Read Editorial with D2G – Ep CXXXIX

In Read Editorial With D2G
May 10, 2016

TO ABYSS AND BACK

READ BEFORE YOU PROCEED:
 D2G wears no responsibility of the views published here by the respective Author. This Editorial is used here for Study Purpose. Students are advised to learn the word-meaning, The Art of Writing Skills and understand the crux of this Editorial.

MEANINGS are given in BOLD and ITALIC

Prime Minister K.P. Oli’s government in Nepal dragged (If you say that you drag yourself somewhere, you are emphasizing that you have to make a very great effort to go there – घसीटा) itself back, last week, from the Himalayan abyss (An abyss is a very deep hole in the ground – रसातल,पाताल) towards which it was skipping — but its suicidal urges are certain to cause friends of the country no small amount of concern in months to come. This time, the government was saved after Pushpa Kumar Dahal, the leader of Nepal’s Maoists, reneged (If someone reneges on a promise or an agreement, they do not do what they have promised or agreed to do – इनकार) on a deal that would have meant abandoning the alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), and forming a new government with the Nepali Congress’s Sher Bahadur Deuba. Persuaded by influential figures both inside Nepal and in India, Dahal came to the conclusion that the Maoists’ best interests would be served by continuing with a Left-led, Left-dominated alliance government.

In time, the alliance’s friends have promised, Oli will be made to keep his promises to hand over power to the Maoists, junior partners in the alliance, giving Dahal a chance to become prime minister. The Congress is entitled to feel hard done by — it had agreed to a deal that would have given it second place in a Dahal-led government, even though it has twice as many seats in Parliament — but is likely consoling itself with the thought that the last word hasn’t been written.

A blame-game has begun, putting fresh strain on India-Nepal ties. The Nepal government has cancelled the trip of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to India and recalled its ambassador in Delhi. But for Prime Minister Oli’s government, the crisis must be an opportunity for introspection: Instead of laying the foundations for the republic that ought be emerging from the country’s new Constitution, it has instead allowed its energies to be frittered away (To spend (money) excessively and usually foolishly) on crisis after crisis. He has, notably, failed to build bridges with the peoples of Nepal’s Terai plains, where large swathes (A swathe of land is a long strip of land – लपेटना) of opinion are embittered (If someone is embittered, they feel angry and unhappy because of harsh, unpleasant, and unfair things that have happened to them – कड़वा हुआ) over what they perceive to be political disenfranchisement (To disenfranchise a group of people means to take away their right to vote, or their right to vote for what they really want – नागरिकता से वंचित करना ) in favour of mountain communities.

Though the violent movement that tore apart the country last year has stilled, the government has singularly failed to build a genuine consensus on the way forward. Perhaps more important, the government’s record on rebuilding infrastructure destroyed in last year’s earthquake has been appalling (If something appals you, it disgusts you because it seems so bad or unpleasant – धमकाना), to the dismay of international donors and the country’s people alike. There has been growing anger, too, over everything from controversial ambassadorial appointments, to that old feature of government across the region — corruption.

India’s considerable equities in this situation are clear: a Nepal torn by ethnic conflict, or lapsing back into armed violence, will have serious consequences across the border, too. There’s little doubt, though, that heavy-handed diplomacy will prove counter productive. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s early efforts to push Nepal into an accomodation with the Terai leadership achieved little, other than to harden faultlines within the country, and embitter large swathes of public opinion against India. Prime Minister Oli’s eleventh-hour reprieve, almost certainly, will be followed by many more trips to the chopping block. New Delhi must allow events to take their course, even as it impresses on Nepal’s leaders the importance of playing by the rules.

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