Srijana Rai, Kathmandu, May 27: More than one and a half decades have already passed since the establishment of the republic by abolishing the 247-year-old monarchy from the country. Promulgation of the new constitution through the Constituent Assembly (CA) and the establishment of the republican system were great achievements for Nepal as they were the long-awaited political slogans in the country.
However, political stability has not been maintained in the country yet. In the understanding of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) parliamentary party chief whip Santosh Pariyar, political stability is not concerned with picking an individual as the prime minister for a full five-year term but with stability in policy, principle and political ideology.
“Stability should be in policy, philosophy, political ideology and understanding. A person remaining in the post of Prime Minister for five years does not mean stability. Knowledge as per our system and capacity for the implementation is also necessary for the stability,” Pariyar underlined.
Pariyar described the ongoing parliament disruption as the friction between the new and old political forces after the latter refused to provide space to the new forces.
According to Pariyar, political transformation will not be sustainable and institutionalized until it ensures positive changes in the lives of the general public.
After the establishment of the republic, we have come to a comparatively better status and this should be made further broad, he added. “We have achieved many things in quantity after the republic system but we are yet to ensure quality. It takes time to ensure delivery. Conceptually, we have made a significant change. Reaching a common citizen to the post of country’s executive head, constitutional boy’s chief and head of the state is not a minor achievement. We have failed to meet people’s expectations and the political parties should take responsibility for this condition but much has been done on education, health care, housing and other sectors,” Pariyar observed.
The RSP Chief Whip admitted that we lack the knowledge to transfer our society and also we have limited capacity for practical implementation of our indigenous knowledge. “Mainly, I see a lack of seriousness on the part of political parties and their leaders. We failed to break the deep-rooted societal dogmas. We waged immense revolutions but they too kneeled before societal dogmas,” Pariyar shared hinting at patriarchy, caste-based discrimination and some religious ill-practices.
During his interview with the RSS, Pariyar also expressed his doubts concerning the political parties’ trust towards the present constitution. Pariyar said, “Political parties are not taking ownership of this constitution. Some interest groups are taking advantage of it,”
He also stressed that implementation of the constitution is the first priority but it could be amended to ensure a more progressive path after the implementation.
Responding to a query about people’s expectations towards the RSP, Pariyar said the RSP could not carry out activities to address the people’s expectations in a short period and argued that new political forces should prevail for this.
“The RSP can bring about changes in the country as per the people’s expectations if it leads the single-party government after the elections of 2084. The number of lawmakers in the parliament also matters a lot”, he mentioned.
Stating that naturally old parties would be replaced by new ones, the RSP Chief Whip explained that the RSP could be made a better party by strengthening its organisaton, bringing clarity to ideas and continuously developing the party more ideologically.
“We look the same as other parties in the parliament. But we are different if we are analyzed deeply,” he claimed, explaining that political stability would be established in the country if there is devotion and belief towards the political system, understanding of the society and priority of activities to be implemented.
He stressed that there is harmony among the major and old parties on the issue of making government and sharing power, but they lack harmony in providing justice and working in favour of the people.
“Many of our practices have become outdated. They should be redefined. People should remain safe along with getting an opportunity to live a comfortable and convenient life. The government should guarantee justice and social and economic security,” added RSP leader Pariyar.
