All praise for Deuba

 The Himalayan Times

3March 2022

All praise for Deuba

The long-time drama being played on Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Nepal Compact has finally ended with the coalition government ratifying it with the presentation of a 12-point-interpretative declaration two days ago. The frequent House disruption by the UML and regular street protests of the fringe parties did not stop the Deuab-led government to move forward towards making the nation a semi-colonial state, as opined and claimed by fringe parties and some constitutional experts. The coming months and years will show the real impact of the MCC deal.

PM Deuba seemed to have cleverly played his cards at the final moment by showing his trump-card to Prachanda and Madhav Nepal, threatening them to break up the coalition government should they object to the MCC deal in the House “Mahat all praise for Deuba” (THT, March 1. Page 2). It seemed that ratification of the MCC Nepal Compact by the House by any means was his only objective, which he did attain by showing his political acumen. Deuba visit to K.P.Ol’s house, pretending to be ready to join hands with Oli if Prachanda and Madhav continued to publicly object to MCC ratification, was nothing but a political ploy to have Prachanda and Madhav surrender to Deuba’s will.

Does it make any sense for Prachanda now to clarify his position on the MCC’s ratification after he made a U-turn on his own decision of objecting to the MCC ratification in the House a few days ago “Dahal extols the virtues of MCC compact” (THT, March 1, Page 1)? Would the constitution and the Comprehensive P Peace Agreement have been derailed if his party had voted against the MCC deal? Will all the controversial articles included in the deal be superseded or complemented by the 12-point interpretative declaration and agreeable to the donor? It is yet to be seen how the dissatisfied fringe parties and groups will react in the days to come? For whatever reasons, the Deuba-led coalition government has been successful in ratifying the deal from the parliament; let us hope the deal will not be a burden to the nation and the people.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maahrajgunj