn the truth in private. Even if she was right in substance, she was awfully wrong in manner. Being an adept tactician, Sujata lost face before us to win a great favour in New Delhi where she had paid a meaningful visit a few months ago apparently to canvass for her candidature to the head of government. If India has its way, which it always has, she is well poised to go down in history as the first woman prime minister of Nepal, a high probability in lokatantric Nepal.
If all this political and diplomatic support is not enough to fulfil her ambition to attain the highest office, Sujata has made sure to add strength in her favour from the Nepal Army. She showed her love for Gen. Khadka, but did not hate Gen. Katawal. What does it matter who is out and who is in till the incumbent commander is ready to salute her? That is how she has positioned herself vis-à-vis the army personnel dispute. In fact, she can keep both the contending generals happy, unlike Prachanda, by conferring good rewards sans punishment. The Nepal Army, in fact, would feel more comfortable working under a workaholic than a talkative person, a more conciliatory person than a provocative politician. Would Sujata not be the best preference in that sense going by its bitter relations with the civilian authorities?
The last but not the least decisive factor in catapulting her to the top is the stars favouring the losers against the winners in the national polls. If Madhav Kumar Nepal could cross all the barriers caused by his electoral loss to reach his goal, how could Sujata Koirala be left behind with the same fate of being an electoral loser in the race to win the game?